Hi to Grumpy, please hear me out here; too much emphasis is being placed on the cylinder reel cutting paper... this is not an emphasis that a greenskeeper puts on his machine or his expertise on the set-up....this is something that has been thrust upon we cylinder mower owners through absolute garbage and is a
"myth ".
I have tried to explain the correct procedure here on paper, but to no avail, most everyone thinks you have to cut paper...please; to all that are interested; watch the video coming soon; ( Scotty Model 45 Reel and Soleplate Removal and Re-Installation Guide) on the adjustment procedures and form your own opinions.
I adjusted the Model 45 carefully yesterday, with Joe Carroll kindly videoing the adjustment procedure...I fed in a piece of paper and it cut it
almost completely in two...that was a piece of A4 computer paper... but the vision is not on the video deliberately... because the results were flawed, the setting was much too tight... I re-adjusted to give clearance, I then completed the adjustment to what I believe is correct; it creased the paper... and we then took the mower out to the lawn and I asked Joe to do two passes over the lawn...it cut absolutely perfectly; cutting the grass as one would do with a pair of scissors...These machines are meant to cut grass; not paper...and there is a subtle difference... I don't want reel mower owners all over Australia trying to cut a piece of paper for the whole reel length, when the whole exercise is an absolute farce!!
If, in fact, it does cut paper...then there is no clearance; the bottom blade is contacting the cylinder reel and is not adjusted correctly...
Crease the paper; all is good, cut the paper the setting is too tight....A reel mower is not a pair of scissors...it is a grass cutting machine, adjusted to very fine tolerances...Not a paper guillotine....
Here endeth the lesson....
