Flail Mower usage questions

[sdef]

generally, different blade can make very big different effect.

View attachment 347141View attachment 347142

for example, the second blade in the first photo, it is small H blade, and the first blade in the second photo, it is also small blade. BUT, because of different material, the second one's price is double as the first. After testing and compare with both of them, the second blade is much better than the first one.

BUT, till now, now customer would like to buy the second blade, because of its price.

By the way, you can find your blade in the first photo.

Thanks for the pics. I believe the 2nd blade in the first photo is the hammer blades I purchased optionally as they were what Betsco was selling and I had no experience... I have not tried them yet as I see no reason it will mulch leaves any better. But I guess I should go ahead and replace them as the current Y blades do nothing to leaves. May change them out tomorrow morning.

 

[sodamo]

My use of the hammer blades was likely borderline abuse. At the time we had been experiencing a feral pig problem and I had significant areas of rooted turf so I lowered the flail to the point it was ground engaging and used it to smooth as I cut. Of course my friendly pigs managed to unearth some rock as well. I busted a fair number of blades. Beyond that I did first time mowing in areas of heavy fern wainaku grass and some guava growth. When I had worn out the hammers and no more replacements, I switched over to the Y blades. I had bought a set of each with spares when I bought the flail. I reason that I'd probably like the results of a hammer type with an edge, hence my wondering about a scoop type blade.

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[leonz]

Thank you so much Leonz for your time with this matter. After taking a look at the current blades, I was going to change them out sometime and it may as well be now. I will take a look at what Flailmaster has.

I may PM you with some questions before I commit to purchase anything. I understand the fitment issues you mention on the sides- simple clearance items. But am fuzzy about the slotted knives replacing my current non-slotted knives and creating a lifting effect, as my current knives are not mounted rigidly and are free to move on their axis.

OK NOW HUMOR ME.

removing the spacers will let the knive pairs move
horizontally to the end of the slot mounting to the left
and to the right creating a pair of airplane wings.
when the rotor speeds up because the knive is being
forced outward AND TO THE END OF THE SLOT MOUNTING HOLE by the centrifugal force.

The slotted mounting hole permits the side slicer to become horizontal due the force exerted
by the rotors speed of rotation.

The P51 mustang=
NAVY version with folding wings?
is an oversized example of the airfoil I have been talking about

hope this helps

 

[sodamo]

Thank you so much Leonz for your time with this matter. After taking a look at the current blades, I was going to change them out sometime and it may as well be now. I will take a look at what Flailmaster has. I may PM you with some questions before I commit to purchase anything. I understand the fitment issues you mention on the sides- simple clearance items. But am fuzzy about the slotted knives replacing my current non-slotted knives and creating a lifting effect, as my current knives are not mounted rigidly and are free to move on their axis.

I'd be very interested in what you get and how it works out as I like Leonz idea. I had toyed with the idea of trying without the spacer, but haven't.

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[sodamo]

generally, different blade can make very big different effect. <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=347141"/><img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=347142"/> for example, the second blade in the first photo, it is small H blade, and the first blade in the second photo, it is also small blade. BUT, because of different material, the second one's price is double as the first. After testing and compare with both of them, the second blade is much better than the first one. BUT, till now, now customer would like to buy the second blade, because of its price. By the way, you can find your blade in the first photo.

Thanks Jack
That H in second pic looks interesting. Wonder where I can get to fit my EFGC 175. Never seen the 90 before.

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[Jack Yuan]

I think till now, the only way for you to get these blade is directly buying from my factory in Chinese. Because of its expensive price, none of my customer buy this model blade till now.



Here are photo which I took when we test this blade, you can see, it have a much sharper blade than the H blade which you are using now.

Thanks Jack
That H in second pic looks interesting. Wonder where I can get to fit my EFGC 175. Never seen the 90 before.

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[sodamo]

I think till now, the only way for you to get these blade is directly buying from my factory in Chinese. Because of its expensive price, none of my customer buy this model blade till now. <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=347147"/><img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=347148"/> Here are photo which I took when we test this blade, you can see, it have a much sharper blade than the H blade which you are using now.

Yep, that's interesting and looks like it could be sharpened. Hope they become available.

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[Jack Yuan]

Yes, I'm trying to make it become available in US market.

 

[sdef]

Leonz, I am going to purchase new, high quality blades as he ones on my mower- aren't. Whether or not they will do leaves will have to be tested. Either way, new ones will be coming when I get them figured out.

I have the mower tilted 90 degrees up- sitting on the front A-frame hitch mount, ready for blade replacement. I have all germane measurements and know what my clearances are. Now I just need to translate my measurements into something workable from Flail-master.

When you say a 3" blade, where is that measurement taken- the total length of the blade assembly- from top to bottom, the distance from the center of the mounting hole down to the end of the splayed "Y" or just the cutting portion?

Some of my current blade measurements:

- 2" length from the very top of the blade to the 45 degree bend.

- And then 2 1/8" length from the 45 degree bend to the end of the blade. This encompasses all of the cutting edge and a small bit of non cutting up to the 45 degree bend.

- 1 7/8" blade width at the cutting area.

 

[sodamo]

Looked on Flailmaster for a drawing that showed how to measure but didn't find one.

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[ac2520]

careful with removing the spacers from the blades closest to the side. You may have a clearance issue without the spacers, causing the blades to come in contact with the sides. I bent one of my blades and it hit one of the bolts on the side.

