Disc scrubbing head vs Cylindrical vs Orbital
If you're new to autoscrubbers or just new to hearing these terms, let's discuss the differences between disc (or disk) floor scrubbing heads (which include floor pads, pad drivers, and brushes), cylindrical brushes, and orbital scrubbing heads. The easiest place to start is by looking at pictures.
Disc Brush Scrubbing
Above is a disc brush. It's flat and round like a pancake. This is the more common type of brush for deck configuration for smaller, walk-behind floor scrubbers. Typically, smaller scrubbers are used in commercial facilities that have smooth flooring like VCT (vinyl composition tile), sheet vinyl or polished concrete. Disc machines have greater overall down pressure than cylindrical machines, so they do a better job at cleaning tough soils or stains. The heads turn at slower rpm's than cylindrical machines as well. For these reasons, disc machines can be used to strip floor finish similar to low-speed floor machines. Floors will need to be swept prior to scrubbing with disc machines since these machines are not designed to pick up any debris.
Disc machines can be fitted with different types of brushes ranging from soft nylon up through polypropylene and to abrasive grit. For floors with floor finish, brushes are usually not the ideal choice. Although they will last longer than floor pads before needing to be replaced, brushes don't offer the same surface area that a floor pad does. Hence, floor pads do a better job of cleaning soil on very flat, non-porous surfaces.
Disc scrubbers are best used in facilities with pre-swept floors in industries such as retail, education, healthcare and other institutions.
The biggest benefit of disc technology is its versatility and cleaning performance on smooth floors. Additionally, disc scrubbers use lower solution flow rates, enabling bigger savings in labor (dump and refills), water and chemicals. But disc scrubbers require sweeping prior to scrubbing.
Cylindrical Brush Scrubbing
Above is a cylindrical brush. It is long and tubular . . . . . . like a cylinder or perhaps a baseball bat. These brushes clean using higher rpm's that "flick" soils away from flooring. They are commonly used in large, wide open spaces that may have small debris that is not preswept before scrubbing. Cylindrical machines will have a small hopper tray that catches solid debris and holds it so that the cleaning solution can be sucked up through the vacuum system without clogging. Cylindrical brushes are good for floors that have cracks or grout lines. Similar to disc machines cylindrical brushes come in many different filament options. There are soft bristles all the way up to abrasive bristle brushes. There are not floor pads for cylindrical heads.
Cylindrical scrubbers are often used in industrial plants, food and beverage processing, manufacturing facilities and parking facilities.
The greatest benefit of cylindrical scrubbers is that they eliminate the need for pre-sweeping, saving the cost of a separate sweeper. They tend to be more expensive than disc scrubbers and have a higher cost of ownership.
Orbital Scrubbing
Use multi-functional orbital scrubbing technology for daily cleaning, deep grout cleaning and to remove commercial floor finish without chemicals. Featured on the T300 Walk-Behind Floor Scrubber, orbital scrubbing technology uses a rectangular scrub head that easily reaches into corners, along edges, and into other hard-to-reach areas while leaving a clearly defined cut line. Combine the high down pressure of orbital scrubbing technology with the best pad for the job to maximize productivity and save on labor costs.
Choose Pads for Multi-functionality:
- White Polishing Pad helps removes soil and soft scuff marks with minimal dulling of the floor finish.
- Red Cleaning Pad handles everyday cleaning and light scrubbing to remove soil, scuff marks and black heel marks.
- Blue Scrubbing Pad, used for heavy-duty scrubbing and top-coat removal prior to recoating, removes dirt, spills and scuffs, leaving a clean, prepared surface.
- Maroon Surface Prep Pad prepares wood, vinyl tile, sheet vinyl, marble, terrazzo and concrete floors for finish applications. It’s used for heavy-duty scrubbing that removes two to four coats.
- Scotch-Brite™ Purple Diamond Pad performs daily cleaning and maintenance of polished floors.
- Green Turf Pad cleans deep into grout lines on tiled floors and effectively cleans terrazzo, non-slip surfaces, concrete and other uneven floors.
- Orbital Pad Backer With Velcro allows for compression of the working pad to the floor for optimal scrubbing or removal of floor finish. Its design prevents the working pad from falling off during use or transportation.
Remove commercial floor finish without using chemicals when preparing surfaces for recoating.