Blade Balancer Made with an Old Spindle

[MBDiagMan]

I have an idea how to make a brand specific blade balancer. I have a Grasshopper and someone gave me an old grasshopper deck to wreck out. Among the spindles from it, there are several good smooth bearings. I plan on cleaning everything and put a spindle together with light oil in the bearings rather than stiff grease. I will then mount it on the wall with the shaft horizontal.

I will tap out the blade mount hole and make a wing bolt, running a die over the bolt, so that it will thread a little more easily. Once done, I expect to be able to wing bolt the blade onto the spindle shaft and use it the same as how the magnamatic works.

The blade hole on the grasshopper is smaller than the blade hole on my Bad Boy, so I will find or make a bushing to fit those blades on it as well.

If this works out, I will also fashion a rod to check straightness as done with the magnamatic.

If it works well, I will post some pictures.

Wish me luck,
Larry

 

[motoman]

Love to see it when complete, Larry. Meanwhile take a look at this forum diy "that trick blade balancer cost how much.." Uses Hoover ball bearings and 10W

 

[djdicetn]

WOW...using a mower's blade spindle assembly for a balancer is a GREAT idea!!!! You may want to get a patent on that if it works reall well...then you can start working on your second $million for retirement:0)

I'm still struggling with inventing that better mouse trap:0)

 

[Carscw]

I have an idea how to make a brand specific blade balancer. I have a Grasshopper and someone gave me an old grasshopper deck to wreck out. Among the spindles from it, there are several good smooth bearings. I plan on cleaning everything and put a spindle together with light oil in the bearings rather than stiff grease. I will then mount it on the wall with the shaft horizontal.

I will tap out the blade mount hole and make a wing bolt, running a die over the bolt, so that it will thread a little more easily. Once done, I expect to be able to wing bolt the blade onto the spindle shaft and use it the same as how the magnamatic works.

The blade hole on the grasshopper is smaller than the blade hole on my Bad Boy, so I will find or make a bushing to fit those blades on it as well.

If this works out, I will also fashion a rod to check straightness as done with the magnamatic.

If it works well, I will post some pictures.

Wish me luck,
Larry

Man this is a good idea I am going to bolt one on the wall today

(( cowboy up and get over it ))

 

[MBDiagMan]

WOW...using a mower's blade spindle assembly for a balancer is a GREAT idea!!!! You may want to get a patent on that if it works reall well...then you can start working on your second $million for retirement:0)

I'm still struggling with inventing that better mouse trap:0)

I'm already working on my second million....... I gave up on the first.

Larry

 

[MBDiagMan]

Well, I finished my ball bearing blade balancer. To cut to the chase, it ended up with VERY smooth and free turning bearings with light oil. I can't imagine that the magnamatic is any closer to frictionless.

The result is that it is no more sensitive than a nail. I put a 21" grasshopper blade on the nail and one end was about an inch low. I then put it on the ball bearing "balancer" and the same end was about an inch low. I made a swipe on the grinder on the heavy end and the same end came up the same amount on the nail and the bearings.

Up until now I was starting to buy in on the magnamatic sales pitch. At this point, however, I am not going to say it is hype, but I have some more investigation to do before being convinced that the magnimatic is significantly more accurate than a nail.

I will report back.
Larry

 

[MBDiagMan]

Well I sharpened and balanced a neglected set of blades last night. They are the ones that were on my low time Grasshopper when I bought it. It took quite a bit of blunting to get rid of nicks and the rounded end, SO it took quite a bit of grinding, so they were quite imbalanced at the end of the process. In fact I only finished two and have some more work to do on the third.

From this, I am ready to withdraw my comments about the nail being seemingly almost as accurate as the centered ball bearing. The blade I messed with a few nights ago, evidently was pretty close to being balanced from the get go. That fact, coupled with my lack of practice with my spindle balancer, coincidently made it seem that they were both the same.

Last night in the course of balancing some WAY out of balance blades, when put on the nail, they didn't seem too far off. Immediately after taking the blade off the nail and putting it on the spindle, one end would go virtually to the bottom. It took a good bit of grinding on that heavy end to get it to balance on the spindle, all the while not looking too bad on the nail.

My take away from this is that I still believe that the nail is better than nothing, but if you are going to use a nail, use a level to mark and paint a LEVEL line behind it on the wall. Balance the blade so that it sets PERFECTLY level on the nail, and you will have an accuracy of balance that is not perfect, but worth striving for. If you're on a budget and don't mow for a living, and a nail is all you got, balance it LEVEL on the nail and be happy.

If you have an old spindle, IMHO it is worth the trouble to set it up with nice clean bearings in light oil and mount it on the wall with the shaft perfectly horizontal and it will make a good, low budget balancer for blades of the right hole size.

My next goal is to take and post some pictures. I mounted the spindle on a support pole in my hay barn converted into a shop. I used hangar bolts with lag bolt threads on one end and machine threads on the other. Using nuts and washers, I was able to use a torpedo level put vertically on the face of the spindle and adjust the nuts on the mount to make the spindle face perfectly plumb. I will try to get some pictures good enough to show what I'm describing.

Larry