Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[Privatedoc]

Thanks leonz...pm sent

 

[beppington]

I have a bush hog, so I can get that level of rough cut quality now. And when I use my dad's Caroni TM1900B the cut quality is of course much better than the bush hog, but still not quite that of a finish mower - Well, that's what I'd like, if possible. And it seems like blades with cutting edges parallel to the ground, rather than at a ~45-degree angle to the ground, would be more likely to provide that. It also seems like they might provide a little more up-draft than the B knives/rotor (if it has any at all).

Let me ask this: Why would somebody not want the "P" scoops/knives? What are the downsides to them?

AgriSupply is supposed to call me back to let me know the price of a Caroni TM1900PSC ... which has the "P" rotor with the scoop type knives with their cutting edge horizontally.

I just noticed that it has only 28 knives (on shackles), whereas the TM1900BSC that AgriSupply stocks has 56 of the Y shaped blades (on shackles).

I would love to see the cut results of the P version before buying - Anybody know where to find that?

 

[IslandTractor]

AgriSupply is supposed to call me back to let me know the price of a Caroni TM1900PSC ... which has the "P" rotor with the scoop type knives with their cutting edge horizontally.

I just noticed that it has only 28 knives (on shackles), whereas the TM1900BSC that AgriSupply stocks has 56 of the Y shaped blades (on shackles).

I would love to see the cut results of the P version before buying - Anybody know where to find that?

Note that 28x2=56. The "P" rotor is almost certainly the same rotor as for the "B" style but with different blades mounted. I could be wrong but I doubt it. If so you might just check on the price of switching out the B clevis, bolt and blades for the P blades. You could easily sell the unused B blades ($7 for 2)and clevis ($7) as B owners need to replace those periodically (rock strikes etc) and each station requires about $17 in parts from AgriSupply. You'd need to keep the nut and bolt but 26x$14 is almost $375 so not chump change. You could certainly sell them here on TBN for a fair price and clear $250 or so towards your P blades. You can buy P style blades from Flailmaster and other flail suppliers. Just find out the dimensions of the P blade and call Flailmaster for their match. I'm pretty sure that would be cheaper than special ordering from AgriSupply.

By the way, I know people are fascinated by the P blades but don't knock the plain B set up until you've tried it. If you travel at a reasonably moderate speed it will give a near finish cut. The B blades would be less likely to be damaged by rock strikes than the P blades too.

 

[beppington]

IT - My dad owns a B rotor model he bought at AgriSupply on 7/1/10, so I'm very familiar with its cut quality/results. And, that one is his, whereas I want my own, so will be buying a whole 'nother unit, rather than modifying his in any way.

Since I don't have access to use, or even see, the actual results of a P rotor model, I wonder if it would be smarter to buy another B rotor model from AgriSupply & also a set of P style blade from Flailmaster, & swap out the B knives to give the Ps a try. If they don't work well, or whatever, simply put the B's back on. If the Ps work great, leave them on & keep the Bs for a full backup set or individual backups for my dad's.

We have no rocks here, so so far he has not bent, broken, lost or even dulled a knife in over a year & a half :thumbsup: He's actually had zero problems at all. But he does simply mow his fields that are grazed by mini horses, so it's never all that tall, & no mowing of saplings/bushes ... & it's only about 10-12 acres total ... so it does live a pretty easy life.

Oh, just dawned on me: Caroni puts only 28 P knives on their P rotor vs 56 B's on their B rotor ... so would I want only 28 P knives from Flailmaster (leaving 1/2 the stations empty), 56 P knives that each weigh the same as the B knives, or better yet let Flailmaster tell me?? In fact, I think I'll call Flailmaster first before doing any of this :thumbsup:

 

[leonz]

IT - My dad owns a B rotor model he bought at AgriSupply on 7/1/10, so I'm very familiar with its cut quality/results. And, that one is his, whereas I want my own, so will be buying a whole 'nother unit, rather than modifying his in any way.

Since I don't have access to use, or even see, the actual results of a P rotor model, I wonder if it would be smarter to buy another B rotor model from AgriSupply & also a set of P style blade from Flailmaster, & swap out the B knives to give the Ps a try. If they don't work well, or whatever, simply put the B's back on. If the Ps work great, leave them on & keep the Bs for a full backup set or individual backups for my dad's.

We have no rocks here, so so far he has not bent, broken, lost or even dulled a knife in over a year & a half :thumbsup: He's actually had zero problems at all. But he does simply mow his fields that are grazed by mini horses, so it's never all that tall, & no mowing of saplings/bushes ... & it's only about 10-12 acres total ... so it does live a pretty easy life.

Oh, just dawned on me: Caroni puts only 28 P knives on their P rotor vs 56 B's on their B rotor ... so would I want only 28 P knives from Flailmaster (leaving 1/2 the stations empty), 56 P knives that each weigh the same as the B knives, or better yet let Flailmaster tell me?? In fact, I think I'll call Flailmaster first before doing any of this :thumbsup:

I cannot upload the file showing a first pass mowing using an SUV towing a mower with the scoop knives for you as the file limitations will not allow me to do this.

