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Maintenance of an Atco Balmoral 17s (qx cassette)

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Alexh Fri, 10/03/2017

Hello Mowermen and women,

I have an atco balmoral 17s, which uses the "QX" cassette system for blades and other tools such as scarifiers. Both the 6 blade cylinder reel and the bottom blade are sorely in need of sharpening, being very blunt and worn. It appears the previous owner had compensated for bluntness by running with heavy contact. As a temporary measure last season I attempted to touch up the bottom blade (using a diamond grit plate), but it became clear think it is quite far from flat as my sharpening showed low and high spots.

I have been quoted £1.75 per inch for spin grinding. However I had come to believe that given the wear, I would be better off also getting some relief ground on the reel. I hoped that would also allow me to do backlapping between major sharpenings. The shop with the spin grinder was unable to sharpen the bottom blade and suggested  buying a new one would be cheaper. Does anyone have experience with 'pattern' or non genuine bottom blades?

Thanks in advance.

Forums

hortimech Fri, 10/03/2017

Did the 'shop' say the bottom blade was worn out or that they just couldn't regrind it ? If they couldn't, then I would suggest you find a different 'shop' as they can be reground, I know this from regrinding lots of this type of bottom blade.

If the cylinder is spun ground correctly i.e. not allowed to run out, then you probably don't need to single blade grind (or relief ground as you call it) the cylinder.

Alexh Sat, 11/03/2017

The 'shop, as in workshop laugh, couldn't but also suggested it would be cheaper. With pattern blades available from 10 (out of stock) to twenty quid, that may well be true.

A second shop wanted 2.75/" to do the reel and 1.75 for the bottom blade, +vat! Could get a refurbished cassette for that so I declined.

I'm in Cambridge but also travel to Milton Keynes daily so looking in those areas. Have been recommended one man locally but he is part retired and hard to get in touch with.

wristpin Sat, 11/03/2017

Round here it's £2.00 an inch + vat  for spin grinding domestic machines and a lot more for professional kit. Not extortionate when you take into account the cost of the grinder, depreciation, maintenance , replacement grinding wheels , electricity and a man to operate it.

New bottom blades, " genuine" or pattern ( possibly made by the same manufacturer) are seldom totally true and need a skim to go with your re- ground cylinder. 

Unless you are a turf fanatic and going to regularly back lap the cylinder I wouldn't worry about single blade / relief grinding. As Hortimech says, a couple of hard passes at the end of the spin grind will achieve a bit of clearance to give a good result with your skimmed bottom blade.

hortimech Sat, 11/03/2017

As Wristpin says, you will need to get the bottom blade skimmed even if it is a new one, so I wouldn't go back to the first 'shop' you tried. I think you will probably find that the 'part retired' guy is probably the one to use, he should be used to grinding bottom blades like yours.

Alexh Sun, 12/03/2017

Yes, I will go back to visit Mr Geoff Rank in Bottisham (the part timer) for a proper cylinder grinding in a month, due to his backlog of work. I am not sure if he can do single blade but he can do the bottom blade and knows what he is doing. He tested the blade finding it would cut paper across the centre but only card at the ends, which i had already known from my own tests.

I am not (yet) a turf fanatic, I am however a sharpening nerd, with belt grinder, Japanese whetstones and lapping films for knives and chisels etc. I am therefore likely to want to continue to backlap between major sharpenings. I can probably slowly sharpen the bottom blade some more myself, but it is hard to get a plane flat top, particularly given the angled ridge on these blades.

I have been using a drill with a socket adapter and large socket on the drive cog nut to drive the cylinder in reverse in order to backlap, with valve grinding paste. I switched to the coarse paste and made some more rapid progress. Got a decent cut yesterday.

 

hortimech Sun, 12/03/2017

Sorry, but you cannot 'sharpen' a cylinder by backlapping, it is only a maintenance process. There is nothing stopping you backlapping your machine on a regular basis, once you have had the cylinder and bottom blade ground.

As for the gentleman being busy, this is generally a good sign, only someone who is good at their job is busy.

 

Alexh Sun, 12/03/2017

My experience is that my cylinder went from quite blunt to somewhat sharp. I believe it can be better sharpened on a grinder, looking forward to finding out.

Edda Mon, 13/03/2017

 I have a 14 inch version of the Atco but I don't use it as much now only for scariffying the lawn. I now use my hand push Certes mowers which give a great cut. My Atco comes with the 10 bladed QX system and I made a back lapping metal disc with a left handed thread in the middle and a drill and tapped hole on the circumference of the disc to take a handle. The nylon drive cog is easily removed and replaced with the backlapping disc which in turn spins the cylinder via the crank handle.