All I know is my late 80s Mustang high arch handled 1 & 1/2 to 2 foot tall grass beautifully without any clogging. I can't imagine a Mayfair performing quite so flawlessly. I'm have to test one some day as a project!!
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Hi Max, I have never used one of those MTD's just chopped heaps of them up, I think they are probably one of the worst designed mowers I have ever seen, followed closely by some of those GMC's
That's the general consensus with these MTD's Norm, they are just not lawn worthy.
Good idea MF for testing the Mayfair,I have seen a few videos with side discharge mowers cutting long grass but have not seen low to mid arch rear discharge mowers cutting long grass.
Good idea MF for testing the Mayfair,I have seen a few videos with side discharge mowers cutting long grass but have not seen low to mid arch rear discharge mowers cutting long grass.
I have used a 1970s Waltons mid arch on long Kikuyu (not as tough and dense as Buffalo or heavy weeds) and it coped fine, but the catcher, with it's smallish port was a bit of a chore to empty out. I quite like the Mayfair catcher as far as emptying out so far, on low lawns at least. A twin grip design would have been nice, but I have come away surprised at how user friendly this catcher is to deal with for regular domestic work.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
G�day Max and all The dialectic of friendly discussion is so important to how ODK functions and offers an alternative to other social media forms. Max, you are always thorough and polite.
My initial interest in grass cutting efficiency arose when I was employed as a tradie in a large lawnmower firm. We were selling a lot of top-end North American machines � Gravely, Simplicity, Dixon and Yazoo. The first issue we noticed was that these machines could not cut low enough for Aussie preferences. We cut low here!
Simple solutions were modifying the height adjuster. The problem there was that, inevitably, the mower skirt would interfere with the desire to cut lower. It would drag on the ground.
So, I started modifying the cutter heads � with longer shafts. This did the trick and made customers very happy. But there was a problem. The blade height extended below the shallow skirts used on many USA lawnmowers. There was a safety issue.
It was at this point I realised that skirt height was an equal player in chute and catcher design. If the skirt height was too shallow, good luck with arch and catcher design.
Quote
I guess it depends on exactly what two mowers you are comparing, we were talking about Victa so I compared Victa bases of the same time period.
Max, I totally agree. The only major AUS domestic lawnmower maker of the 1960s and 1970s to not adopt a high arch design was Pope. Pope stuck with its high-skirted, but mid-arched, pressed-steel bases to the end. Max, you are right, I moved beyond Victa for the comments I made.
But compare the skirt height of a Pope base to a Victa of the day.
Quote
I find that a bad analogy for a high arch mower because when you restrict the flow of a garden hose yes you get an increase in velocity but your flow rate is halved,
Yep, the science is indisputable. My argument is one of balance and outcome � between skirt height, arch design and catcher design. Max, you know catcher venting is also part of this story. My analogy is not that bad.
A final word on the Victa Vortex. I have argued here that the joint venture � between Victa and the CSIRO � was about reducing noise, not cutting efficiency. Cutting efficiency was no better than equal to previous designs.
Max, I feel we have more in common than disagreement. You are right: we need to be more specific in comparing apples with apples. But the big three must be skirt height, chute design and catcher design. I hope I got that right.
I agree Jack,I thought you may be comparing the high arch with a mid arch from a different decade or comparing different makes,just making sure it all made sense without assuming what mowers you were referring to.
Yes catcher venting plays a big part in cutting efficiency,especially when people have blocked catcher vents.
As we were discussing Pope mowers I was thinking about the early Pope rotary valve, when the carby and exhaust changed sides I think it was because Pope wanted the thrust side of the piston to be on the cooler side of the barrel,just thinking under high load and operating temperatures the piston would wear less and the exhaust port is no longer on the pistons thrust side (piston has more support)
Victa changed the carby from one side to the other and then back to where they started, they went the wrong way on the Sheerline .It looks like Victa copied the early Pope that was wrong and I think when the thrust side of the piston is on the intake port side like the Victa Rotomo it has this operating temperature advantage for the piston.
