Creating perfect and sophisticated polished floors is a testament to the development of specialised industrial floor sanders as well as the skill to utilise them to their greatest potential.
There are three stages in the development of the main Drum/Belt floor sanders used today:
The original design was that of a drum sander. The sand paper is hand cut, wrapped around the drum and tucked in to secure. As it is completely circular, the drum only touches the floor at a tangent point and whenever the hand cut, tucked end of the paper hits the floor it creates an irregularity in the sanding with ‘chatter marks’ which are, at best, distracting and at worst, ugly.
The next stage in development was the Super Galaxy 2000 style of sander which added a pulley to the upper side of the drum which the sandpaper was passed over as it also went around the drum. This elongated the shape of the now laser cut sandpaper and increased both the total length of the sandpaper doing the work as well as slightly increasing the touch point of sandpaper onto the surface of the floor. One of the advantages to this improved appliance was the reduction in ‘chatter marks’ related to the hand cut and joined sand paper.
Finally, the third and most effective design was obtained. The Galaxy Eagle 8 was designed and built in Canada. The manufacturer, Galaxy, designed this innovative machine to completely eliminate the ‘chatter marks’ and undercuts on any timber grain available. This design has a pulley and belt sander system with a hard plate pad, 8 inches wide where the sanding pad actually meets the floor. This design also has the advantage of being able to resist clogging of the sandpaper even on the greasiest flooring surfaces.
Mark at Quicksand & Polish has specifically imported this last, state of the art floor sander. He also went to the USA to be trained by those who invented the machines. With these machines, together worth over $60k, and their training, Quicksand & Polish are far ahead of their competition before they even begin.
The “Trio” is a three disc sander which has three 8 inch circular sanding pads rotating individually, whilst the entire head of the machine rotates in a Planetary Motion. This machine can take medium sandpaper, 60 and 120 grit, all the way up to 220, or very fine, grit. On average it will get floors 20% to 30% Flatter.
For an even more brilliant finish, Quicksand & Polish have a Clark special square vac orbital sander to use on the high care projects. This has a random orbital sanding action which removes any latent scratch patterns left by the main sanding. The joy of this equipment is that it is able to generally remove the cob web effect which can be seen under extremely bright lighting on some finished timber flooring where it is necessary to obtain this type of perfection finish. This is level of finish is not made available by most floor finishers.
There can be a tendency by some operators to hand cut, reuse or purchase cheaper sandpapers. These are quick fixes to reducing costs. Overall, those who choose this method of business practice end up spending more time replacing used paper, repairing tears or hand cutting.
Quicksand and Polish use only the very best quality sand papers- in fact Mark has been quoted as saying they actually use the most expensive sand papers available on the planet. These papers start out costing a little more than others, but they also guarantee a faster, more effective job.
Some timbers are by their nature very greasy due to a high pH or other issue. An example is Spotted Gum here in Australia. Due to this greasy structure, there is a danger on finishing to show an imperfect finish known as ‘railway lines’. To reduce this issue, high quality sandpaper is recommended, which improves dust removal and clogs less. Similarly, the Trio & Square buff are superb at showing a grain which can be hidden.
A question some clients have asked is why don’t other operators utilise these top of the line pieces of machinery, and quite often, the answer is they don’t know how to use them. Mark has invested an enormous amount of time and money ensuring he has the best equipment along with the know-how to achieve outstanding results.
With all due respect to the vehicle manufacturers, quite simply Quicksand & Polish are the Ferrari to the Kia’s of the Floor Sanding and Polishing World.
“The Perfect Process will transform your timber floor.
Quicksand & Polish @ Qsand - The difference is clear.”
- Mark Jolley, Vanguard
