Finishing sander V Drum for floors sanding

I am about to do the next stage of sanding the cyprus floor in my house and am looking at other ideas instead of the big drum sanders you can hire. I am not saying the drum sanders are bad as I have used them in the other stages I have done so far and they worked a treat. Except where I tripped over the power cord and left a rather nasty gouge in one of the bedrooms but its under a bed :)

The floor after the carpet came up is in mint condition I am guessing that it was sanded some 30 years ago before the 30+ year old carpet went down as there are really no high or low boards or edges between boards etc and all nails have already been punched at some time in the past, the floor boards are just filthy.

As I have a couple of very tight sections to do I was looking at the commercial finishing sanders (random orbital) like the Hiretech one the HTF-2 http://www.hiretech.biz/products/floorsanders.html# These weigh in at about 45Kgs so weight is not a problem in getting some bite and I was looking at starting the first cut with 60 grit and working up to 120 grit to finish off. I was toying with the idea as these finishing sanders are random orbital doing the entire job with one. (Its a fairly big area)

So any one used one of the finishing sanders to do a floor before and if so what are the pros and cons V a belt sander and an edgeing sander combo etc. The finish on the floor boards is the F & W tung oil based Floorseal.

I can do the tighter and smaller areas with my big old Elu belt sander but its a pain on your hands and knees doing it.

Chris

The HtF 2 looks like the guy for the job. I'd be careful of 40 grit on cypress though - maybe start at 120 and see what happens. Each type of sander has its own unique sanding action and needs a bit of experimentation to find the right grade grit to start and finish.

It sounds like you just want to take the very top layer of dirt off the floor - should be easy.

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Originally Posted by Dirty Doogie

The HtF 2 looks like the guy for the job. I'd be careful of 40 grit on cypress though - .

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Wont be starting with 40grit or hopefully even needing that grade, was thinking of starting with 60 then 80 then finish with 120, or even starting with 80 grit and see how that goes

The big orbitals are ok to use but they are finish sanders.
You'll take forever plus a few hours to flatten and level a floor with one.

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Originally Posted by echnidna

The big orbitals are ok to use but they are finish sanders.
You'll take forever plus a few hours to flatten and level a floor with one.

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This is sound advice.

The name of the machine say's it all for me. A Finishing sander.

Good luck.

The finishing sander is just for finishing and buffing between coats.

My recommendation would be a belt sander or drum sander, used by a huge amount of professional floor sanders. they will save you a lot of time.