OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Question On Scott Bonnar Cylinder Mowers Another SB45 Restoration Project - Just Starting

Here are some updated photographs.

The reel and bedknife went off to be sharpened last week and it will be coming back to tomorrow. I will havesome assistance in putting it completely back together and setting the cutting surfaces correctly.

I have it mostly back together except for a few items that need to be replaced or added and those are coming tomorrow.

Here are some pictures of it today.

Hi Wilsoac, coming together nicely, are you going to put some silver paint on the front roller tube? It would really set it off nicely...and just a heads up....the Scotty sticker on the chain-case and catcher are the wrong way round....the shield design goes on the catcher....here's a pic
Here is our guide to re-installation of the reel and adjustment procedures.....Click HERE
Looking forward to seeing it completed, mate.

Thanks Darryl,

I had looked at the pictures you posted before and I thought I didn't like them that way so I decided to put them the other way. Now that I've done it I kind of wish that I had put them on as your image shows above. Oh well! I cant really pull them off now as the text sticker is individual letters and I would wreck it in the process of removing it. I guess I could buy another set as they were inexpensive but I'm not sure I could be bothered. They will probably be damaged by tomorrow lunch time anyway!!

No probs, its always nice to put your own stamp on something anyway.
You'll have some fun doing the adjustments later today, just be patient and it will all come together....I hope the video Joe and I did will help you through it....

Hi All,

Well I've finally finished the mower and mowed the lawn with it and its unreal!!

The lawn is cut so flat and nicely that it's like night and day compared to the rotary mower.

At the moment the lawn is a little scalped as I mowed it a little lower in preparation for the new mower, it is slowly recovering and this time next year I will have a lawn that will be the envy of the street!!

I will attach some photos of the mower after we put the blade back in and had just finished back lapping/adjusting the blades. You can see the test cut with a post-it-note, the thing is razor sharp even after one cut of the lawn.

I'm looking forward to cutting the lawn with it tomorrow.!!

Hi wilsoac, glad to see it all back together and cutting so well.
I am a little confused...

I have some questions for you...
(1) You mention here backlapping....didn't you just have the reel and bedknife reground?
(2) How and why did you backlap?
(3) Is there any clearance between the cylinder reel and bedknife?

Hi Deejay,

To answer your questions;

1. Yes

2. Back lapping was done using a 3/4 socket attachment/adaptor on a battery drill running the blades backwards against the bed knife, a medium paste was used. As far as why I back lapped it; I had a fellow here to help me (he sharpened the blades) who is a senior contractor for many golf courses around Sydney, including the exclusive NSW golf course, he was the one who recommended this course of action to me.

He explained it was required as the two blade surfaces can never really be ground to each other absolutely perfectly while they are not bolted into the machine. Due to this the blades were lightly back lapped to ensure the perfect alignment of each blade to each other. You could hear the little burrs being removed by the process and when it was done you could hear that the blades were perfectly honed and aligned to each other, the sound was sensational as the two blades came in together, it sounded damned sharp!!

3. Yes, VERY slight contact. The blades are far enough apart to allow the cutting of a post it note, no less, no more.

I hope this answers your questions.

I am certainly no expert in relation to these mowers and but I have read a lot on here and watched the videos you've mentioned. I found the fellow who helped me to be very knowledgeable in relation to this mower and further more hew was extremely enthusiastic to help me set the mower up perfectly. He stayed for 2 hrs more than he quoted me so he could ensure everything was correct and watch the mower in action!!

Regards,

Andrew

Hi Wilsoac, great job on the Scotty!

By any chance was your blade sharpener a bloke in Southern Sydney named Cameron? He is excellent and very knowledgeable and more than happy to help and give advice.
He did mine and I highly recommend him. He gave me his backlapping kit(paste, brush, and an adaptor for driving the cutter with a cordless drill) and I must say it worked awesomely.

May you enjoy many happy hours mowing your lawn.

Hi Davo,

Yep, it was Cameron and I highly recommend him too, as you say very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about his work.

Hi There,

Welcome to the Forum and its good to see that you've got straight into the task at hand. May I ask a question, and that is what brand of Hammertone paint did you use ?

Cheers,
Manfred.

Hi Manfred, the finish is White knight 'rust guard' hammered finish 'Alpine Green' available from Bristol, Bunnings, etc.

Hi Everyone,

I thought I might post an update on the SB a little later on into the project because once the mowers are finished, we often don't hear much more about their performance.

After the mower was all finished (late autumn) I went about mowing my lawn with the old rotary mower and knocking down the height to a suitable level to use the SB. This was a biiiiig mistake as I stressed the lawn coming into winter and it caused the lawn to really suffer through the cold months. A lot of the lawn died right back and I have some bare patches, also there was a lot of weed (winter grass, clover, etc) in the lawn as it started to take off again in the last couple of months. Tip one: wait until the grass is growing before you cut it right down to SB level!!

The mower itself is amazing, it does such a fantastic job on the lawn and cuts it so flat. Now that the lawn is recovering (QLD Blue Couch), it loves to be cut by the mower. After cutting, the grass has noticeably grown after a couple of days and looks really healthy. As noted above, I have had to do a bit more spraying to get rid of the weeds but the grass seems to handle it well. The mower leaves the tell-tail stripes in the lawn which looks great. The stripes have been lasting around two days.

One thing the mower doesn't do as well as the rotary is vacuum the lawn! The old rotary sucks up all the leaves and mulches the branches (I don't mow the branches with the SB!) The SB picks up nothing and I either have to rake the lawn prior to mowing or I get the rotary out, set it above the grass and vacuum away!! Something which I'm sure my inquisitive neighbours find hilarious!!

Another thing about the mower is its nostalgic value, every single one of my neighbours has walked over and had a look at it when I have been mowing the lawn, everybody is interested! Cars and walkers slow down and take a good look at it, I think half of them are trying to work out what it is and the other half know what it is and want a look at it or complement the fine job it does on the lawn!

Problems so far:

Cutting surfaces; Nil, the thing is still razor sharp and I have not had to touch it yet!

Engine; a couple of weeks ago I could not get it to fire - a quick check of the spark plug and there was no spark. I fiddled around with it for half an hour or so, gave up and took it to the local mower shop (Saturday afternoon), after thinking about it over night I decided that I should fix the bloody thing myself, after all I had totally rebuilt it once already and I was prepared to have a crack at fixing the engine up (I didn't really do much to the engine, just clean up and paint). I went back to the mower shop, picked it up and took it home. When I got home, I thought to myself "I'll give it one more go". So I pulled the starter cord and the bloody thing went first pull!! I don't know whether it was the trip to the shop that scared it into running again or the bumpy ride over and back in the trailer that got it going but it hasn't missed a beat since!! (BTW a coil for my engine is $75!!)

The only other issue I have with the engine is it seems to 'hunt' a bit if it is revved a little high. I don't think it is over revving, I seems to me that it could run a lot smoother than it does. I think it hunts at normal engine speed and I have to drop the revs down to get it to run smoothly. Any tips here fella's?

I haven't got a photo of the lawn handy, I will post one next time I do the lawn.

Cheers

wilso_ac