Choosing a power trowel: 600, 750 or 950 mm pan?

The rule is simple enough: a large pan for open areas, a small pan along walls and around columns. On larger pours, they are used together.

The Swepac models

Six machines cover the range, and they differ in diameter, power source and weight:

• TR 600E — 600 mm, 230 V single-phase electric motor, 130 rpm, 63 kg. Edge trowel
• TR 600P — 600 mm, Honda GX160 petrol, infinitely variable 50–150 rpm, 65 kg. Edge trowel
• TR 750P — 750 mm, Honda GX160, 50–150 rpm, 68.5–72 kg
• TR 950E — 950 mm, 3.5 kW electric 3-phase, infinitely variable 40–130 rpm with soft start, 84 kg
• TR 950P — 950 mm, Honda GX200 or GX270, 50–150 rpm, 93–96 kg
• TR2000 HRM — ride-on power trowel, 2 × 950 mm pans, 18 kW Honda GX690, 285 kg net (without water and fuel), trowelling area 1905 × 935 mm

Electric or petrol — it comes down to working indoors

The petrol machines are more powerful and have no cable to drag around. Electric wins where the work is done indoors, in basements or in car parks where exhaust fumes cannot be vented.

The difference in noise is also real and measured: the TR 950E is specified at 72 dB(A) at the operator's ear and 98 dB(A) guaranteed sound power. The petrol version of the same size, the TR 950P, is at 92 dB(A) at the ear and 105 dB(A) sound power.

When the ride-on power trowel pays off

The TR2000 HRM has a trowelling area of 1905 × 935 mm and weighs 285 kg without water and fuel. It is a ride-on machine with a high operator position, and too heavy to be carried in. The machine is made for larger concrete surfaces. In a garage it is the wrong tool, and along walls you use one of the smaller machines. The TR 600P, TR 600E and TR 750P have a rotating ring with an O-ring that protects the wall from scrape marks.

What to consider first

• How many square metres per pour, and how many pours a year?
• Can you get the machine to where it will be used — door, lift, ramp?
• Are there exhaust restrictions on site?
• Do you also need an edging machine, or can the edges be trowelled by hand?

The equipment alongside the machine

Remember that trowelling is only the last step. The screeding before it — power screed, vibrating screed or modular screed — determines how much work the power trowel has to do. Get in touch and we will put together an equipment set-up that works as a whole.