If you could send me a PM with your e-mail I can forward the file for you to allow you to look at the field as it is being mowed with the scoop/hammer knives.

 

[GreenWannabe]

I found a parts catalog for the Caroni flail mowers on their website, here: http://www.caroni.it/pdf/ricambi/4_CARONI_SPARE_PARTS_TRINCIAERBA.pdf. It shows that the rotor for each of the four knife types has a different part number, so I can only assume that there are differences. Some of the differences could be diameter, attachment lugs, etc., so simply changing knives and hangers may not have optimum results. I would contact Caroni to see if they can enumerate the differences, or if swapping blades and hangers would work properly.

 

[Reg]

There is a little bit of "weirdness" on the Caroni rotor, at least on MY sample.

The knives are mounted in pairs, back to back on a common shackle, 28 pairs, 28 shackles, 56 knives - that may help to clarify the count question.

Where it is weird is that at one end (I forgot which) the last pair appeared to have been assembled incorrectly, i.e. they were not back-to-back but "one in the other's lap", sort of like "LL" - - > middle of the rotor in this direction.
So I re-assembled them the way I thought they should be and sure enough within about a week I got a Jam-up.
LOOK FOR THIS when taking old knives off, it looks like an assembly line error, I thought it was, until the Jam-up.

I think leaving the extra blade out might not affect balance THAT MUCH, but I put it back in anyway.

 

[beppington]

There is a little bit of "weirdness" on the Caroni rotor, at least on MY sample.

The knives are mounted in pairs, back to back on a common shackle, 28 pairs, 28 shackles, 56 knives - that may help to clarify the count question.

Where it is weird is that at one end (I forgot which) the last pair appeared to have been assembled incorrectly, i.e. they were not back-to-back but "one in the other's lap", sort of like "LL" - - > middle of the rotor in this direction.
So I re-assembled them the way I thought they should be and sure enough within about a week I got a Jam-up.
LOOK FOR THIS when taking old knives off, it looks like an assembly line error, I thought it was, until the Jam-up.

I think leaving the extra blade out might not affect balance THAT MUCH, but I put it back in anyway.

Weird! I will check my dad's for that & report back.

 

[IslandTractor]

There is a little bit of "weirdness" on the Caroni rotor, at least on MY sample.

The knives are mounted in pairs, back to back on a common shackle, 28 pairs, 28 shackles, 56 knives - that may help to clarify the count question.

Where it is weird is that at one end (I forgot which) the last pair appeared to have been assembled incorrectly, i.e. they were not back-to-back but "one in the other's lap", sort of like "LL" - - > middle of the rotor in this direction.
So I re-assembled them the way I thought they should be and sure enough within about a week I got a Jam-up.
LOOK FOR THIS when taking old knives off, it looks like an assembly line error, I thought it was, until the Jam-up.

I think leaving the extra blade out might not affect balance THAT MUCH, but I put it back in anyway.

I haven't seen that and I have looked at my rotor/knives pretty carefully over the years having replaced a dozen or so. The rotor has a slightly weird and difficult to pin down symmetry but it is basically symmetric despite everything as otherwise it would vibrate things apart. You can tell almost immediately when you have lost a set of knives because the mower sounds/feels different due to being slightly imbalanced.

 

[leonz]

There is a little bit of "weirdness" on the Caroni rotor, at least on MY sample.

The knives are mounted in pairs, back to back on a common shackle, 28 pairs, 28 shackles, 56 knives - that may help to clarify the count question.

Where it is weird is that at one end (I forgot which) the last pair appeared to have been assembled incorrectly, i.e. they were not back-to-back but "one in the other's lap", sort of like "LL" - - > middle of the rotor in this direction.
So I re-assembled them the way I thought they should be and sure enough within about a week I got a Jam-up.
LOOK FOR THIS when taking old knives off, it looks like an assembly line error, I thought it was, until the Jam-up.

I think leaving the extra blade out might not affect balance THAT MUCH, but I put it back in anyway.

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Hello Reg,

Something is not right somewhere as the knives that
are spooning will not cut very well.


If the pair of side slicers are spooning in the middle of the
rotor that set of side slicers will create an uncut skunk stripe
and they should be mounted like all the other pairs of knives
at each station.

One knive missing on a rotor will affect the rotation as it is
not balanced.

If you could upload a picture that would help me lot with
finding the problem as the side slicers should never,
never, never be spooning.

The only time you have a weird mounting is when you have
a dethatching blade which is installed between each pair
of side slicers OR a side slicer facing inward with a
dethatching blade on the last mount on the left or right
side of the knive mounting stations.

The A,B,F and P rotors are not set up to accept a
dethatching knive.



EDIT: when you were referring to a JAM UP was a pair of
knives stuck in one position and became entangled with
another pair of side slicers? this can happen with
long side slicers which do not have the slotted mounting
hole to permit them to create an airfoil effect with a knive
hanger that allows them to move sideways and become
a horizontal airfoil at speed.


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