Add CHAIN GUARDS To Rotary Cutter

[john_bud]

Rob,

Sorry I was out and about not able to see your thread until now. Best way is to NOT weld (too late, I know!). You slot the metal that attaches to the cutter deck - one slot per chain. A rod runs thru the chain that sticks up thru the slots and the rod is bolted in place. That way when (not if!) you lose a chain, it's a 5 min, hand too only job to replace the missing or messed up chain.


Also, metal fume fever from welding zinc, while not fun - has NO LONG TERM EFFECTS. It is not posionous, deadly or any thing of the sort. The linked doc posted above shows that plainly on page 2/3 at the end. Don't go sniff the fumes, but also don't run back in the house and write your last will and testament or tell the boss what you really think of him after a quick sniff. You'll be fine in a couple of hours !

 

[tlbuser]

don't run back in the house and write your last will and testament or tell the boss what you really think of him after a quick sniff. You'll be fine in a couple of hours !

 

[3RRL]

John,
Oh great, now you tell me.
Dave of Dave's tractor said in post #20 that's the way the factory ones are made. Pretty neat, but quite a lot more machine time up front milling all those little slots and then drilling and tapping for the bolts. I figure for all the front, rear and side bars about a good days work of set up and machining, although I agree it's probably the best way to do it.

When I break one off, I figure to grind off the stub, cut a new length and weld it. If it takes me 20 minutes, I'm still way ahead. lol ... That's a lot of chains to repair to get even. It worked out pretty good this way for me and I'm getting lazy in my old age.

 

[john_bud]

No no, not lazy. The new lingo is working smarter, not working harder!

Now me, I'm lazy. I ordered the chains with mine. Unfortunately, they didn't come in with the cutter and took some bit of time afterwards to get. The dealer felt so bad that he didn't charge me for them. So, it worked out "OK" in the end.

jb

 

[patrick_g]

If you use an O-A torch or plasma cutter you can cut holes to mount the chains with a "skewer" fast and easy with no machining. If you are after function and looks aren't super important you wouldn't even need to grind.

My OEM chains came mounted on a shish kabob skewer with little dinky pins for keepers and they came apart in brush and ALL THE CHAINS are out there somewhere, I know not where for a few years!

A very important part of the skewer approach is to make darned sure the long skewer is secured really well.

If the chain link that is welded to the mower is welded securely it should never need to be replaced or at least not for hundreds or maybe thousands of mowing hours. If the dangling part of the chain wears out just use one of those chain mender links to add more chain. Once you have as neat a weld job as shown in the pix I recommend leaving it intact and using the repair links to add chain if ever required. Why grind and weld again? IF you are as cheap as I act sometimes use a bolt cutter on a chain link, give it a twist to open it up so you can add it and then close the link and secure with a wire feed gun or very carefully with a stick. Why make a lot of extra work?

Of course I am writing this after coming in to the house because I picked up some one elses discarded wire with the brush hog and it brought the blades to a stop and killed the engine. I will have to take the blades and stump jumper off AGAIN to clear the wrap. Never had this happen before bad enough to freeze it up.

Pat

 

[hill]

I used six links per chain at first but found that one or another or more would flip up and over the mount bar at the back of the mower so I cut them all to five links. Now it seems like not enough chain weight flips onto the "landing" for the chain to stay up. The remaining weight pulls it back down I guess.

So length of each chain would vary with the depth of the cutter and the chain should probably only just reach the bottom level of it at their longest.

If I saw someone using a brush cutter without chain guards I'd want to run for my life. Rather be shot again than hit by some knarly old chunk of hardwood schrapnel fired out of a brushhog cannon.

You can lick galvanized steel - it's a necessary food ingredient (look at any multivitamin ingredient list). But watch out for Cadmium. That stuff's fumes can kill you.

 

[TwinWillows]

Rob,
Very nice installation w/the standoffs & welding. Anything you'd change after operating with it?

 

[3RRL]

Thanks Twin, and thanks for asking.
lol...when I tried it out I didn't run over anything to worry about!
So for now I'll just leave it as it is. I had a concern about the gap left by the standoffs and that maybe something would fly out of there. But there is the shroud lip that is lower so it's not a problem. Overall, I'm happy with the simple solution. I need to accidentally run over something though to see how the chains work though. For now I'll consider myself lucky.

 

[ItsPR2u]

Hey There,
I noticed you said you make chain guards for rotary cutters. How much ya'll charge for front & rear on a 5'?
Thanks,
pr