Using a balancer on a mower blade
- Thread starter mois25
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djdicetn
Lawn Addict
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motoman,
WOW...just read this whole thread and all I can say is I vote for allowing beer at the BALANCE-OFF contest!! The first time I realized that balancing a lawn mower blade was important was right after watching the movie Sling Blade with Billy Bob Thornton:0)
I too began sharpening my lawn tractor blades with the cheap plastic cone balancer. I would use a wire brush, chisel and finally the wire brush on my bench grinder to clean the blade and then balance it as I sharpened it, rotating it on the cone several times to make sure it was good as was possible. I could easily see that this was not a "perfect balancing system"(but of course I didn't know about the less accurate nail method at the time...or the $200 Magna-Matic more accurate balancer). I was one of those that believed the myth that if I didn't do this annually my spindle bearings would be destroyed. But I'm not convinced there is any truth to that. I did, however, notice an improvement in the level of vibration I felt when riding the lawn tractor(or observed/heard in the deck) before/after sharpening & balancing just as mentioned by some other users. Sooooo...even the the cheap diy cone balancers must help "some". I'm still not convince(yet) that it is worth a $200 investment to improve the balancing with a Magna-matic. And I am certain that should I run over someone's head when mowing it's gonna result in a clean & straight cut that would make Billy Bob proud of me:0)
dj, if you wanna be like billy bob fix a batch of 'taters and see if the world improves. :licking::licking: motoman
I have a mobile mower maintance business. I use a Dewalt 4 1/2 battery powered grinder to sharpen blades. I always remove blades to sharpen if possible. Generally I balance blades from a single blade mower and unless I see something strange I usually don't balance from a multi-blade mower. I use a plastic cone balancer, I've lost 3 metal ones. So the plastic one meets my needs.
Ric
Lawn Pro
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You can buy the Tecomec Magnetic blade balancer from amazon for $82.50 and it probably works as well as the Magna Matic. If you want the Magna Matic you can get it on ebay for $179 you can also buy the Oregon BB for $97.00
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While sharpening with a file does remove the least metal, and probably disturbs the balance of the blade the least, you are still changing the blade balance. Using a nail in the wall might get you close, if you have a round hole, and if it is clean, and if you are lucky.
Unfortunately, when we remove metal from the blade, we are changing the dynamic balance, ie left to right,, as well as across the blade. Maybe not much,, but have you priced the cost of replacing the bearing in your mower deck lately?
Balance of a blade is greatly over- rated.... Let me tell you a story, its not about lawn mower blades,, but it is about balance and the importance of having things balanced.
Several years ago, I was on a trip towing my RV up a pass, the going was slow, and to say the least, I was thinking about getting a smaller trailer.. Everything was fine, until one of the aluminum fan blades separated from the cooling fan. Now one would not think that the loss of a 3 ounce fan blade would have much effect on the balance of a 6.2 L diesel motor would you? When the blade separated, the engine felt for all the world like it would have preferred to be out in the field. I shut down immediately, because I could not imagine what had happened. Of course I was on a tight turn, on the roadway, because there was no shoulder. My wife got out, and walked back along the road and soon returned with the problem, One of the blades from the fan. It could not have weighed over a few ounces. About that time a State police car showed up and inquired about our problem. We told him, and he asked if we could try to reach the top of the grade to where there was a wide spot off the road where we could be safer. I agreed to try, Even at an idle, the engine felt like it was trying to break a motor mount, so as just above an idle, I moved up the grade and off the traveled portion of the road. Now I know that this is an extreme example of the importance of balance, but Balance in anything is important.
Sorry, but that would be "static balance. The rotational balance of a mower blade While it is cutting grass is constantly changing effective load, and state of balance. The act of cutting and pushing cut grass off the blade will never be exactly the same from one end of the blade to the other. It Might be close at times, but not the same weight load all the time.
As to the missing fan blade... I'm sure you realize how much you would need to grind off one end of a mower blade to remove 3 ounces of steel... and you will definitely notice that much metal messing from left to right. That amount of asymmetrical you can detect with your unaided eye. The whole point of the balance or no balance "advantage" shows that a nail pivot, as used for decades ... is in fact as useful today as it has been... all with hundreds & thousands of hours operation without failures.
I often just teeter one blade on the sharp edge of another, across the center mounting hole... very accurate, or should I say, Accurate Enough.
This in no way is meant to dissuade anyone from spending more $ on a balance system than they wouldspend on a lifetime of new replacement blades... But if spending More makes you feel it is better... Then that would make it better for you.
:smile:KennyV
For all the DYI people out there balancing a blade is your choice. If you sharpen blades as part of a business, I sure hope you are balancing them. Business owners have to protect themselves at all times. More than one business has had to pay for a new mower, deck, or complete unit, because someone believes that an unbalanced blade was the cause of the failure of their unit. They hire an attorney, and look for compensation. Many times the insurance company or the business owner finds it cheaper to replace the unit than fight the system. All business owners live by a different set of rules. It's called CYA.