 |  |
PLEASE VISIT US AT: http://www.janiservu.com/ for similar postings!!
Advantage Cleaning Services Does Janitorial Services In Olean, N.Y. 14760!!!
#janiservu #cleaning #services #janitorial #janitor
Home » Ready to Go Orbital?
Hard Floor Care / Online Exclusives
Ready to Go Orbital?
By Debby Davis
NOVEMBER 18, 2014
While they have been available for several years now, many cleaning professionals are not quite sure how orbital floor machines work, what they actually do, and what their benefits might be. Even the name is a bit confusing and adds to the misunderstanding about these machines. Orbital floor machines are not round as their name might imply, but are actually rectangular.
Adding to the confusion, orbital machines often are referred to as oscillating floor machines. Oscillating is a term that may not be recognized by many cleaning pros; it can mean anything from moving back and forth to something that has periodic vibrations. So to help us learn more about these machines, let’s just call them orbital floor machines.
Because orbital machines are rectangular, it is easy to see one of their benefits without knowing anything more about this equipment. Their rectangular design allows them to line up flush against walls, edges, and corners, eliminating the need for manual scrubbing of areas that are typically hard to reach with a rotary machine. This makes edge and detail work much easier and faster, but that is just one obvious benefit.
Additional benefits include:
Orbital machines often are effective at removing floor finish without chemicals. When stripping with a rotary floor machine, powerful and potentially harmful strippers and even degreasers often are necessary to remove soils and finish buildup. However, some floor care techs say that if there are several coats of finish on a floor, a stripper may still be needed. But if there are two or three coats of finish or the goal is interim instead of restorative floor care, an orbital machine is often the perfect solution.
Because orbital machines can work effectively in many situations without chemicals, this also means they do not need water. This makes them a safer and much easier machine to use.
Users often report these machines are exceptionally versatile. They can be used on many different types of hard surface floors?tile and grout, VCT tiles, and similar hard surface floor coverings as well as hardwood floors?in a variety of settings, such as schools, hospitals, office buildings, etc. Some cleaning professionals even report using them to polish stone floors.
Orbital machines tend to be heavier. With some systems, up to two 22-pound weights can be attached to the machine, making them even heavier. This added weight contributes to the machine's effectiveness at removing floor finish and soils.
One of their most noteworthy benefits is that orbital machines can improve worker productivity significantly. First of all, if used without chemicals, there is no need to mop a stripper onto the floor, rinse clean, or use a wet-vac to remove moisture and slurry. This alone is a timesaver. But the big labor saver is the fact that these machines can produce as much as 3,500 revolutions per minute (RPMs), which is significantly faster than a traditional 175 or 300 RPM machine.
How They Work
It’s fairly clear how a conventional rotary floor machine works: the pad is turned at 175 RPMs or more, and as it rotates it loosens and removes floor finish if a black stripping pad is used. If a red buffing pad is installed, the same action brings back the luster of the floor.
Cylindrical floor machines work by using counter-rotating brushes. These machines have proven to be effective in a variety of situations, especially removing soils from hard-to-reach grout or porous floors. The brushes have greater reaching power than a rotary pad.
On the other hand, an orbital floor machine does use pads but they do not rotate. And it does not use brushes like a cylindrical machine. Instead of turning in circles, the orbital machine uses a pad attached to the pad grip and cleans by moving in a number of directions?forward and backward as well as side-to-side?in fast succession.
Potential Caveats
While orbital floor machines do have many features and benefits, they do have one potential but workable drawback: they can generate considerable amounts of dust. To remedy this issue, some orbital floor machines have dust-control skirts that can be wrapped around the base of the machine, helping to prevent dust from becoming airborne. Additionally, with some systems, the hose of a backpack vacuum cleaner can be attached to the base of the machine. The combination of the skirt and the backpack vacuum helps capture most of the dust particles while making cleanup after floor stripping much easier.
Floor care can be a time-consuming and labor-intensive activity. Orbital machines are one more technology that is helping to make floor care easier, less costly, safer, and more effective. The best way to see if this type of equipment will work for you is to test-drive a machine. While they may not be the floor machine of choice for all users, some customers have reported that once they have gone orbital, it's the only type of floor machine they would select.
Debby Davis is the product manager for Powr-Flite, a manufacturer of floor care equipment. Davis has extensive experience in the professional cleaning industry, especially in the area of floor care. She may be reached through Powr-Flite’s website at www.powr-flite.com.
