The Craftmans Shop > New from Old
Rebirth of a 6 Foot Flail Mower
awemawson:
So a bit of a clean up on the jackshaft pivoting arrangement, loads of CopperEase on that pesky spline on the drive input U/J and I popped the jackshaft back into place.
Then I was about to set too and fit the pulleys on the main flail shaft and the jack shaft - they are retained with taper lock bushes. Both bushes were broken when I dismantled it, and as far as I can see the problem was that the drive keys were too thick. They fit the keyway widthwise, but there is no head space at all radially, so as the bush tightens it is being bent over the key. Reading up on taper lock bushes, they always should have radial head space on the keys:
http://www.fptgroup.com/Taper-Lock-Bush-Installation-Video/
Measuring the shafts and keys to decide how much to skim off on the surface grinder it dawned on me - they were NOT the same diameter - the flail shaft is 2.5" and the jack shaft is 2" so I'd bought the wrong bush for the jackshaft - arggh :bang:
Off to the web to order another ....... more delay :(
awemawson:
So having ordered the replacement (correct sized I hope :palm:) bush not much more I could do. I've titivated the key for the correct sized bush and given it 10 thou headroom radially which means that I can loosely fit it on the flail shaft, but can't tighten it down until the other pulley is in place, as they need to be set for correct axial alignment or it'll chew belts.
...oh I dunked all those flappy plates that I squashed flat into a bucket of warm citric acid to remove the surface rust. Not sure there's much point in painting them - a decision for another day.
awemawson:
So Tuesday started fine with a good forecast of dry weather all day. Ken the Blaster came just before lunch and blasted the remaining bits which is a major 'good thing' :thumbup:
Then I set up for spraying them - small bits hung on wires, and the bigger bits lying on pallets. Started with the three boxy bits up side down letting me spray them in primer inside - the intention being that when inverted the outside could get primer and top coat but the inside can stay in primer.
I got as far as doing the insides, and the heavens opened :bugeye: Just a brief shower I thought as it brightened up. I set too blow drying the bits with an air line, which worked quite well, until the deluge returned :bang:
Fortunately the primer dries very quickly, and by the time I managed to pull a tarpaulin over the bits it had already dried. No doubt the freshly blasted bare steel will be lightly covered in rust by the morning, but nothing I can do about it at the moment from the sound of rain on the workshop roof :(
awemawson:
So it stopped raining, but was still rather looming and gloomy so I decided to drag everything into the welding shop to complete the job. Once inside I blew everything off with an air gun, then directed a 4 kW blower heater on the bits for a while to ensure that they were properly dry.
As expected, the highly reactive freshly blasted steel had lightly rusted in places, so a quick rub down with emery paper and a dust off left them ready for resumption of priming. I set up a few strategically placed gash sheets of hardboard to minimise the overspray onto adjacent things and gave them a spray.
As I write they are virtually dry already, but the fan heater is now encouraging them, and hopefully after supper they can have a first top coat of JCB Yellow :thumbup:
awemawson:
After supper the fan got turned off and I set too putting on the first top coat.
I was probably rather too enthusiastic with the thinners as there are a few runs, but the bits are certainly looking much more yellow :ddb:
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