Rotary Cutters Fling Hazard

Joe Malovich · Jul 29, 2018

Might want to look for a flail cutter instead, generally less flying debris in all directions.

bilrus61 · Jul 29, 2018

I've never tried I but I guess you could do a first mowing with low RPMs on the tractor and see what the mower hits. The cut won't look good but then the second time you could give it more fuel and cut it normal.

radios1 · Jul 29, 2018

a Reel mower would be the safest, and it's used on Golf courses, because it don't damage the grass, and makes the grass look very neatly cut.. a rotary cutter is for when you want to move the cuttings in a particular direction, or have small vegetation you want to cut down..

RalphVa · Jul 30, 2018

glenk said:
Hi all. I bought a rotary cutter for my subcompact to keep the weeds down until I can landscape on my two acre lot. I'd like to get as close to the house as much as possible. I plan to put 4 by 8s in front of windows and patio doors (I have a lot of windows) when cutting by house and then check the area for rocks and objects ahead of cutting.

My question. Do rotary cutters fling in all directions? I've read that the rear should be set higher to allow for material to escape so I was going to avoid driving directly away from the house and do most of the cutting runs in parallel.

My thoughts:

1. Check the area for objects that may fling.
2. Set the cutter high (no need to cut flush to the ground).

View attachment 564628

Put chains in both the front and the back, and you won't get much, if any, flinging.

Ralph

shooterdon · Jul 30, 2018

I look at the construction of a flail cutter and wonder just how badly those blades will fare against a 4 stone? For rough work, I still think a rotary cutter is best.

aczlan · Jul 30, 2018

RalphVa said:
Put chains in both the front and the back, and you won't get much, if any, flinging.

Ralph

I agree. We have rear chains on our rotary cutter and (except for when I have had it way up off of the ground knocking out trees) have never thrown anything more than a few feet.

Aaron Z

ptsg · Jul 30, 2018

You should see the rotary cutters we use over here to realize what fling hazard is.

We use chains instead of blades. It will eat more HP but will also deal with pretty much anything you throw at it and handles rocks better than blades, so less maintenance. The chains also spreads the shredded stuff better and doesn't get clogged up.

plowhog · Jul 30, 2018

I'd suggest a fire extinguisher on board or nearby. If you hit a rock with the blade, it can start a fire. I've done that before and barely got the fire out using multiple extinguishers.

radios1 · Jul 30, 2018

ptsg said:
You should see the rotary cutters we use over here to realize what fling hazard is.

We use chains instead of blades. It will eat more HP but will also deal with pretty much anything you throw at it and handles rocks better than blades, so less maintenance. The chains also spreads the shredded stuff better and doesn't get clogged up.

and you never heard of a chain coming off the spindle and killing someone?. this design seems very dangerous.

ptsg · Jul 30, 2018

plowhog said:
I'd suggest a fire extinguisher on board or nearby. If you hit a rock with the blade, it can start a fire. I've done that before and barely got the fire out using multiple extinguishers.

Yes, I've mounted a 28 lbs fire extinguisher on the tractor. We need to have fire extinguisher by law. And yes, we had some massive fires caused by people who didn't had a fire extinguisher.