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Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

Morrison Olympic 500 Cylinder and blade

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My project to refurbish this machine continues.  Having removed the cylinder/blade successfully I need to decide whether and how to go about getting them sharpened.  I confess this is new territory for me.

Below are some photos of the current state of cylinder and blade.

Morrison Olympic Cylinder and blade

Morrison Olympic Cylinder and blade

Morrison Olympic Cylinder and blade

Morrison Olympic Cylinder and blade

To my eyes these look pretty blunt so I assume sharpening is in order?  There seems to be enough metal left.  Is the best idea to take the combined assembly to a specialist or do I have to remove the cylinder (which looks pretty difficult)?  And roughly how much is a reasonable price for such a service?  

Thanks

Forums

wristpin Tue, 13/06/2017

Plenty of meat on the cylinder and will clean up ok. Not sure about the bottom blade as by the time one has got rid of the " scallop", the lip may be a bit down. Now you have dismantled it so far you may as well continue rather than pay for a job that you can do your self.

Back the adjusters right off and lever off the bearings from the cylinder using a couple of big tyre levers or pry bars. At the same time lever the bearing  carriers away from their pivots to keep everything more or less parallel.  

Depending where you go , £ 2.00 a cylinder inch plus vat is the going rate around here but there's a certain multi branch outfit near me that charges double that!

Finnkai Tue, 13/06/2017

Thanks.

So just to check.  Cylinder and bottom blade do need to be separated for sharpening?  (And if I do that myself it will save me money.)  If there is a risk of running out of bottom blade lip, would it be worth me trying "back-lapping" as an alternative "cheap and cheerful" solution?

I will shop around locally for sharpening prices with your figure as a useful yardstick.

wristpin Tue, 13/06/2017

Yes, they do need to be separated; either by you or those doing the grinding.

Back lapping is only a maintenance operation for sharp blades , not a recovery one for rusted and blunt ones.

Be aware that if it is necessary to replace the bottom blade the new blade should be skimmed after fitting to the sole plate so as to remove any irregularities and to match the re-ground cylinder.

As I said, grinding prices will vary, geographically and enterprise wise. Bear in mind that a modern all singing and dancing HSE compliant grinder can cost between 15 and 20k,  and that, plus running and operator costs,.has to be recovered

Finnkai Wed, 14/06/2017

I was afraid of that!  Slightly nervously, I pried apart the end pieces and to my relief they separated without damage to bearings, which look surprisingly good.  I hope they go back together as easily - I can imagine holding the springs in place is the trick.

Done some shopping around and located someone reasonably nearby who will do both cylinder and bottom blade for £2.50+VAT which I will go with (i.e. £60+VAT for my 24" Morrison).  Interestingly one of the firms I contacted wanted me to give them the whole machine with cylinder and blade installed to sharpen "in situ" and would do that for £100 + VAT.

hortimech Wed, 14/06/2017

Do not go anywhere near the 'in situ' company, they obviously do not know what they are talking about, you cannot 'in situ' grind your machine. OK, that is not entirely true, you can regrind your machine 'in situ' but you would have to do this;

Strip the machine down as you have done

Remove the bottom blade from the block

Do any remedial work (repaint cylinder etc)

Rebuild the machine

Grind the cylinder

Strip the machine down again

refit the bottom blade (or fit a new one) to the bottom block

Reface the bottom blade.

Rebuild the machine again and set the cut.

Anybody who still think it is worth grinding your type of machine 'in situ', is not very bright.

When you rebuild the cutter unit, do not try to fit the springs at the same time. Rebuild it without the springs (as a side note, replace the locknuts on the adjuster bolts), then fit the springs, though this easier said than done. It gets easier with experience, you will need to either compress the spring or some how lever it into place, I could show you how to do it easier than try and describe how to do it.

 

Finnkai Wed, 14/06/2017

Thanks.  The "in situ" company asserted the advice I had received here was erroneous and their approach was the only way if I wanted the job done "properly".  I decided to ignore this.

Will try to follow your advice on the springs when the time comes.

hortimech Wed, 14/06/2017

From what I have seen posted on here, the advice given is usually correct, You could always go back and ask them a few questions:

Anybody here got their 'Parks and Gardens' city & guilds

Anybody here got 40 years experience in the trade.

Anybody here actually served their apprenticeship in the trade.

All three apply to myself, not sure about Wristpin, but I think he comes close on question two and he does know his stuff.

 

wristpin Thu, 15/06/2017

Anybody here actually served their apprenticeship in the trade.

Not in the garden machinery trade but on big yellow bits of metal with diesel engines and  usually on tracks!

That said, it was on this very day in 1981 that my late business partner and I opened the doors of our garden machinery business which, after his untimely death, I continued to run until retirement in 2012; so been around the block a bit!

hillsider Thu, 15/06/2017

My City and Guilds certificates relate to an apprenticeship in Agricultural engineering and were gained at a Massey Ferguson dealership where we were drip fed a diet of mowers of all descriptions.

I followed that with 39 years at a very busy Harbour looking after all things mechanical ranging from chainsaws to Marine diesels and cranes. Along the way I have kept an interest in small machines and have quite a lot of experience.

 

 

hortimech Thu, 15/06/2017

You must be the exception that proves the rule, every other AG mech I ever met, looked down on lawnmowers, though they certainly knew how to use a big hammer and change components. I was once pressure testing an Hayter LT324 transmission pump and one of the Ag mechs came wandering over and was aghast at the max pressure. Seems that he thought the pressure that came out of a trailer tipping pipe on an MF was a lot, the LT max pressure was about 3 times the MF.

 

hillsider Fri, 16/06/2017

I must admit that I never really enjoyed fixing small machines during my time in Ag engineering, In fact thought I had escaped mowers when I joined the marine world only to find that we were fixing things like Seagull outboards and chainsaws both petrol and compressed air powered. Then one fateful day the master of our Dredger caught me as I went on board and persuaded me to try to fix his troublesome Flymo that had been messed around with by all of the so called experts in the local repair shops and I was soon back in the world of mowers again.

Re Ag mechs and big hammers it is not the size of the hammer that matters the skill is knowing when not to use it.

 

 

 

 

 

Finnkai Sat, 17/06/2017

Let me just say that my very limited (but steadily growing) experience of using the services of this Club convinces me of the quality of the advice available.  The exchanges above show the depth and breadth of experience that lie behind it.  Long may it continue.