Wow! The Vortex cutting disc was already designed by 1977! That was a very revolutionary year in many ways. Saturday Night Fever and Star Wars were released. Seems appropriate to have this futuristic but ultimately short lived design come out then. To think they were still making the Mayfair chassis at the time. Work was to start on the drawing board two years later, for the powertorque that was to power it. There was already an artist's impression of what the Vortex mower would look like by 1979.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
That is very clever Max, it is the G5/6 area, I just don't understand why they wear out in that area, but a big percentage of them get worn out in that area. I have welded a repair section back in there on quite a number. Rest of the base can be fine so they are worth saving
It's one of those things most people don't do so you would not see the reason for the wear on the side skirt.
The left hand side (near side) of the mower base is the edging side of the mower ,so if you cut the grass next to a brick wall for example the left side wears the bases side skirt because that center part of the base is closer to the wall than the wheels,but if you had the right hand side of the base close to the brick wall the wheels would rub against the brick wall and not the side of the base.
This also explains why sometimes you get hubcaps worn more on one side.
On an alloy base it's a lot more noticeable how the side skirt wear happened.
Only crazy people scrape mowers along the side of a brick wall etc.
Well there you go Max, I just hadn't thought about it that much, it is the fact that the wear curve was so even that had me tossed. I had never noticed any particular wear on the hubcaps
I also see it quite regularly - the alloy decks make it more noticeable much quicker.
A relative has a 1999 Masport, I noticed it was progressively being eroded at the aforementioned spot - straight after he installed rendered brick edging. I warned him that I can fix the engine, but if the alloy deck cracks and thins, its had it.
Thankfully, he payed attention. Doing a modification (and adjusting the mixture) on his Homelite line trimmer's carburettor to make it start second pull instead of tenth also helped I think
I don't understand people scraping the left hand edge of the mower in the hope of removing the grass from the edge. There is no substitute for a weed whacker. Evan before I got my first weed whacker, I never thought of scraping the metal edge against stones or brickwork. I just left whatever I missed alone.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Hey Tyler, I foolishly rested the motor at the top of a wheelie bin while cleaning the spool end with a brush, and low and behold the engine end fell a metre and landed upright onto the concrete below, bending the metal stand below the fuel tank. I have had this Mitsubishi TU 26 powered straight shaft Kaaz machine since new in 2005 and have always prided myself in looking after it only for this to happen. I test started it and it sounded fine and the only other apparent damage is a flake of paint coming of where the stand bolts into the engine. Should everything be ok in your opinion? It's bugging me a little.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
All should be fine MF, fortunately it fell on the metal bit. Luckily the good quality Kaaz ones have the metal bit - if the same thing happened to most other trimmers, a new fuel tank would probably be involved.
I have done the same thing twice - first one was my old Craftsman trimmer (first one I ever bought), was cleaning on the wheelie bin and it slipped off the back. Fortunately I caught it by the side handle. Momentary lapses in concentration.
The one that actually did drop was a Talon. I was awaiting a phone call, and was cleaning the talon when the phone rang. Dropped it on the exhaust plastic cover onto paving - only 1 small crack.
And I ran to the phone, picked it up and got (Indian accent), 'Hello, this is David calling you from the Telstra Technical Department.' I won't repeat what I said, but as you can imaging the language was quite ... interesting. haha
Yeah, I did have the hunch that the damage was confined to the stand which sacrificed itself as a shock absorber for the rest of the machine. The engine end is bolted together pretty tight. I managed to bend it back to a less askew shape with pliers but to get it back to how it was will require replacing the stand. Who knows, I might one day find a wreck with a similar one that can be made to fit with a little manipulation. The damaged one still does the job though. Tough lesson.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Exactly MF, maybe if it fell of a lawn mower man's trailer at 50 kph, the stand might damage the mounting point (presumably attached to the engine) and crack the mounting (and probably everything else on it) but 1 metre wouldn't touch it.
