What's on your bench today?

[GardenKit]

Forget it Rich, definately only for home users. Sure, its bound to do something, but it would not be very professional to charge a customer for such a job.

 

Cylinders need to be ground properly, and grinding gear costs a fortune. Best to not take in cylinder mowers or contract out the cylinders for sharpening after you have removed them. The trouble then is that by the time you add the grinding costs at betwen £1.50 and £2.00 per inch, to your labour, you have a big bill for the customer.

 

I was lucky to get an old Atterton and Ellis grinder for £70. It does a good enough job for my domestic mowers. Pro users may prefer 'relief ' grinding, and you wont get a cheap relief grinder.

[Rich2484]

Forget it Rich, definately only for home users. Sure, its bound to do something, but it would not be very professional to charge a customer for such a job.

 

Cylinders need to be ground properly, and grinding gear costs a fortune. Best to not take in cylinder mowers or contract out the cylinders for sharpening after you have removed them. The trouble then is that by the time you add the grinding costs at betwen £1.50 and £2.00 per inch, to your labour, you have a big bill for the customer.

 

I was lucky to get an old Atterton and Ellis grinder for £70. It does a good enough job for my domestic mowers. Pro users may prefer 'relief ' grinding, and you wont get a cheap relief grinder.

 

 

sorry baz, I'm not getting that tool.

 

I meant for Steve as he uses the beer mat and sand paper trick on his.thought that tool might be a little bit safer for him rather than him cutting his fingers off. I only take in cylinder mowers if there is a fault with them, I don't sharpen them or touch the cylinder. As you say the gear costs a fortune and 9 times out of 10 its cheaper to just get buy new. Or for the customer to just send it to another person who can sharpen them.

[spudulike]

Sounds ok then. Thought for a few quid can't go wrong really.

 

Had a weekend of spending, rock wood spark plugs, pull cord, balancer, coils.

 

Going to order a new carb for this quad tommorow aswell. Spend spend spend.

 

Been looking at sharpening equipment for cylinder mowers aswell, havnt seen he big grinders, but saw something that spud may be interested in, save using his beer mat and sand paper idea and may even be a bit safer aswell.

 

Multi-Sharp 1101 Cylinder Mower Sharpener 12in | eBay

 

Looks like a similar idea, my method does give a good enough edge and at minimal cost - just can't justify a heavy service bill for a grind on a mower worth around £60!

 

I did hear that puting the mower in a bed of sand and using the sand to grind in the cylinder and lower anvil was another option but that sounds a bit Heath Robinson to me:001_rolleyes:

 

30 min sharpen against hours and a lot of expense....sorry Barrie, the course emery paper and card wins every time:thumbup:

[GardenKit]

Yeah, I dont touch the lightweight electrics, because, as you say, if you do them properly they cost more than replacement.

 

If I did not have my grinder I would turn all cyl mowers away as I have too much work anyway and they are my least profitable.

 

My advice? Dont bother with them.

[GardenKit]

Looks like a similar idea, my method does give a good enough edge and at minimal cost - just can't justify a heavy service bill for a grind on a mower worth around £60!

 

I did hear that puting the mower in a bed of sand and using the sand to grind in the cylinder and lower anvil was another option but that sounds a bit Heath Robinson to me:001_rolleyes:

 

30 min sharpen against hours and a lot of expense....sorry Barrie, the course emery paper and card wins every time:thumbup:

Thing is Spud, if doing it your way you must turn the cylinder backwards when sharpening. Use a reversible drill with variable speed control.

 

Otherwise you take the leading edge off, rather than sharpening it.

 

And, its the only way it could possibly work using sand.

 

The better way is to 'backlap' using grinding paste between the cylinder and bottom bar and rotating backwards. This nicely matches the bottom bar to the cylinder.

 

Make sure the paste is completely washed off before rotaing forwards, or the hard earned edge will be lost.

[Eddy_t]

Thing is Spud, if doing it your way you must turn the cylinder backwards when sharpening. Use a reversible drill with variable speed control.

 

Otherwise you take the leading edge off, rather than sharpening it.

 

And, its the only way it could possibly work using sand.

 

The better way is to 'backlap' using grinding paste between the cylinder and bottom bar and rotating backwards. This nicely matches the bottom bar to the cylinder.

 

Make sure the paste is completely washed off before rotaing forwards, or the hard earned edge will be lost.

 

Do you know the speed for backlap? I know it's the slowest our ride-ons do but it's still fast, mind I can always have my mower re-ground at work, but that will shorten blade life

 

 

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[agg221]

My bench has some chains and a Granberg grinder on it. Just done the 226 DL chain, now on to the 'little' ones (52" and 36"). The thing which is not on my bench and should be is the 17mm socket. 076 starter cup has stripped its lugs, so I need to rob one off the other saw until I can weld the lugs back together. This needs a 17mm socket which I suspect to be lurking in my car but can't find.

 

Hmmmm.

 

Alec

 

Alec

 

No longer have any chains on my bench, having just finished sharpening approximately 47 linear feet of chain. That's nearly half a roll!

 

Tomorrow's job - find the socket and fix the 070.

 

Alec

[GardenKit]

Do you know the speed for backlap? I know it's the slowest our ride-ons do but it's still fast, mind I can always have my mower re-ground at work, but that will shorten blade life

 

 

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I have no idea if there is an optimum speed. Its something I have done for years but never been taught!

 

I use a Dewalt reversable drill with speed control and tend to keep it fairly slow. You get a feel for the optimum grinding by the torque on the drill handle and the sound of the grinding itself.

 

Keep moving the paste back with a paintbrush as the scroll takes it to one side.

 

Turn down the adjusters to get a good grind, but dont force them too far asyou will end up with too long a surface on the bottom bar which will grind back faster than the blade.

[BILLSMOWERS]

Nothing.

 

Yep nothing is on my bench. It's actually clear expept for machines awaiting parts. There is nothing that needs doing.

 

A bit of bad prep on my part by waiting until Easter weekend to order parts I suppose.

 

So its a day of land rover tomoz and getting ready for mot. I hate tose things.

 

A question I do need to ask is what does everyone think of these blade balance tools? Ordered one last week and awaiting its arrival. Not sure what to make of it really, anyone use one?

 

BRUSHCUTTER & LAWNMOWER ROTARY BLADE BALANCER | eBay

 

This is what you want to balance blades properly. Balance a blade on a cone and then test it on the magnamatic balancer and you will see just how out of balance it is

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MAGNA-MATIC-MAG-1000-BLADE-BALANCER-/280441693731?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item414ba0a623

[Ray1]

not on my bench but may be pending a winning bid.

 

stihl km130r combi tool | eBay

 

The bit about not being able to buy individual parts did make me chuckle, this guy certainly has one hell of a salesman working at his dealer, Fair enough the cost of parts would be more than a new machine. I wonder if this dealer is Stihls top salesman in the country