finish mowers

[nomad]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( grass will flow more easily through a stamped steel deck rather than a deck which is welded together.)</font>

Why will it flow more easily? Is the weld acting like an obstacle in flowing path of the grass? Technically, this isn't making much sense. That weld will have no effect on the flow unless it is a flow like a cigaratte smoke. As for the welds break over time; I can't think that either because the load on the finish mower is not much unlike the rotary cutter. Stamped deck, to me, can only reduce the production time and production cost. Once its stamping tooling which costs some money is made the rest of production is easier and cost less than the welded deck. But the price of stamped deck mower is more expansive although it costs less than welded deck mower. Interesting.

 

[kemartin3]

My experience with welded walk behind mowers (the big hydros like you see landscapers use) is that their design results in sharp corners and blind corners where wet grass will stick and dry, eventually building up quite a layer of moldy, stinky gunge. They also don't expel material quite as well because the blades are creating a circular pattern inside of a squarish cover. The positive side is that they are usually built from much thicker material. So some plusses and some minuses for each type.

Kevin

 

[yellowsocks93]

Yes, Frontier are made by Woods but they look similar. It is not really JD brand but an economy line of implements sold through dealers. Also the JD snowblowers are now Fronteir and no longer have the cast iron gear box for the auger like the true JD's had.

 

[yellowsocks93]

Yes, welds have an effect on flow like the last poster mentioned because if you have ever looked under your mower deck you can see grass gets caught on the rough edges and sharp corners and not so much where it is smooth. A pressed deck has all smooth edges with a baffle(even the JD rear finish mowers) that helps direct the clippings around the blades.

 

[sweettractors]

Hello GreyBeard--How did we compare to O'Brian on the 5 ft Orange First Choice with your choice of Air or Solid tires with shipping included in our pricing by PM?---The First Choice deck is Stamped (Not welded)--Ken Sweet
Sweet Farm Equipment Co *Since 1977*

 

[nomad]

I understand. So, the welds have not a direct effect, but have an indirect effect on the flow because it is usually seen that the welded edges have sharp corners and rough edges which causes the grass get caught. This may be avoided by making a continous good weld. So, why are some manufacturers stamping their decks if with a good weld this grass-caught-under-deck problem can be avoided? I can think of 2 reasons; Making continous good weld (and grinding the weld to make it smooth) means some extra labor cost. On the other hand, with stamped decks, you don't need to spend much manufacturing time per deck. But the deck has so big size that its initial investment (its steel tooling cost) will be very high amount that a small manufacturer can't pay. Also, the other reason is that manufacturing stamped deck will be much faster than welded decks which will cause manufacturing cost per unit deck will go lower than welded deck. I think these two reasons are main reasons why manufacturers making stamped deck. Finally, but maybe more important, it's high speed air motion through the deck channels will allow less tolerance in deck channel configuration, but with welded duck, staying in the tolerance for all decks you are producing will not be so easy, espcially if you are using older weld technologies in your factory.

By the way, another thing; why not opening some very small holes on top side of deck? I think this could balance vertical forces on the mower blade. Has anyone seen such a finish mower with holes on deck top?

 

[JimMc]

Ken, you've obviously never looked closely under that FC deck. The FC deck is welded on the rounded front corners as well as at the tapers. The finish work on the deck fools many people since all the welds are ground smooth on the outside surfaces, but underneath, you can see how they are really built.

 

[ns_in_tex]

Attached is pic of underside of my 7' First Choice finish mower after using 2 years and I have never cleaned the underside of deck. I have no problem with buildup. Most of the welds are on the top side of deck, but so smooth you can not tell it has been welded.

PS: The extra you see there is the leaf mulching attachment I made for it.

 

[sweettractors]

<font color="blue">The FC deck is welded on the rounded front corners as well as at the tapers. </font>

Hi Jim--We understand that--However--that is getting really picky--not many machines are 100% formed??--Ken Sweet
Sweet Farm Equipment Co *Since 1977*

 

[JimMc]

Thanks for posting the picture. You can really tell what's going on much better than by description.

It's actually quite clever how Sicma produces that deck. Most manufacturers would weld the outside and either leave the weld showing (like the LP deck Sicma copied) or grind the outside weld smooth.

The problem with grinding the outside weld is that it is difficult to determine when too much material has been removed, which would cause cracking at the joint in use. By welding the inside and enforcing 100% weld penetration, one simply touches up the outside surface for paint prep with a grinder. This produces a joint that has virtually all the material still intact, but is smooth enough to pass as one piece.

The best of both worlds! A smooth deck that can almost pass for stamped without the huge tooling expense and technology required for deep draw stamping.