An independent Franco-Benelux publication
  • Nederlands
  • Français
An independent international publication
  • English
You are here:Guest Speakers»Ad Groenen and Kris De Rudder (Husqvarna Construction surface and floors Benelux)
Tuesday, 04 April 2023 16:51

Ad Groenen and Kris De Rudder (Husqvarna Construction surface and floors Benelux)

Special "Who sells walk-behind machines for roughing up old tiles, grinding the screed, and removing old carpet, adhesive residue, and such like?"

Floor Forum International N° 128, February 2023

"Maximising ergonomics plays a crucial role"
When it comes to 'surface and floor' surface and floor machining in the Benelux, Husqvarna Construction is an authority you cannot ignore. In terms of Walk behind machines for roughening concrete, removing old tiles, sanding terazzo, removing carpet or glue residues, and so on, the company has everything it needs to win over the flooring industry.

We talk to Kris De Rudder, sales manager surfaces and floors Benelux, who is responsible for all areas that have to do with surface and floor treatment in the Benelux, and Ad Groenen, account manager, a man with more than 30 years of specialised experience in the flooring industry. Both men outline how Walk behind should be seen very broadly these days. Of course, there are the classic machines you walk behind, but in addition, the evolution of remote-controlled implements is moving at lightning speed. There are several reasons for this, with maximising ergonomics at number one. They go on to point out how important dust extraction is and how every solution is aiming for a cordless, battery-powered alternative in the future.

Ergonomics, battery power and dust extraction
Kris De Rudder: "In the various applications, we listen to the customer's needs and have predominantly electrically powered machines. Of course, evolution and innovation do not stand still. We already have several battery-powered machines in the Husqvarna range, including also within surfaces and floors, such as the ride-on-stripper and in the near future also some dust extractors."
Ad Groenen: "The aim is to minimise the load. It almost goes without saying that you start looking mainly at the heavier machines, because there is a lot of power involved and the choice for remote control is the most logical one."
Kris De Rudder: "Dust extraction is an extremely important working point. For example, you can attach a dust extractor to everything at our company these days. Working in a healthy environment is crucial, which is why you also need to be able to capture the finest dust. For the latter, we use the Air Cleaner, which you place in the corners of the room to be treated and which 'captures' all the dust. This fits into Husqvarna's overall concept, which we explained earlier."

Gamma consists of five parts
Moving on to the Walk behind range, you can see how it is divided into five parts: floor strippers, milling machines, shavers, sanders and blasting machines. The first three components are mainly focused on floor preparation, the last two are mainly related to further finishing."

Floor strippers
Ad Groenen: "The floor strippers involve machines that can remove floor covering, glue residues, tiles or even parquet. The strippers consist of about four types, from fairly small like the BS 75, to the BS 220, a total ride-on with full battery pack that you can work with for 6 to 8 hours. The smallest, the BS 75, is a typical machine that an individual will use. It runs on mains power, weighs 128 kg without added weights, is fully dismountable and comes with the necessary dust extraction (DE 120). Slightly heavier is the BS 110 and even heavier is the BS 150, a ride-on 230-volt for removing tiled floors and possibly parquet and carpet."

Milling machines
Kris De Rudder: "The milling machines also broadly come in four different types. The entry-level model is the single-phase BMP 215, which runs on normal mains electricity, but can also be supplied with a fuel engine. This BMP 215 is suitable for small areas and light roughing work and possibly also removing thin coatings and glue residues. Then you go heavier and heavier. This leads to the BMP 265 (380-volt high-voltage, optionally also with fuel engine), the BMP 335 (380-volt high-voltage, optionally available with remote control) and the BMP 4000 (high-voltage, optionally with fuel engine and/or remote control). The BMP 335 is intended for milling away somewhat thicker wearing courses or screeds, while the BMP 4000 is used for heavy-duty jobs. Think, for example, of large industrial halls and possibly even road construction."

Shaving machines
Next, we move on to the shaving machines. These can also be used for milling, but the difference is that the tools underneath are different.
Ad Groenen: "I point to the BMC 335 and the BMP 4000. Both come with conversion kits and they are multifunctional machines for creating a different speed. Both machines can also be fitted with remote control, with the BMC 335 being the lightest of the two. The material to be removed can be anything: old glue or levelling layers, coatings, screeds, cement layer,... to even a terrazzo floor."
Kris De Rudder: "Shaving is perfect for removing anything that cannot be removed with other technology, without causing a lot of vibration. The dust and contaminants generated by the shaver are discharged to a special dust collection system. Thus, the process is virtually dust-free in a closed circuit."

Blasting machines
With the blasting machines, as indicated earlier, we are in another segment, that towards further floor finishing. In this category, we find a dozen types, with both a hand blasting machine and Walk behind machines.
Ad Groenen: "For smaller surfaces, the hand blaster 1-5HH at 230 volts is ideal. The range goes all the way up to the large 2-48DS. As a Walk behind, I can highlight, among others, the 1-7D, a 230-volt bullet blaster, which you push yourself. I should mention here that all blasting machines should always be combined with a larger dust extractor."

Sanders
Finally, there are the sanders, which we covered earlier. The range is particularly wide, and we particularly point out the distinction between single-head sanders and planetary sanders (with three or four heads).
Kris De Rudder: "Single-head machines are for smaller surfaces and aggressive sanding, it's about removing material locally. An interesting one for the parquet worker seems to me to be the BGS 250 on 230 volts. With planetary machines, you work on larger surfaces and also roughen up floors. If necessary, you sand a floor completely and polish through to an aesthetically pleasing finished floor. Among the three-headed machines, the PG 690 RC with remote control stands out the most for me. Among the 'four-headers', I point to the HTC RX8 RC, also with remote control."

Moreover, for all these machines, Husqvarna has an extensive range of accessories and diamond tools that make the job go smoothly and competently.