Hi All,
My 72yr old mother until recently had her lawn done by a contractor at $90 a pop. Upon finding this out I told her I'd do for her and as it's a ~300m2 yard sourced her a cheapish Ozito 2 x 18v mower for me to use doing it for her and her to do when she feels up to it. My car is too small & my mowers too large to bring over to do.
I did for first time yesterday and though incredibly wary not to hit anything upon checking the single bar blade afterwards I found it really dinged up & rolled over presumably from hitting these tree nut type things that were on her lawn & I'd never given a thought to being a concern to a mower blade. I know there were no stones or concrete hit, so that small bits of twig etc did this is underwhelming.
I've brought the blade home with me to get the knocks out etc - but I'm wondering is there a way i can bring the shockingly soft steel they've used to make this blade a tad more serviceable?
It's clearly completely untreated mild steel - just powder coated - and with far too acute a grind on it for a mower blade!
Quick thoughts are:
- just make do until a total reseting of the grind angle is needed and put a more obtuse grind angle on it so there's more metal behind the blade edge
- get a blowtorch & used sump oil, heat the outer blade edge to red hot then quench in the case oil, which should harden the edge (in theory if heated to hit temps). But I think being it's crap steel, the carbon content is so low this would make negligible difference & just run the risk of making brittle & break off risk.
- long term one can mod the bar blade removing part of the ends, replacing with a couple of equal length traditional swingback blades, screwing in place (have plenty of spare blades from mowers I've sold that could be used for this).
- waiting till blade wears down and building up areas removed with welding (adding more bulk) - but dunno if this would be brittle & soft too if just using GP type rods?
FWIW the part number is EH3405486. So perhaps a replacement part thats actually hardened could be found or one close enough that could be modded?
Really bodgy that the makers send this type of crap out, when hardening the steel would cost them just a few cents more per unit - but I presume they do it cynically as they know the blades will become unusable within a short period and most owners will simply be forced to buy another at their marked up prices.
Also absolutely pathetic near flat fluting on this blade, no wonder it struggles to discharge clippings - I just put a piece of dowel under the flap (kept up just a tad) and mowed bagless, worked much better.
FWIW this is the mower kit itself - good fit for her yard, physical abilities etc - but crappy blade!
https://www.bunnings.com.au/ozito-p...opic-lawn-mower-kit-pxlmtk-4182_p0207446
