Regardless of what kind of machine you have, the key to longevity is taking care of it. While we spend exceptional time ensuring each of our floor scrapers is designed and built to last, it won’t have the long life it should if you don’t spend the time taking care of it. So, if you’ve chosen to purchase an Anderson Innovations Walk-Behind Floor Scraper or Ride-On Floor Scraper, here are some tips to maintain a floor scraping machine.
Make sure your machine is turned off before performing any maintenance!
Regular maintenance and check-ups
Issues with your floor scraping machine are always best to catch early on. To do that, here are some things that we suggest you look at on a regular basis:
- Check the oil level
- Inspect the hardware on panels and controls; tighten when required
- Check torque on the wheel motor castle nuts and lug nuts
- Clean the wheels of any accumulated debris (debris buildup with cause a decrease in traction)
- Inspect the wheels for damage and sufficient rubber
- Ensure all safety devices are installed and working
- Check floor scraper for oils leaks (with the machine off)
Periodic maintenance
Another thing that is easy to forget about, but needs to be changed is the oil and oil filter. At least annually, old oil needs to be drained and replaced and the old filter needs to be swapped out with a fresh one. The hydraulic system can be damaged if the oil and filter are neglected.
To make sure that the machine is up to safety standards, you’ll need to replace all safety and instruction labels if and as needed. Contact us if you need to replace any safety labels.
Electrical and Hydraulic Maintenance
Another thing that we recommend you do at least every 3 months is to inspect the electrical cables and components as well as the hydraulic lines. Ensuring there are no leaks, knicks, or other damages will ensure that your machine is safe and performing efficiently. Again be sure that the machine is off before performing this inspection. In addition, verify that the hydraulic fluid of your floor scraper is both clean, and at the specified level and clean will ensure that your machine is working properly.
Sharpen your floor scraper’s blade
As soon as the blade touches the floor it’s no longer sharp, but only varying degrees of dull. To get the most our of your floor stripping machine you need to keep your blade in good shape. To do that, it needs to be sharpened regularly. Here are some tips for sharpening your blades:
- Always wear gloves and safety glasses
- Grind the blade with a grinding wheel of 120 grit or finer
- Move the grinder along the beveled edge of the blade and hold the grinder at the correct angle to the blade
- Changing to a fresh grinding pad will prevent too much heat building up during the grinding.
- If your blade is extremely dull and requires a large amount of grinding, quench your blade periodically to prevent it from getting too hot which can reduce the hardness of your blade causing it to get dull faster.
- Do not grind both sides of the blade. Grind on the side with the bevel, and only use the grinder on the other side to remove the burr.
- If using a hand grinder, be sure to sharpen the blade so that the rotation of the grinder is moving from the behind the edge toward the edge of the blade, not from the edge toward the back of the blade (see figure below).
Getting started with Anderson Innovations
All of the above-listed information is a general overview of how you need to maintain a floor scraping machine. To view more detailed information, visit our resources page and locate the manual for your floor scraper. Performing all these tasks will ensure both that longevity of your machine and the efficiency of it.
You can view all of our Walk-Behind Floor Scrapers here and all of our Ride-On Floor Scrapers here. If you’re ready to purchase your own Anderson Innovations floor scraping machine or you want to become one of our distributors, contact us to get started!
