Know Your Market  The type of equipment needed starts with understanding the project size and your target market [i.e. concrete polishing vs. coating removal and grinding.]

Concrete Grinders  Can be characterized as planetary or rotary.  Understanding the difference between the two technologies will enable you to choose the right grinder to smooth, prep, level or polish a concrete floor.

• Gear design allows the grinder to move in a straight line across the floor with relative ease, which means greater flexibility and less struggle for operators

• Best used on less aggressive jobs such as smoothing out a concrete floor or preparing smaller floors for an epoxy coating

• Gearbox is spread to 2, 3, 4 and more heads, the design typically provides more torque during starting and then transferred to increased RPM speeds for polishing.

Summary:  Best for polishing.

• Gear design is a direct connection from the motor to the grinding head which maximizes energy and efficiency while reducing amp draw and avoids friction loss and wear that occurs with an offset planetary gearbox

• Maintenance is minimal and the purchase price is less because the planetary gearbox is eliminated.

• Direct connection from the motor eliminates belts and pulleys that are in planetary grinders

• Design optimizes the grinder's weight and rotational speed while maintaining high torque which a planetary grinder does not

• Wheels-Up vs. Wheels-Down Machine
  >  Rotary machines with "wheels-up" are harder to operate and requires more training for operators
  > Skilled and unskilled users can take advantage of the direct drive / wheels-up design to perform more intensive tasks such as removing heavy mastic or thick layers of paint from a concrete surface.