The random orbital sander is the finest choice for do-it-yourself floor refinishing unless you expect to sand many floors in your lifetime. Sure, removing previous finishes takes longer than with a drum sander. Still, you don’t need much skill to use a random orbital sander, and it’s less likely to permanently harm your floor by creating grooves or valleys that are hard to repair. Check out best timber floor sanding to learn more
Drum Floor Sander
A big, heavy belt sander is known as a drum sander. Standing up, the user runs the drum sander.
The drum sander is made up of three parts:
- The sander body.
- A big dust bag.
- A drum to which you may attach large sanding paper belts.
The drum sander removes your floor’s poor spots, high spots, stains, paint drips, and even some deeply entrenched stains. A drum floor sander is excellent equipment for sanding your wood floor down to bare wood. However, be cautious not to carve ugly, permanent grooves in the wood.
Orbital Vibrating Floor Sander
Like the drum sander, an orbital vibrating floor sander is used while standing. The sanding head and sandpaper do not spin, instead of vibrating in tight circles.
Following the use of the drum sander, the wood is generally smoothed up using a vibrating orbital sander. This sander is suitable for solid hardwood, parquet engineered wood, cork, and wood composite floors. This sander will sand your wood floors to the smoothest finish possible.
The vibrating sander, which is roughly the same size as the drum sander and also uses a dust bag, will be a pleasant break from the drum sander. This sander is less heavy and more straightforward to maneuver than a drum sander. An orbital vibrating floor sander has a lower risk of damaging the wood.
When to use a drum floor sander
These machines are excellent for floors with severe scratches or gouges and flooring with bent boards that require a lot of assistance to restore to their former beauty.
If you stop moving for a second, drum sanders can gouge scratches or depressions on the floor. The key to achieving a decent outcome is to keep moving at a steady speed and following the grain of the wood. Before tackling the real thing, beginners should practice on a test surface.
Drum sanders are large and inconvenient to transport. They can’t go near barriers since they’re rounded. To sand around baseboards and access floor edges, you’ll need an edge floor sander. A drum sander may be too huge to be helpful if you’re sanding in a remote location.
What is a drum floor sander?
A belt sander, sometimes known as a drum floor sander, is heavy-duty equipment used to sand solid wood floors. A drum sander rips through the wood, removing many layers of wood and any varnish, leaving you with a fresh surface to refinish.
A metal drum at the bottom rotates quickly and is equipped with a sleeve of sandpaper. Drum sanders are powerful and challenging to use for novices due to their high spin speed and machine weight (about 100 pounds).
What is an orbital floor sander?
The orbital sander, also known as an orbital floor sander, oscillates to sand floors light to medium. Unlike drum floor sanders, orbital sanders sand the surface of the wood. Sandpaper is attached to an oscillating plate, which sands the wood in a random pattern as you move the machine, eliminating the requirement to move in the grain direction.
The operation of orbital floor sanders is quite simple. Keep in mind that you’ll need to make several passes before seeing any results if you want to remove deep scratches or stains.
When to use an orbital floor sander
For floors that require mild to medium sanding, orbital floor sanders are ideal. An orbital sander is a machine to use if you need to screen a floor in preparation for a fresh topcoat of clear finish. Because these sanders feature a rectangular sanding surface, they can reach the borders of a floor and into corners more easily than drum sanders.
You should have the appropriate skills and expertise to operate a floor sander and follow all manufacturer guidelines for safe floor sander use and operation.
For assistance in selecting the proper sander and accessories, including grit paper, talk to your rental equipment supplier about the specifics of the task you’re working on.