orbital sander correct handling please

I'm refinishing my parquet oak floors.
I've been using the 'toe' and/or 'heel' of the sander to smooth the lbarely lifted edges and take off the old varnish (poly')
Someone said "use the orbital flat to the floor". Well then I can't get all the varnish off. What is the correct handling please. Thanks, Dia

 

Dia:

Is this what you have?

 

Hello Greg, It's a Porter and Cable hand held. I'm currently using a 4" rubber disc because they were out of the 6" pad that I really wanted. I appreciate your reply. To get under to toe space of the cupboards must I use the sand paper over a block of 2 X 4? Seems the only thing that will fit under. Thanks again, Dia

 

dia :

How about this one?



If this is what you are using I'm afraid your using the wrong tool.
As you have found out it doesn't have the weight or power to remove the finish in a reasonable amount of time.
As well if you were to manage to sucessfully get the finish off, the surface will be terribly uneven.
Also if it's a pre-finished wood floor then it will be even more difficult as the finish they put on is tougher than anything applied by hand.

I'm afraid if you want to do a good job in a reasonable amount of time you will have to rent a machine like in the above post.

Flecto site: http://www.flecto.com/product.asp?<b...t_id=188&SBL=1

Sanding info: http://www.woodfloordoctor.com/caseinpoint/orbital.html

I redid a maple LR, DR and hallway in our present house and believe me even with the Flecto sander it was tough going.

 

Greg, thanks so much for the link about the sanding story using the stand up orbital and the Porter and Cable. Everyone has said, 'are you crazy' when I explained I intended the sand the beautiful 3 1/4" wide X 5/8" BIRCH hardwood floor my brother laid a year ago was still raw wood with a hand held orbital....... however a week later it came out very much to my liking. I sanded and sanded and filled and sanded and filled so all the voids were gone sanded again with 80 grit then applied the first coat of poly, then roughed it with 180 grit and appliied the second coat... l coat a day until after three days ( and a week after the sanding smooth the edges where the boards came together), I stopped. Three weeks later my knees stopped hurting and I am currently tackeling the kitchen/ dining room as I explained. It's been three days and I feel the removal of the old finish makes for a more difficult job. I was just wondering it I was using the Porter and Cable correctly by pressing into the 'toe' of the pad and also the 'heel' of the pad to sand off the rough edges that have lifted over the forty years. I really appreciate your message Greg. Thanks, Dia

 

Sorry for the delay in responding as my recently built computer is in a state of motherboard warranty limbo and won't be back for a couple of days.

You are free to use the sander in any way that doesn't overload it.
I don't mean to discourage you from using a small sander for a complete floor refinish.
I have only done one floor refinishing project in the home we now own.
The previous owner redid the floors but they were all marked up and we decided to use the Flecto system to spruce them up.
Although the floor only appeared to need a light sanding and a recoat, once we began removing the finish with the big sander the unevenness of the previously hand sanded floor became painfully obvious. A quick job became a major project.

 

If you have to use the toe or heel of the sander to get it to work it sounds like you need to change your sand paper. Sand paper gets dull.