Gene Pink
Well-known member
Last night, I spent some glorious me-time welding and grinding on my lawn mower deck, a John Deere 42" two-blade. I have been meaning to do this for awhile, it is a good time of year to pull it apart for a rebuild, won't have to mow the dirt until next spring. I live in Texas, and it will be mostly dirt in between any weeds that may pop up over the winter.
Didn't really feel up to it, serious cold/flu/bug/whatever, the kind of thing that makes you hack and hack repeatedly just to get rid of that lung tickle. But I dragged my ass out in the shop anyway as the weather was nice, and immediately hacked out a hairball the size of a cabbage, and when it hit the ground, three lizards and a bullfrog escaped and ran off with their freedom. Yeah, that kind of cold.
Note that I am rough on gear, often using what is at hand instead of the proper tool. In this case, I don't own a wood chipper, but I have a pair of 22" long ~2500RPM blades under this mower deck, almost as good if you go slow. It is hard not to smile, reducing cut tree branches into mulch, while the goats run for cover from the shrapnel.
This unorthodox yet fun method does have it's limits, an oak limb of 3" dia, can lock it up dead, motor and all (good belt traction, no slip-screech). So you git under there, dig and pry out whatever locked the blades, and try again. Because, as a guy, just because it failed the first time, doesn't mean it will fail the second time. Or the tenth.
Point being, this abuse has taken it's toll on the deck's 0.090" sheet metal, both blade spindle mounts had multiple cracks several inches long from the mounting bolts in every direction. Losing two inches off of one end of one of the blades last time out back didn't help. To quote Jack Lemmon in The China Syndrome: "There was a vibration".
Many cracks welded last night. Some aftermarket company sells "reinforcement rings" made for this, and most people agree that it is a good idea to put them on new mowers to prevent these fatigue cracks.
Should I plunk down 30 bucks for a pair of these 5" dia, 3/16" thick rings on Amazon? Most people I know would argue against the economics of the time spent making them, but I'm guessing that in the climate of this board and the people who frequent it, you will understand why I just had to make my own. So I did.
Specs for the stock needed: Something thick I can torch a 5" circle out of, with a 3" hole. 3/16", 1/4", whatever.
Here's some hot-rolled 1/4X6" in the flat stock bin... but wait, what is in the "round-stuff" bin? Well hell, here's a pair of zinc-plated mild steel 5" discs, 3/8" thick...why not, the OD is already done, thicker can't hurt.
So with the disc in the lathe, a 2-1/2" holesaw in the tailstock (haven't used back-gears in a long time, but 165 RPM seemed a bit fast, went with about 110 RPM and a lot of lube and backgear noise), about 5 minutes per 2-1/2" hole. Holwsaw is still sharp, I think it is a Lenox going by the white paint. Add a 0.080" step machined to clear the part of the spindle housing that protrudes above the sheet metal, drill bolt holes, and done.
Tonight on the lathe was fun, too. And to find a pair of 5" discs ready to go, with only ID work needed was cool. Can you guess where these discs might have come from?
;-)
Gene
Didn't really feel up to it, serious cold/flu/bug/whatever, the kind of thing that makes you hack and hack repeatedly just to get rid of that lung tickle. But I dragged my ass out in the shop anyway as the weather was nice, and immediately hacked out a hairball the size of a cabbage, and when it hit the ground, three lizards and a bullfrog escaped and ran off with their freedom. Yeah, that kind of cold.
Note that I am rough on gear, often using what is at hand instead of the proper tool. In this case, I don't own a wood chipper, but I have a pair of 22" long ~2500RPM blades under this mower deck, almost as good if you go slow. It is hard not to smile, reducing cut tree branches into mulch, while the goats run for cover from the shrapnel.
This unorthodox yet fun method does have it's limits, an oak limb of 3" dia, can lock it up dead, motor and all (good belt traction, no slip-screech). So you git under there, dig and pry out whatever locked the blades, and try again. Because, as a guy, just because it failed the first time, doesn't mean it will fail the second time. Or the tenth.
Point being, this abuse has taken it's toll on the deck's 0.090" sheet metal, both blade spindle mounts had multiple cracks several inches long from the mounting bolts in every direction. Losing two inches off of one end of one of the blades last time out back didn't help. To quote Jack Lemmon in The China Syndrome: "There was a vibration".
Many cracks welded last night. Some aftermarket company sells "reinforcement rings" made for this, and most people agree that it is a good idea to put them on new mowers to prevent these fatigue cracks.
Should I plunk down 30 bucks for a pair of these 5" dia, 3/16" thick rings on Amazon? Most people I know would argue against the economics of the time spent making them, but I'm guessing that in the climate of this board and the people who frequent it, you will understand why I just had to make my own. So I did.
Specs for the stock needed: Something thick I can torch a 5" circle out of, with a 3" hole. 3/16", 1/4", whatever.
Here's some hot-rolled 1/4X6" in the flat stock bin... but wait, what is in the "round-stuff" bin? Well hell, here's a pair of zinc-plated mild steel 5" discs, 3/8" thick...why not, the OD is already done, thicker can't hurt.
So with the disc in the lathe, a 2-1/2" holesaw in the tailstock (haven't used back-gears in a long time, but 165 RPM seemed a bit fast, went with about 110 RPM and a lot of lube and backgear noise), about 5 minutes per 2-1/2" hole. Holwsaw is still sharp, I think it is a Lenox going by the white paint. Add a 0.080" step machined to clear the part of the spindle housing that protrudes above the sheet metal, drill bolt holes, and done.
Tonight on the lathe was fun, too. And to find a pair of 5" discs ready to go, with only ID work needed was cool. Can you guess where these discs might have come from?
;-)
Gene