Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[KenB2920]

LEONZ:

You always mention a wet well sharpener ..... I assume this is due to the heat. I'm curious if there would be anything wrong with touching a the blades by hand with a file. Just a thought if I ding one.


On a side note, super easy to remove the blades from the ford 907 but extremely tedious taking them off the mott with 90+ stations

 

[KenB2920]

LEONZ:

You always mention a wet well sharpener ..... I assume this is due to the heat. I'm curious if there would be anything wrong with touching a the blades by hand with a file. Just a thought if I ding one.


On a side note, super easy to remove the blades from the ford 907 but extremely tedious taking them off the mott with 90+ stations

 

[leonz]

LEONZ:

You always mention a wet well sharpener ..... I assume this is due to the heat. I'm curious if there would be anything wrong with touching a the blades by hand with a file. Just a thought if I ding one.


On a side note, super easy to remove the blades from the ford 907 but extremely tedious taking them off the mott with 90+ stations

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Hello ken,

If you ding one AND there is significant damage
throw it in the scrap bucket and replace it with a new one.

One pass with a wet well grinder will be much faster and more
beneficial as you are still heating the cutting edge with a hand
file no matter how fine it is.

I fully understand about the issues with the knife stations and
the work required to remove and install the side slicers.

The issue is simply design as I have commented on many times before-

The use of large diameter bar stock wherein one is using longer side slicer knives
is or was lower cost per unit substitute for designing and building a large diameter
rotor with smaller knife mounting weldments.

The added cost of the longer length side slicer knife per unit is an
opportunity cost taken by the manufacturer of the flail mower to
sell a flail mower product wherein the use of round bar stock and
then balancing the smaller diameter finished flail mower rotor on
a high rotation speed balancer are no less important.

No less important than the larger drum flail mower rotors that must also be
balanced on a high rotation speed balancer for flail shredder choppers.

I wish all flail mower rotors were like mine where I do not need tools to
change 64 pairs of side slicers-128-side slicer knives and 64 dethatching
blades.

The spring mounts are loops where the knives are allowed to move horizontally
when the speed of rotation is high and become airfoils.

The end user would spend less on side slicer knives and the cut would be
equal a reel mower as the knife mounting stations allow the knives to
become airfoils and create additional lift to carry the clippings over the
flail mower rotor and back down to the ground.

 

[hunt4570]

LEONZ:

You always mention a wet well sharpener ..... I assume this is due to the heat. I'm curious if there would be anything wrong with touching a the blades by hand with a file. Just a thought if I ding one.




On a side note, super easy to remove the blades from the ford 907 but extremely tedious taking them off the mott with 90+ stations

Problem with the grinder is yes, heat.. you can get it so hot(blue) as to take the temper out of the metal making it to soft. Not humanly possible to get it hot enough with a hand file to effect the metal.

 

[Thomabear]

Problem with the grinder is yes, heat.. you can get it so hot(blue) as to take the temper out of the metal making it to soft. Not humanly possible to get it hot enough with a hand file to effect the metal.

X2 on the hand file not producing damaging heat. Personally I use a stand mounted belt sander with a 5 gallon bucket of water. I just grind a little then cool then repeat. Nothing gets hot enough to affect the metal and the belt sander provides the perfect angle to the scoop knives. I also weigh the knives on a small digital food scale to maintain balance. Takes about 45 minutes or a little longer to pull, sharpen and reinstall a complete set and I'm done for the season.

 

[hunt4570]

Takes about 45 minutes or a little longer to pull sharpen and reinstall a complete set and I'm done for the season.

How many knives does your flail have?

 

[KenB2920]

Excellent!!! Thanks all.


Just curious. As stated you sharpen them once per season. How much do you cut each time you go out? Acres? Also, is all of this already short or do you guys cut tall stuff Dow. Each time ? What is the definition of each persons "tall"

To me tall is 18"-36" Id say

 

[KenB2920]

Excellent!!! Thanks all.


Just curious. As stated you sharpen them once per season. How much do you cut each time you go out? Acres? Also, is all of this already short or do you guys cut tall stuff Dow. Each time ? What is the definition of each persons "tall"

To me tall is 18"-36" Id say

 

[IslandTractor]

I mow fields and brush, not lawns. I don't sharpen at all. I hit enough rocks and lose knives often enough that I go through a whole set about once every three or four seasons.

 

[KenB2920]

I mow fields and brush, not lawns. I don't sharpen at all. I hit enough rocks and lose knives often enough that I go through a whole set about once every three or four seasons.

Excellent. This makes me feel better. I cut different uncut fields all the time and would like to move into flail cutting vs brush hogging.

A new belt will be in tomorrow for the Mott but I'm gonna try the ford on a job tomorrow ....