It's The Little Things That Make The Biggest Difference

[landuse]

What a coincidence....I'm getting some mowers ready for sale....but they're pick-up only...so let me know before you leave the house, Tony....

That should give you a 30 hour head start

 

[OzFab]

What a coincidence....I'm getting some mowers ready for sale....but they're pick-up only...so let me know before you leave the house, Tony....

What, you won't ship them?

How fast do they clean the roads down there. Here in Ca you can see the same debris on the side of the road for several days. I would go back and look.

Already did that as soon as I realised; no sign of them... but thanks for the suggestion... & compliment

 

[OzFab]

Well, the bender is finished; I recreated the bending shoe, extended the threads on both arms & made a holder that clamps in the vice so now, the only original part left untouched is the bending die itself; after a quick coat of silver paint it was time to test it...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u2Flg4J5H4&feature=youtu.be

 

[landuse]

Nice going Tony. It looks like that tube bent quite easily

 

[OzFab]

Follow up to post #18:

I FINALLY found a replacement catcher for the 4 stroke mower

All parts are welded & painted, just need to put it all back together...

When I bought it, the two lower arms (pic 1) were broken & two 1/8" plates were bolted to each; I used one of each plate to fit inside the tubes & welded around the join...

The bracket in pic 2 had no flange, it was completely gone so, first I had to make a new one then weld it into place...

 

[OzFab]

Update: Mower done & gone, buyer was extremely happy...

Tube Bender: I went to pull a bend & the welds broke on the guide; a quick grind & reweld & I was able to produce the framework for my riding mower catcher...

 

[landuse]

Nice work Tony. That looks professional

 

[chancer]

That's a nice bender. Now next time you enter the Build off you wont have to pay a shop to bend your frame for you.

 

[OzFab]

Only if the frame is made from 1/2" tube

 

[MatthewD]

Update: Mower done & gone, buyer was extremely happy...

Tube Bender: I went to pull a bend & the welds broke on the guide; a quick grind & reweld & I was able to produce the framework for my riding mower catcher...

Nice! We need an update on that riding mower of yours

 

[OzFab]

Whaddaya mean, I just gave you one

But seriously, instead of reviving a dead thread, I may as well continue here...

It's not like I've done a lot with it except use it but, I'm slowly getting there; I fabbed another grass chute but I'm still not 100% sure it will work correctly; yes, it throws grass but, I'm concerned it won't throw into the catcher properly once the catcher starts to fill, just have to wait & see...

Along with that, the rear support is done & everything works with everything else...

I also got around to fixing the body section... & now I can't find the bolts to remount it I'm sure they'll show up...

 

[OzFab]

More pics of the body before & during the repairs...

 

[MatthewD]

Whaddaya mean, I just gave you one

Oops, sorry my bad

 

[OzFab]

Continuing on, yesterday (Sunday) I dragged the catcher cage out to continue construction; as you can see from post #26, it's all but done, except the mounting hooks...

The bottom ones were easy, they're simply locators, two 1" lengths of 1/4" round bar straight down through holes drilled in the cage & welded in place, drill matching holes in the support frame (which was actually the hardest part) & the bottom is done...

Due to the construction of the support & cage, the top ones were a little harder, which ended up being U shaped; these do most of the work...

Today, I finished all the welding, cleaned up the welds, removed all the surface rust, cold gal primed then painted everything; now I'll leave it to set for around a week before sewing the bag on...

 

[OzFab]

Todays lesson:LESS IS MORE!

After letting the paint harden for a week, yesterday I attached the bag to the frame; I started the bag, which is made from used shade cloth, some time ago, then got distracted... but, here it is!

All hand stitched on the inside (so, for the last two runs, I was inside the cage) with 15lb fishing line...

Today, (because I ran out of daylight yesterday) I attempted to add heat shrink to the locater prongs to prevent paint damage but, the cloth (being nylon) is sensitive to heat Lucky I had a piece of cloth left over big enough to sew in a patch...

The good news is IT WORKS... I think... It was ok when cutting short grass but, when I attempted to pick up some dry cuttings, the chute clogged; I'm hoping that was only because it was dry... time will tell...

The last three pics below show a factory unit & a parts breakdown... which was all I had to go off to make this...

 

[landuse]

It looks great Tony

 

[afremont]

...
Pic 4 is #2 compression ring inside the bore...

New rings are on their way...

Amazing. No chance of ever breaking that ring from not enough end gap. Is it broken off, or did it always have a huge end gap like that? The bore isn't worn .080 over or anything, right? I'm thinking if it was, you'd have heard the piston slapping around in there something fierce. smh

 

[OzFab]

No, that's mostly from the insane amount of wear on the rings... take another look at pic #3 in that post...

 

[OzFab]

About 2 weeks ago, I noticed all the "nylon" bushes holding the engine plate to the frame of the mower were all but gone, only one survived almost intact...

I started investigating & found that the cheapest I could replace them was over $40 (cheapest in AU was $4.85 each plus postage & I need 7 of them); I found a place that sells polyurethane rods for around $30 so, I ordered one then set to work on the lathe to carve out the desired size & shape; one tool (parting blade) did the lot in a little over an hour...

 

[Poboy kartman]

; one tool (parting blade) did the lot in a lottle over an hour...

Hmmmmm.....does that mean it took somewhere between a little and a lot?