View Single Post
Old 06-21-11, 09:26 PM   #10
Weed Dog
Lurking Renovator
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 24
Thanks: 0
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Default Howzit Work?

Makes you wonder what impeller/blade configurations they tried, i.e., how many failures preceded the current design. Did they try a lift-blade?

The impeller ejects air above and parallel to the blade, and not down onto it, so it seems there must be, relatively, less turbulence in the space below the impeller.

If you can picture this, a double-bell housing could isolate the impeller/air-lift plenum from the blade chamber. But the current Flymo models prove it does not seem necessary.

I mowed my front and side yards with it and was impressed with the cut: very tidy, even on the banks that drop down to the public sidewalk, and I'd let the grass get a bit tall at that. I did note that the mower tended to push this tall cut grass into piles, which sometimes collapsed onto the deck when poked, weighing down the mower after a long while and affecting the smoothness of the glide. I'd then release the kill-switch, flip the deck left and right to throw off the collected grass, and restart it. Cut the grass at more timely intervals and the problem is minimal.

The height of the cut is adjusted by adding or removing washer-like spacers between the impeller and the blade.

On sidewalks and driveways it truly does glide, and easily too.

Hardcore mower nuts may sniff at the lightweight components, the almost toy-like quality it exudes, the 15in. cut, and the fact that it's European. Hmmm, wasn't the Harrier a foreign-built hovering object, too?

I'm starting to think that if string replaced the blade, the former would be too affected by the blast of air from the impeller, especially at the tips of the string. Perhaps string length would be limited to the impeller diameter...no, a double-bell housing would address that...

Thinking too much...empirical test-time.
Weed Dog is offline   Reply With Quote