Floor cleaning

  A printing plant does not have one floor problem. It has four or five, sitting within shouting distance, and the operator who runs a single scrubber across all of them ends up with a film on the floor and a complaint list from production.     Machine split: press hall, corrugator, converting   The three areas want different machines. The reason is aisle geometry, not soil.   Press hall. Rolls, trolleys and press units sit close together, so what matters is footprint and turning. A mid-size ride-on at 860 mm scrub width and a 1,100 mm suction width fits the gaps and still covers the open run along the presses. Our A7 ride-on scrubber is rated at 5,500 m²/h with 140 L clean and 150 L recovery, which is roughly three press bays on one tank. It turns on the spot, which is what you need at the end of a press line.   Corrugator and paper store. Open floor and heavy dust. Run lengths are long and the floor is clear, so a larger machine earns its place here.   Converting and despatch. Pallet stacks change every shift. A large machine waits to pass; it only pays off in the open despatch lane.   Area Scrub width Rate Tanks Press hall (A7) 860 mm / 1,100 mm suction 5,500 m²/h 140 L / 150 L Despatch, paper store (A17) 1,060 mm / 1,400 mm suction 8,600 m²/h 300 L / 350 L   The A17 runs a 36V/460Ah pack and is quoted at 7–8 hours on one charge. That is a full shift with the charging done overnight, not a mid-shift swap. At 1,525 kg it also wants a floor slab you have checked, not assumed.   Step-by-step daily cleaning routine   Sequence matters more than effort.   1. Dry through first. Run a dry sweep from the cleanest end toward the press hall. Paper dust goes in the bin, not the recovery tank. On a corrugator line this step can run the length of the line and back.   2. Spot-treat at the source. Ink at the press feet, adhesive at the gluer. Scrape the bulk, apply degreaser, give it the dwell time on the label, then scrub. Ten minutes here saves a full-hall scrub.   3. Scrub clean end to dirty end. Aisles last, not first, or you drag press-hall water back through the clean zone.   4. Watch the recovery water. When it turns grey-black, stop and dump before the next aisle. A full tank does not suction, and a machine that is not suctioning is just spreading.   5. Squeegee check before the last pass. One nick in the rubber leaves a line across a whole aisle, and it will still be there in the morning.     Slip risk, dust and worker safety   Two safety issues come straight from the floor here: slip on damp sealed concrete, and dust in the air during dry sweeping.   Sealed concrete becomes genuinely slippery when damp. That is why the scrubber should leave the floor as dry as it can, and why the squeegee and suction motor deserve more attention than the brush. A pass that looks clean but leaves a sheen is a hazard.   Dry sweeping a corrugator line lifts paper dust into the air, where it settles on wet ink and machine guards. A damp pass or a scrub-sweep with a hopper does the job without the cloud.   FAQ Can a floor scrubber remove dried ink from a press hall floor? Fresh mist, yes, with a degreaser and short dwell. Ink bonded into a sealer needs mechanical action first. Brush pressure alone will not do it. Why does the floor look worse after scrubbing? Usually dirty recovery water or a worn squeegee. Both leave a film that dries as haze. Dump the tank when it turns grey and check the squeegee edge before the final pass. What size scrubber fits a press hall? Around 860 mm scrub width with a 1,100 mm suction path, on a machine that can turn on the spot. Measure the narrowest gap between a press and the nearest roll or trolley before you shortlist anything. Printing plant floor cleaning is three jobs in one building. Sweep dry before anything gets wet, treat ink and adhesive at the source, and size the machine to the aisle rather than the square metres. A7 for the press hall, A17 for the open despatch floor, and a Sunday shutdown for everything the daily pass cannot reach. That combination keeps the floor dry, the squeegee honest and the incident log short. Size a machine for your plant Send us your floor plan, aisle widths and the soils you fight most. We will come back with the scrub width that fits . Tel: +1 2403149021  |  Email: kliu@jiechi.com