FEL Cutting edge - direction?

[Jay4200]

I am planning on welding a new cutting edge on my old FEL bucket. I got a used edge from a town plow and cut it to length. That is all great, but I can't decide which direction to place the cutting edge bevel.

Common convention seems to put the sharp edge facing down with the bevel on top, but that seems like that would put undue stress on the sharpened edge, especially while back-dragging (I do a lot of that) - with any downward angle at all on the bucket, all of the load stress is across the thinned metal of the sharpened edge. Putting the flat side up with the bevel on the bottom would allow the sharpened edge to be supported back into the blade, and would allow both pushing and backdragging with a bucket angle as high as the bevel w/o stressing the sharpened edge.

90% of what I do with my tractor is dozing, grading, and back-dragging rocky soil and/or gravel. Is upsidedown (bevel down) maybe a good idea? Are my edge-stress theories valid? I can't decide what to do.

Thanks - JayC

 

[TripleR]

My tractor came with a bolt on cutting edge and it was beveled down. It has worked well for me, but I have never tried it any other way.

 

[J_J]

I believe it is just plain common sense to put the bevel on top. If there is a standard, it is probably bevel on top. In back dragging or pushing, you are going to wear out the lip of the blade, either direction.

Bevel on top, flat side to bottom.

 

[/pine]

The bevel on an implement blade is basically the same as a wood chisel...

granted once welded on it can not be flipped but the principal is the same...

When using a chisel the flat side is usually used to make the initial cuts then the bevel side (down) is used to remove (scoop out) the material...

 

[Egon]

A Picture!:thumbsup:

 

[J_J]

Just some pictures for clarification. Bevel on top

 

[Jay4200]

Thanks all - The pictures are very helpful. I suspected that the "normal" way to mount the edge is bevel up. However, I looked at several old weld-on cutting edges, including my own and on a big backhoe down the street, and the entire bevel area is worn off. On these old edges, the bottom of the cutting edge is scraped away so that the top is flat and the bottom is curved up to the top, making the sharp edge on the top. An upsidedown edge would mimic this profile.

I read that one of the things you should do to keep an edge good is to avoid backdragging. In my case, I do a lot of backdragging with my FEL - probably 60% of my run time is in reverse with my front wheels in the air. It seemed that putting the edge on upsidedown would help avoid breaking the tip off of the edge during backdragging.

JayC

 

[Egon]

You may find that the old grader blade cutting edge is quite a bit different than what came with the bucket.

It should last much longer. Don't worry about backblading.

 

[Ford850]

Bevel edge should be on top. With the bevel edge down, it will continually force the bucket up as you dig.

 

[JDGreenGrass]

If I understand you correctly it would seem to me it comes down to the strength of the weld.

Put a good weld on it and I would think you could beat on it for many years, or hours for that matter.

 

[J_J]

Thanks all - The pictures are very helpful. I suspected that the "normal" way to mount the edge is bevel up. However, I looked at several old weld-on cutting edges, including my own and on a big backhoe down the street, and the entire bevel area is worn off. On these old edges, the bottom of the cutting edge is scraped away so that the top is flat and the bottom is curved up to the top, making the sharp edge on the top. An upsidedown edge would mimic this profile.

I read that one of the things you should do to keep an edge good is to avoid backdragging. In my case, I do a lot of backdragging with my FEL - probably 60% of my run time is in reverse with my front wheels in the air. It seemed that putting the edge on upsidedown would help avoid breaking the tip off of the edge during backdragging.

JayC

If you decide to add the teeth to your bucket, you can still back drag by using the bottom back of the bucket, after adding a 1/2 in x 3 in bar to the bottom edge to prevent wearing the back of the bucket out.

The 1/2 side should be toward the ground, with the 3 in against the back of the bucket. That should last quite a while. .

 

[Socratic]

Anyone know where to purchase a bolt on cutting edge - similar to the Markham bolt on teeth? Doesn't look like Markham (now Gator Attachments?) makes one. Be nice to find something that would use the same bolt on holes.

 

[Gary Sweat]

The life of the edge has more to do with what it is made of. When I had my bucket made the fab shop showed me some steel they used on a military project they had left over. He gave me a file and said "see if you can cut a groove in it". I turned the file on its sharp edge and went at it for about a half dozen passes and it didn't leave a mark. I'm sure with enough pressure and time it would have cut it but I was impressed. The fab guy also said it could not be bent without heating it red hot or it would break.

After a summer of digging and back dragging there are no marks on it yet and the edge is still sharp. The fab shop did not know what it was made of as the steel was shipped to them by the military. Lucky for me they had some scrap left from the job.

The point is that some types of hardened steel is better than others for a cutting edge and may even last the life of the bucket.

 

[JB4310]

I would install the blade the "standard" way with bevel up.
But except for scraping smooth surface, like snow on asphalt, I doubt there would be a real noticable difference with the bevel down working in dirt/gravel etc. JMO

JB.

 

[Ford tractor]

Bevel up. Don't over analyze, if it was better to do it a different way, it would be done that way by now.

If you want better durability, weld a cross hatch pattern of hard face on the bottom of the blade edge.