Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[John0829]

A little more info, it is a 74" cut with 48 stations, 96 blades. Here are some pics I took of it right after I got it home. Any and all help is appreciated as I would really like to get this to leave a mostly smooth cut.

 

[Fallon]

Hello Leonz I'll probably remove all of the flails on the 200 that's 52 bolts! All in locations too tight for access with air tools so it's a hand wrench job. My son thought a dial indicator on the end of the shaft would work. Do you think I should intersperse the new flails along the whole rotor rather than at each end since they all have individual orbits,and use only 1 new flail with an older flail per shackle? I've always lightly touch sharpened each blade in the past, would that have changed the balance?

I worried about that on my old 917 when I was short some flails. I was surprised at how smooth it ran when I lost a couple knives due to some rocks. It wasnt that smooth, but it was suprising it didnt sound at all like it was trying to tear itself apart. I tend to think you'll be fine doing any reasonable job replacing knives as long as you stick with the same type. Interspersing them evenly would be the best option.

 

[Kiotidriver]

The skids are actually reasonably priced! But welding some flat stock on there would not be that expensive either, the only difficult part is bending it to match curve of the skids. Difficult for many home mechanics, not for a pro fabricator or an experienced amateur.

I'm also concerned about ASC's new California policy since ASC was the best place to get parts for my Kodiak rotary cutter. Apparently there's a Prop 65 commission who changed some rules recently to require Prop 65 statements to specifically mention at least one chemical that's carcinogenic rather than a blanket statement (which everyone ignores). I've found a few references to businesses who have temporarily stopped selling to CA until they can upgrade their systems to track the added information, and get it from their suppliers. But there are many that are smaller than ASC who are dealing with it. ASC's response could be political. I've seen some businesses who hate California (or the image they have of California which is often based on inaccurate media) so much that they won't sell to CA residents. But I wouldn't accuse ASC of that without knowing for sure. I can't find a statement about their California policy on their web site.

Here's a couple links about prop 65:
The Impact of California Prop 65 on Ecommerce | Practical Ecommerce
Online wine yes, coffee no: Scrambling to keep up with California's new Prop. 65 toxic warnings | CALmatters

Eric, Thank you for your Prop 65 links. While I understand the original goals of Prop 65 (I may have voted for it), its application went too far. We can see that the CA trial lawyers are the winners. After reading the material, I understand why some ecommerce companies do not want to deal with it and refuse to ship to CA.

 

[leonz]

A little more info, it is a 74" cut with 48 stations, 96 blades. Here are some pics I took of it right after I got it home. Any and all help is appreciated as I would really like to get this to leave a mostly smooth cut.

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Hello and good morning John0829,


The cutting edges are pretty dull john, I would flip the side slicer pairs and see how
well they look. you may just luck out and have a good set of edges on the opposite side.

Its nice to see that you have a trash election door on your flail mower as you can mow in deep thick brush and eject it quickly without clogging the flail mower.
Just be sure that there is no one within 300 feet of the flail mower when mowing with the trash door open.


If they are not damaged they will spin fine.

The last time I checked micromark was selling their wet well grinders for $99.00 Plus tax and shipping and the folks at master craft were selling
their gauge setting tool for $25.00 plus tax and shipping and you will have a perfect edge every time as the wet well grinder spins at a very low
rpm and the temper on the steel will not be ruined.

My father used a table belt sander in his wood shop to sharpen his side slicers(not crazy about that but it worked).

Be sure to have the swear jar handy :^0

It will be worth your while to invest in fine thread allen head bolts and use blue Loctite to secure the fine threaded nuts to replace them as needed.

Using a long handled Allen wrench will give you more leverage to loosen them if and when you need to change side slicer pairs.

I would suggest that you
1. wear good thick leather gloves
2. invest in a new pair of high quality 12 point box end wrenches as you will have an easier time in removing the nuts and bolts.
3. a big bottle of blue Loctite(don't let it freeze)

 

[Sid Post]

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...

The last time I checked micromark was selling their wet well grinders for $99.00 Plus tax and shipping and the folks at master craft were selling
their gauge setting tool for $25.00 plus tax and shipping and you will have a perfect edge every time as the wet well grinder spins at a very low
rpm and the temper on the steel will not be ruined.

...

I found this Micromark Sharpener for ~$125 plus S/H.

Which Master Craft gauge setting tool are you referring too? There are about a jillion links when I search!

 

[hunt4570]

Shame on ASC!

Nothing personal but I was thinking more of shame on California... again!

 

[hunt4570]

I will try to adjust it as you suggested when I receive my new skids. As it is set now, when the mower is resting on flat ground the roller is 1/2 inch higher.
Now I am not sure what you mean by adjusting the height of the mower with the top link. My understanding of the top link function is for adjusting the longitudinal level of your implement, in this case the flail mower.
On my rig I adjusted the top link, so the pin is located in the center of the slot of the mower hitch frame, when the mower is resting on a flat ground (see picture).
The only way I know for adjusting ground clearance of an implement is with the hydraulic 3-point hitch. The position control lever lowest limit can be set with a lock bolt on the quadrant. I wish my tractor was equipped with a draft control, but it is not.

So lets get back to the way these things are adjusted to mow. I have the Caroni also so I have a hole or a slot to hook the top link to. I've tried both and not sure how much difference it makes.. AND apparently having the skids at the same height/level as the roller is not correct either and I have the grooves all over the place to prove it.
So how bout a tutorial/discussion on how AND why everyone adjusts and hooks up their flail..

thanks...

 

[aczlan]

So lets get back to the way these things are adjusted to mow. I have the Caroni also so I have a hole or a slot to hook the top link to. I've tried both and not sure how much difference it makes.. AND apparently having the skids at the same height/level as the roller is not correct either and I have the grooves all over the place to prove it.
So how bout a tutorial/discussion on how AND why everyone adjusts and hooks up their flail..

thanks...

Lengthening the toplink forces the flail to rotate backwards which pushes the rear roller down and increases the cutting edge to ground distance.

Aaron Z

 

[John0829]

I will flip the slicers pairs first chance I get, raining here for the next several days according the the forecasters and the shop is to full to get it inside, then will report back on how it does. I did take a side grinder and touch up the slicers though the rear door after I got it home thinking it would help. If this improves the cut I will purchase a new set to have on hand for next time it needs it.

I will check into a wet grinder, its about the only tool I do not have, I tend to do all blade sharpening on the belt sander since I discovered YEARS ago how nice an edge it put on them.

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Hello and good morning John0829,


The cutting edges are pretty dull john, I would flip the side slicer pairs and see how
well they look. you may just luck out and have a good set of edges on the opposite side.

 

[arto98607]

..............The last time I checked micromark was selling their wet well grinders for $99.00 Plus tax and shipping and the folks at master craft were selling
their gauge setting tool for $25.00 plus tax and shipping and you will have a perfect edge every time as the wet well grinder spins at a very low
rpm and the temper on the steel will not be ruined......................

I have the exact same wet well sharpener but with Craftsman name on it.

It's a fine sharpener for woodworking chisels, knives, maybe even occasionally axe and such but I would never even try to use it for flail mower blades or any mower blades for that matter.

It was intended for lighter duty sharpening and will do pretty good job at that.

Just my opinion based on personal experience on using one.