Lawn Aerator.

Cleaning, fixing, using, repairing, best and worst of your mechanical aids in the garden...

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Tel
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Posts: 94
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 8:39 pm
Location: North Oxon..

Hi all,
This week, two of us shared the hire of a machine which removed 'plugs' from the lawn. It worked well.
The machine looked very much like a rotovator which had the hollow tines fitted as attachments, as Merry Tillers do for slashers & finger tines.
Would anyone have any idea where I might obtain a set of hollow tines which I could use with my rotovator?
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Clive.
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Location: East Lincolnshire.
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Hello Tel,

Merry Tiller did do a set of slitter tines...

1983 attachment list below as clickable thumbnail.
Image

I am not familiar with them but wonder if the chunky looking centres acted as weights to assist the tines use??.

For our old Honda F400 rotavator we had some scrap slasher tines from which the tines were removed and replaced by a steel plate cut to a triangle shape..the points of the triangles about mapping out the old diameter of the slasher tines..hard to describe but I know what I mean :oops:
They are tucked away in the shed and I can't quite visualise their set up..but I seem to recall that each tine set has 2 triangular plates welded to the old shaft..each offset..this gives a series of a couple of inch deep slits when driven over the lawn...this is used to good effect but does not replicate the action of a true corer machine...and I suspect our tines may now upset the current anti-vibration thoughts :shock: :oops:

All the best,
Clive.
Tel
KG Regular
Posts: 94
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 8:39 pm
Location: North Oxon..

Hi Clive ,
Good to hear from you again.
The machine we hired had a good lump of steel(removable) to ensure good tine penetration during use.
I wish I had welding gear/knowledge as one could knock up a set I'm sure. My son is a expert welder but now lives/works in Florida. Ho-Hum. Still the hols. are handy!
:)
Mole
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Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2006 9:01 pm
Location: East Devon

Tel

As far as I know, the only available attachment for rotovators are slitters as opposed to hollow tines for removing plugs. Slitters are ok, but don't have the same physical effect. A hollow tine aerator needs to work at a much slower speed than a rotovator (even in slow range) in order to create the plugs tidily. Often the corers are spring loaded so as not to tear the turf as the shaft holding them rotates them forward.

Mole
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Clive.
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In order to help relate the different actions I post these links to the purpose made Sisis range.

Spiker/Slitter/Corer; http://www.sisis.com/sma644.html similar model made over many years

Slitter; http://www.sisis.com/as1000.html

Vertical spiker/corer; http://www.sisis.com/drt422.html

Just a little more advanced than our F400 tines :oops: :wink:

Clive.
Tel
KG Regular
Posts: 94
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 8:39 pm
Location: North Oxon..

Thanks Mole,
The machine we hired had to run on the lowest possible throttle as it 'ran away'. Slipping the drive belt produced the best results but was tedious.
Clive,
Already checked out Isis & Camon - propper jobbies but very expensive. If I wanted to start a 'Greenthumb' outfit I would invest but now I'm almost finished with pro' gardening, I think I'll let the young'uns have a go!
:P :P 8)
Richard
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Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 8:37 pm
Location: Lancaster

Hello Tel
You don’t state the make of your rotavator. The Merry Tiller lawn spiker attachment is still available in the US but is only shown with the solid tynes. In old UK brochures (see Clive’s picture) the hollow tynes were extras. This attachment also costs a whacking $269.95, go to http://www.westpowertools.com/products/ ... y%20tiller for a look.
I did get a second hand set last year and tried them out before selling them on. They were great in a straight line but there is no way you could corner under power and with all that weight on the front end pivoting them out to turn corners was hard work. They do pop up on ebay occasionally.

Regards, Richard
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