Rotary Cutter Rotary cutter safety devices

[Soundguy]

i made a guard out of 4 bucks worth of semi-truck mudflaps.. and about 11 bucks worth of perfed angle iron and nut/bolt hardware... works awesome.

Soundguy

I'm wondering what you guys have with regard to safety devices on your rotary cutters? To stop stuff flying out and such....
I've heard of chains around the blade to stop stuff flying out, was it Henro who put mesh on his ROPS to stop stuff hitting him? What do you have?


I've been knocking up a mower for cutting tall weeds, and just looking for ideas

Thanks

 

[roxynoodle]

Thanks for the photos. All good ideas for protection from flying objects. I remember reading one old thread where someone had run over a nest of copperheads with a rotary cutter and one hit him in the back! That, at least, I don't have to worry about, but protection from rocks would be a good idea.

 

[Gamemaster]

I also built mine with truck mud flaps..work next to a trucking co. They told me the flaps get replaced on a a scheduled basis ( they buy them by the skid ) so they had a pile of junks one , but some were in great shape..got'em for free. I used some angle steel , bolts/fender washers. The flaps cut like butter on a band saw, had about $40.00 into it both front and rear..

 

[1bush2hog]

BushHog,
Do you have any trouble with chains getting caught up in anything like wire or weeds?


The chains do not get hung up on anything, however, I bent the metal on the back of my RC and the blades do slap the end of the chains occassionally when I am backing up.

My cutter originally came with guard on the back made of conveyor belt, however, after backing into brush and thick stuff this material did not last long, thus the reason I replaced with chains. I also added optional chains on the front of the RC and they do a great job of eliminating debris from flying out of the front while cutting.

I thought about adding the screen material to the back of my ROPS, but decided on the chains for the front of the RC instead and am glad I went this route. If you use a winch on the back of your tractor you may want to consider the heavy screen though to reduce the possibility of a flying winch cable slapping you if you operate the winch while in the tractor seat. I operate my winch while I am standing beside my tractor.

The chain option for my RC (Brown 484) was appx. $150 for each end

 

[RobJ]

I'll try...have not posted a pic since the new TBN appeared...

Here goes...don't know if the pics will appear or not...

These were taken a while back before my tractor evolved a bit.

Henro, that is one HD looking BH. Can your B lift it without pulling the wheels? Looks like a BH my BIL would use on his 70hp tractor.

 

[Highbeam]

"I've been knocking up a mower "

How's that been working for you? It has a bit of a different meaning in the US.

I use no protection on the hogwhile mowing and have never been hit by anything except a maple limb that my ROPS had sprung on me. I do fling lots of junk and debris out from under the mower, just not back into the operator station.

 

[Henro]

Henro, that is one HD looking BH. Can your B lift it without pulling the wheels? Looks like a BH my BIL would use on his 70hp tractor.

Rob,

It is a Woods BB60, not real heavy duty, and works well with my B2910.

The tractor lifts it with the loader off, but I have most recently used it with the loader on. I was thinking as I was using it today how questions come up regarding whether a 5' rotary cutter is usable with a tractor the size of a B7800/B2910/B3030. As long as the cutting is not too tough, seems like this size mower is a good fit for this size tractor.

That being said, I now kind of wish I had bought a 48" rotary cutter...cause that would work on my BX2200 as well...

 

[Mith]

"I've been knocking up a mower "

How's that been working for you? It has a bit of a different meaning in the US.

It does for sure......

I've been building a mower



Thanks for all the info and pics all.
I think I will probably use chains on the front, and leave the back open. I might leave the front open, but only if chains are expensive or dont work the way I want them to. Almost definately I'll use Henro's idea, and put some sort of protection up the back of the tractor.

Thanks

 

[Neophyte]

If you are mowing around anything valuable (people, vehicles, buildings, livestock, etc.) then I wouldn't leave the back open. At a minimum, use the inexpensive mudflap idea.

 

[sandman2234]

Here is an ebay auction of a mower with a couple pic's of the chains. Notice they aren't as heavy duty as some of the others, but anything that slows down an object is a good idea.
I purchased this deck with the intention of making a ditch mower running off my hydraulics, but may be changing my mind on how I want to continue with the project, so this mower may end up for sale.

eBay: MOWER DECK HYDRAULIC SLOPE, BANK, HILL MOWER 5FT CUT (item 140017272560 end time Aug-14-06 17:51:50 PDT)