Recycling old (2009) Electric 'push' Lawn mower
 

Craftsman 12 Amp 19" Corded Electric Rear Bag Lawn Mower - Lawn & Garden - Lawn Mowers - Corded Electric Mowers

I've seen an elderly Lexington neighbor using his E-mower for the last few years.
And now that he's moving away, it was put out on the sidewalk. (Free)!

It looked okay, but underneath, I found the blade was flopping-around loose.
The blade retaining nut was ready to drop off!
The blade had done some minor damage to the underside of the plastic housing,
and the fan impeller blades/vanes were broken off, expect for one.

Amazon reviews on the Fan, had some good info about preventing fan blade breakage.
It seems that trimming a little plastic on the fan blades(vanes?), will keep them from hitting the protruding motor bolt heads.


I torqued the blade down and did a quick grass cutting test.. It works fine! :D Very quite!


I've ordered replacement parts from Ebay and should have it cutting grass by the end of next week..


http://www.toolselect.com/tsimages/C...age-Full-1.png

The bag wasn't with the mower. :( but since it's a Mulching machine, it should get a lot of use.. Saving us some gasoline!

Nice find / fix / reccyle! I do say, electric is the way to mow. :)

Parts are coming in.. Got the new blade and fan today..

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...t/P1000758.jpg

Check out the old fan.. I trimmed the new one, so the vanes won't hit the bolt heads.. :)
Amazon Prime is FAST!!

Wow, the mower looks practically brand new.

It is in pretty good shape. The cut-height adjustment handle (above right rear wheel)
is the smoothest working height tweaker I've every seen on any mower.

I'm waiting for a little plastic part. It holds the blade to the motor shaft, but has ridges
on it's sides that are meant to break off, if the blade hits a solid object.
(That would normally break the blade or motor shaft).

I love how B&D made the height adjustment so easy.

I didn't know that the ridges were designed to break off to save the motor. In the mower that I fixed up, the ridges didn't do the job and it shattered about 1/4 of the permanent magnet material(2 large shaped ferrite slabs). I just took the motor apart and fished out all the shavings and chunks, then put it back together and ran it to let it self-machine any of the rough edges and work out any material that was hiding, took it apart and cleaned it again. Then I mowed the lawn twice and the cheap top end bearing snapped so I swapped it out for a ball bearing and it's been doing great ever since. After that I converted mine(was plug-in) to battery power by destroying an extension cord, adding an appropriate fuse, adding a battery of the proper voltage and fashioning it to the proper size, and more or less just plugging it in.

I think the weak/wear point of these is the top bearing, it's a double ring bearing with thin spokes where the spokes fatigue and break and then the motor basically locks up. It wasn't too hard to find a ball bearing that friction fits in place between the housing and the motor shaft though.

Black & Decker Mower Insulator , Blade 241381-01 Craftsman | eBay

Blade Insulator? I could be wrong, but I looked at the motor shaft and saw the flats didn't contact the blade at all.
The 'Insulator' pressing on the blade tightly, is what keeps the blade from slipping.


If the blade hits a stump and stops, the blade should slip, (edges breaking off) while the motor keeps spinning.
The spec for the nut is 20 to 30 foot pounds.

Just a guess, but if someone torqued the nut up to 60 or 70 ft lbs, that could be problematic..

The edges breaking off, could be just a flag, to tell you the blade has slipped..
I don't know if they are even strong enough to be used as a sear-pin device.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...20slot/421.jpg

The new insulator isn't coming until next Wednesday.. :(
I got bored this morning and installed the blade using the old insulator. It's only slightly damaged.

My handy torque tool isn't adjustable, and I think it's pre-set to about 58 ft lbs.
So, I was careful not to run over any stumps during my little test mow.
This E-mower is light (light enough for a small woman to use) and it cuts pretty nice. :)
http://www.acetogo.com/photo/product/2302610.jpg

I'll have to get out a real torque wrench when I new part is delivered.

~~~
Battery power? I was looking at the diagram and there appears to be a full wave bridge rectifier between the AC and the motor.
So, I'm thinking the motor is running on 120 hz pulsing DC with a 170 v peak.
http://www.eleinmec.com/figures/018_04.gif

The guys who converted their plug-in mowers to battery power on the ES forum were saying that 80 volts nominal of LiPo cells would do the trick with no noticeable performance difference, some used that voltage but others used whatever their voltage their e-bike used if it was more than 80 volts. In my case I'm running 65 volts nominal of NiMh cells as that was all I had on hand but have PMed some people seeing if I can get more as the mower is a bit weak at this voltage but does the job.

That's interesting. Maybe someday when I'm really bored and have some spare $$
Those high tech cells cost too much and need a fancy charger, and Old tech batteries are too heavy.

I have a couple of solar arrays in the backyard, maybe I should plug into one of them?
Just have to mow when it's hot and sunny.. :(