Correct Angle Blade, Tool Choice, and Maintenance (...)

Published: 22/10, 2018

Correct Angle Blade, Tool Choice, and Maintenance Improve Floor Stripper Efficiency 

An experiment by the UK Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) found that the secret to pouring the perfect pint of beer is in the angle. Similarly, changing the angle of a stripper blade can also improve the efficiency of floor removal and extend tooling life.

The angle a beer is poured is important as the bubbles therein affect the flavor; when the angle is too high, beer hits the glass more quickly, resulting in more bubbles and an altered taste. Instead of the usual 45-degree pouring angle, 15 degrees produces a shorter beer head makes for a much better tasting beverage.

It’s not only drinks where performance can be affected by angle. Floor strippers must be operated with tools at the right pitch, essentially the angle to the floor, for them to be as efficient as possible. 

Efficiency is important during surface preparation as it reduces the time and labor needed to remove a floor, ultimately impacting on a project’s return on investment. If a job’s square footage per hour is down, this could indicate that the machine is not working as it should. Maintaining sharp tooling at the correct pitch is a good way to prevent this from happening.

Keeping up speed
How hard the coating or material is, and how it is stuck to the floor dictate how the pitch of the blade should be set. The pitch should be adjusted to the sweet spot between the material on the floor and the concrete for maximum efficiency.  

Finding the sweet spot is important, as with too much pitch the machine can dig into the subfloor, causing the blade to wear more quickly. The blade can also snap if the operator hits something, potentially damaging the machine. Not enough pitch, and the machine will jump over the flooring without removing it, as it lacks the downward pressure on the blade.

Different tooling requires a different pitch. Tool choice is also determined by the material on the floor, so contractors must choose the correct blade for the application, be it removing ceramic, wood, carpet or tile. Certain tooling types, like wood or ceramic, may have a recommended pitch. However, with carpet and tile floors, finding the sweet spot can only be done by testing. Depending on the machine, changing the pitch can either be done manually or with a lever.  

National Flooring Equipment offers scrapers with a dual lift feature, where the pitch and angle can be changed in two places. This combination makes for a much stronger machine. Operators have a choice of adjustments to allow correct blade adjustment, without manually adjusting the front end of the machine. This is more important when removing ceramic and wood, as the specific angle needed can only be achieved with multiple adjustments.