New BCS Rollerblade 30" Flail Mower

[jcraftenworth]

I think this mower is fairly new. It's specifically aimed at gardeners for mulching cover crops and crop residue. It has bigger heavier flails, an anti scalp roller. Does anyone know who makes the Blade Runner BCS flail? Is it that canadian company? I figure this one is made by the same outfit. I'm interested in this mower because berta is 26" or 34", and the most common bed width these days is 30", exactly the width of the new Rollerblade Flail. Daley's BCS put up a video on it:

BCS RollerBlade Flail mower - YouTube

 

[BCS America]

Hey there! Both the BladeRunner and RollerBlade are made by BCS SpA in Italy. The BladeRunner is referred to by BCS America (and most BCS dealers) as simply the "Flail Mower." The new RollerBlade muddies the water a bit, but we are trying to keep it as simple as possible by continuing to refer to the BladeRunner as "Flail Mower" and the RollerBlade as the "RollerBlade Flail Mower."

BCS prefers to create names for things to accentuate their brand, but we think it's best to call a spade a spade.

You are correct that the RollerBlade is a good fit for market growers who want to mow cover crops, particularly on raised beds. Its lower dome profile, coupled with thicker and wider blades, produces a smaller particle size in a single pass. Link to RollerBlade profile.

The standard Flail Mower (aka BladeRunner) is better suited for heavier brush because it has caster wheels that allow for a higher maximum cutting height. We think this is more of a "do-it-all" mower than the RollerBlade. Link to Flail Mower profile.

We wrote an article with more details comparing the two. Read the article here.

Hope this helps. Thanks!

 

[leonz]

Hello BCS America,

Greetings from East of the Continental Divide.
As you do not have enough posts to use the private message board yet

I wanted to welcome you here.


As the Manager and official welcoming committee for the Flail Mower Nations I wanted to help you with a couple of things in regard to a typical Flail Mower.

The mowing method is referred to as Verticutting.

The verticutting method of mowing creates a HG pressure gradient to aid in more efficient mowing by cutting and lifting the clipping over the Flail Mower Rotor while sounding like a vacuum cleaner when properly adjusted at the lowest mowing height taking adantage of the "ground effect" created by the side slicer knives slicing through the grass and brush at a high speed of rotation creating the HG/negative pressure(pressure gradient) in front of the knife edge and the pressure gradient created with the act of the side slicer knives carrying the clippings and creating the air current to throw them over the Flail Mower Rotor resulting in a curtain of air being forced out from under the rear of the Flail Mower Shroud Opening.

This also occurs with the Recutting Bars supplied with some brands of Flail Shredders which use cast heat treated scoop/hammer knives in Orchard And Vineyard Flail Mowers. after the clippings and branches are shredded they fall back to the ground and decompose quickly.


The Flail Mower dome is actually referred to as the Flail Mower Shroud
Weldment that makes the Flail Mower a one piece weldment when the rear
components including the Rear Roller mounting plates, rear roller and tubular steel(on the larger mowers is used to reinforce the side weldments.that make the shroud and the side weldment a one piece weldment to create a stronger frame and mower body.


1. The flail mowers individual blades on your BCS Flail Mowers are referred to as side slicer knives

2. The mounting points for the side slicer knive pairs are called Knife Mounting Stations.

3. The flail mowers knife mounting stations are welded to the "Small Diameter Flail Mower Rotor".

4. The Small Diameter Flail Mower Rotor has weights welded to it to balance the Flail Mower Rotor to provide the smooth high speed rotation needed to mow effectively with less Horse Power.

5. The "Horse Power Per Foot Rule" does not apply to flail mowers as the drive system is powered through a right angle gear box which rotates a cross shaft that has a larger V belt pulley with an open bearing that in turn rotates a smaller V belt pulley with up to 5 belts depending on the Flail Mower or Flail Shredder type which creates the high speed of rotation needed to mow with the side slicer knives.


The 2 wheel tractor with its Flail Mower Attachment should be left in its lowest mowing speed and mowing height to take advantage of the pressure gradient(suction ) created by the high speed of rotation and knife tip speed to mow heavy brush/green manure crops in one pass at a slower speed which eliminates a second pass in most all cases.

When a Flail Mower is operated at too high a work speed the mower may end up burning the belts in half or stalling a tractor in heavy brush.

I hope I have helped you.

 

[rickyd79]

I think this mower is fairly new. It's specifically aimed at gardeners for mulching cover crops and crop residue. It has bigger heavier flails, an anti scalp roller. Does anyone know who makes the Blade Runner BCS flail? Is it that canadian company? I figure this one is made by the same outfit. I'm interested in this mower because berta is 26" or 34", and the most common bed width these days is 30", exactly the width of the new Rollerblade Flail. Daley's BCS put up a video on it:

BCS RollerBlade Flail mower - YouTube

Hi J
Feel free to send me an email if you want to discuss differences of the various flail mowers for the walk-behind tractors. We run all of them (BCS brand (both models) and Berta brand).