My OH recently obtained a S/H Atco Ensign 17inch Cylinder mower which had been recently serviced. He asks:-
At some time in the future will need to sharpen the blades, what can you suggest.
A long time ago had a Qualcast cylinder mower, and was able to sharpen it with something called a Truegrind, which fitted to the lower plate and had a self adhesive strip of a medium course sandpaper. By rotating the cylinder against the strip it sharpened the blades at the correct angle. Have looked on line but have not found any trace of this device. So any ideas.
Lawnmower
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Clive.
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Hello Larkspur,
We recently had a forum thread about cylinder mower sharpening which may help answer your quest.?....it can be found on this link viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6790
The original enquiry was from an Atco Commodore owner which differs in that it has a lipped bottom blade.
Most thoughts from the thread will apply to the Ensign...however I believe the Ensign will have a rather different style of bottom blade...the section of which is shown in this thumbnail...
clickable thumbnail.
I sketched it slightly wrong as the front of the blade is really crimped upwards a little on a genuine blade but at least the drawing seeks to highlight the wear pattern. The 17" will also I think have a stregnthening plate along the bottom.
Genuine replacement bottom blades are always best on this type...better metal and blade shape both at the cutting edge and at the bolt fittings. There were some quite poor replica ones about a few years ago...
The Ensign was a development of the chassis style once used as the Suffolk Super Colt and Super Punch...or perhaps more accurately in the case of the 17" version..the Qualcast Punch 43DL.
The Punch 43DL suffered at first with the bearings cutting into the cylinder shaft...hopefully this was sorted by the time of the Ensign.?..I'm not trying to find fault here
....but the condition of the cylinder bearings is as important as the grinding (sharpening)..the analogy being sharp scissors with a worn/loose centre screw/rivet...that thus don't cut
Also the loose scissor analogy can be applied to the regular adjustment needed with a cylinder mower that requires the cutting cylinder to be adjusted periodically by the owner/operator to just be very lightly in contact with the bottom blade...
Clive.
We recently had a forum thread about cylinder mower sharpening which may help answer your quest.?....it can be found on this link viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6790
The original enquiry was from an Atco Commodore owner which differs in that it has a lipped bottom blade.
Most thoughts from the thread will apply to the Ensign...however I believe the Ensign will have a rather different style of bottom blade...the section of which is shown in this thumbnail...
clickable thumbnail.I sketched it slightly wrong as the front of the blade is really crimped upwards a little on a genuine blade but at least the drawing seeks to highlight the wear pattern. The 17" will also I think have a stregnthening plate along the bottom.
Genuine replacement bottom blades are always best on this type...better metal and blade shape both at the cutting edge and at the bolt fittings. There were some quite poor replica ones about a few years ago...
The Ensign was a development of the chassis style once used as the Suffolk Super Colt and Super Punch...or perhaps more accurately in the case of the 17" version..the Qualcast Punch 43DL.
The Punch 43DL suffered at first with the bearings cutting into the cylinder shaft...hopefully this was sorted by the time of the Ensign.?..I'm not trying to find fault here
....but the condition of the cylinder bearings is as important as the grinding (sharpening)..the analogy being sharp scissors with a worn/loose centre screw/rivet...that thus don't cutAlso the loose scissor analogy can be applied to the regular adjustment needed with a cylinder mower that requires the cutting cylinder to be adjusted periodically by the owner/operator to just be very lightly in contact with the bottom blade...
Clive.
Many thanks Clive for the very detailed information, our problem is living in South West France there are no local garden equipment stores capable of dealing with cylinder mowers.
Regards
Larkspur's other half, commonly known as the under Gardener.
Regards
Larkspur's other half, commonly known as the under Gardener.