 

[sdef]

Looked on Flailmaster for a drawing that showed how to measure but didn't find one.

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

I just found this on Flail-Master for what seems to be rotary mower blades.



Measuring with this as a guide, my blade is 4" long with a working length of 3.5" and width of 1 3/4". It is also 0.212 inches thick. So the overall measurements, including the metal thickness make it a nice blade dimensionally- if it were only heat treated. Mine are dinged up after very little usage- just leaf mulching testing.

 

[sdef]

careful with removing the spacers from the blades closest to the side. You may have a clearance issue without the spacers, causing the blades to come in contact with the sides. I bent one of my blades and it hit one of the bolts on the side.

Thanks. At this point I do not foresee removing the bushings. I think I am to the point I just want to get quality blades. The closet match I can find are Tiger TM201. The Tiger's blade is .145" thick and my current blade is .212" thick. I have to think the tiger is a better blade, even though thinner, but am hung up on the thickness. Actually, none of the name brand blades at Flail-Master are as thick as my current, obviously cheap blades. So maybe this is a sign the OEM blades on mine are made of thicker metal in an attempt to forego heat treating.

I am just about ready to order the Tiger blade as I think they are close enough in all dimensions to be a functional replacement. And I am running out of time. I have to get my tractor and all equipment moved to my new home site no later than the end of December so I can start clearing it. Everything must be ready by then. So my testing time is about up with this mower and I need to do something as the OEM blades are not up to my needs.

 

[sdef]

For anyone needing to replace their blades and want to use the Flail-Master brand, I called Flail-master to get the proper way to measure the height/length of the blades. The height/length is measured as the hanging length. Meaning one measures from the top of the mounting hole to the bottom of the blade.
My OEM measurements are:

Mower cutting height- .5" - 3"

Blade height- 3.5"
Blade width- 1.75"
Blade thickness- 0.212"
Blade mounting bolt diameter- .463"

I could not find a perfect replacement size, but the two closest are:

Edwards EM301 standard- $1.64 each
3.8" height
1.75" wide
.15" thick
1/2" hole, 1" long

Vrisimo V-cd2100 $1.95 each
3.3" height
2" wide
.174" thick
1/2" hole, 1" long

I need 56 blades and ordered 60 to have a few spares. Delivered cost is $132, which is less expensive than the standard, non heat treated blades. It seems the components Flail-Master sells are for heavy duty, highway type mowers and I am hoping these new blades will wear much better than the OEM blades. Flail-Master heat treats their blades and they can be resharpened

I chose the Vrisimo blade as it is a bit shorter which will give me a bit more cutting height, which I would prefer. I like to cut ~ 3" - 4" in height and will never cut at the .5" factory minimum. Plus this blade is a little thicker than the Edwards which will take up some of the extra play since either blade is thinner than the .212" thick OEM blades. I may have to add a washer to each station to take up some of the extra slack, but will see once installed how it all works.

With the Thanksgiving holiday, the new blades may not be here until next Monday. I am expecting to be able to do some testing that following weekend and will report back once I have some data about how well these new blades fared compare to the OEM, which are dinged up already after testing for maybe a little over an hour or so and concentrating on mulching leaves with sticks intermixed.

 

[sodamo]

Thanks sdef, will be looking forward to your update.

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[SuperCobra]

I've got four rows of slicers at 22 pair per row for a total of 88 pair that are spaced about as tightly as you can get them. I have a hard time understanding that it would be to a lack of coverage or too few knives.

I seen a lot of posts saying a flail should be able to mulch leaves but I don't recall any posts from anyone who uses it for that successfully.

Has anyone had success with usimg a flail to completely mulch leaves to the point you don't have to collect them? If so, pics or a description of your setup would be most appreciated. TIA.

 

[sdef]

The blades I selected as replacements for the non heat treated factory blades came in this evening and I noticed the top portion of the blade had more height between the top of the mounting hole and the top of the blade assembly. I thought I had all of the measurements accounted for, but did not think about this one.

These blades from Flail-master seem like high quality blades, but they just will not work in my application. Using a 14" cutoff saw, I cut 1/4" off the top of one of the blades but still need to taper both sides at the newly cut top edge to allow the blades to swing properly. I do not think I want to put in this much work on 60 blades to make them work.

I should have just ordered a pair of blades of the two types I thought would work to make sure all was well before ordering a complete set with no trials. But I am in a bind for time and needed to get the OEM blades replaced with a quality blade set, as I am moving all of my tractor equipment 40 miles away to my retirement property for clearing it.

I do not want to put anymore money or time into this mower as I have other projects to complete before I can move the equipment. So I guess I will just leave the OEM blades on for now and think about this situation for awhile.

 

[sdef]

Blades comparison. The original is the smaller one.

They would have worked well had the new blade not have the extra material at the top.

And if these blades are any indication of Flail-Master's other products, I think they would be a good place to purchase parts from.

 

[sdef]

I have had some time to think about this mower situation and it will not live up to its potential with the OEM blades that came with mine. I spent a bit of time on a 2nd blade today using two cuts with a 14" cut off and a bench grinder. The end result is a perfectly shaped, hopefully high quality, grass blade that should hold its edge and be resharpenable.

This is what I was expecting when I ordered the new blades. It should take me about 30 minutes per blade to reshape, including a few dunks in a bucket of cool water so the edge temper is not lost- hopefully. This will be a winter project.