Orbiter Sander's something different, IIRC it's a vibration sander. They typically draw less power than usual floor sanders. The one i used was a german-made standard belt floor sander with a 1800W/230V 1ph motor. While starting up the lights dimmed noticeably for more than 1 second! The sander was hooked up via standard Schuko plug.
Scary type of work around here is done by people who don't have receptacles around (outdoor work, work in appartment house basements with old wiring,...). What these guys most commonly do is cut off the plug of their extension cord, open the main fuse box in the stairway (ahead of the meters) and wrap a long stripped end of their conductors around the DIAZED fuse screwshells (somewhere in the Non-US-section there's a description of these fuses). This means that their stuff is on the load side of a 20 to 63A fuse. Ground is usually left dangling in mid-air. Most tools they use are double-insulated anyway. Looking at this, alligator clips can still be considered good workmanship. [Linked Image]
Here I'm talking of all businesses. Masons, electricians (yeah, I saw several licensed sparkies using the wrap-method),...
Another guy hooked up his Hilti rotary drill hammer to the stoneaged light circuit in our basement (back then the wiring should have been fused 6A but was overfused with 10A). The guys repolishing the marble in our stairway clipped alligator clips to the line side fuse links. After my dad nearly got at their throat they plugged their stuff into one of our receptacles and left a 2000W electric heater running all night. [Linked Image]
This was when I pulled the plug!