Balance Lawn Mower Blades

Do you know your lawns can look like the beautifully cut lawns on football pitches and golf courses you watch on TV? One of the ways of ensuring this is to have a well-balanced lawn mower. The problem however is that most people do not know how to go about this. Fortunately, this has been resolved as in this article you will discover how to balance lawn mower blades.

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Why You Should Balance Your Lawn Mower?

A mower blade is one of the essential parts of a lawnmower. Hence, it is necessary to have a good and sharp blade that is well balanced as well as adequately positioned in the lawnmower as this ensures grasses are cut efficiently without having to mow the area over and over again. A good blade gives you a cleaner and more even cut; therefore, it is important to take care of your mower blade.

When you properly take care of your mower blade, it will not only be functional all the time but will also last longer as well. You will also get to save money, time, and energy. One of the ways of caring for your mower blade is by sharpening, and experts suggests that sharpening should be done every two months to keep the metal pieces in the best condition.

It is best to sharpen your mower blade before having to store it away after use; this could be once in a few weeks or at any other time you prefer. To discover how to balance lawn mower blades, the following steps should be taken.

Steps Taken To Sharpen a Mower Blade

To sharpen a mower blade, you will only need a few tools and skills. You could use a bench grinder for this purpose or a power tool grinding component.

Sharpening your mower blade is even now made easier as there are various brands on the market which offer grinding attachments as well as top quality sharpening blade tools, this could be purchased off the shelf without much stress, however it is best to watch out for the brands that are known to be the best, you could ask an expert to suggest one for you.

Step 1: Safety

The need for safety before sharpening your mower blade cannot be overemphasized. The first step is to switch off the mower completely if it’s an electric mower, this ensures that the user and also the machine is safe before the machine is being dismantled. Apply this same principle to any other type of mowers (this could be riding mower or push mower).

Step 2: Disconnect the Parts

While preparing to sharpen your mower blade, the blade must be kept stationary, this is not only important, but it’s also a safety measure that must be followed as a moving blade is very dangerous and could hurt your hands or fingers.

After ensuring that the mower blade is stationary, then you could proceed with disconnecting the parts starting from the spark plug safety. This is also another safety feature that must be given utmost attention in order to avoid hazards. After disconnecting the spark plug from its wire, then quickly ground it to avoid electric shock.

Next, disconnect the blade. While doing this, care must also be taken to prevent injury of any kind more so since you don’t know the state of the blade at the time. Even if think the blade is blunt and needs to be sharpened, this is just an assumption as the blade could be sharp enough to cause injury to careless handlers.

To effectively disconnect the blade, tilt the mower to the carburetor, which is stationed on its high side. After this, place a 2 by 4 block for assistance, you could stand on the block to provide the weight needed to loosen the tight lock of the blade. By doing this, you make it easier to remove the blade.

Step 3: Check the Blade

After removing the blade, carefully place it in a perpendicular position to the spinning grinder. Allow the blade to run for a while, at the same time check out the condition of the blade and also smoothen out nicks and chips. This will straighten the blade, although you could leave it blunt to ensure an excellent sharpening performance.

Step 4: Sharpening of the Blade

This is the epicenter of the whole process. The focus should be placed on the cutting edge of the blades as this is the center of focus. While performing this task, you must pay attention, especially if it’s your first time or if you are an amateur mower.

The blade must be held at a slope position or a certain angle to ensure that the cutting attention is expertly sharpened. Hold the blade firmly while using a grinder to run across the blade length, this will ensure that the cutting edges are made sharp once again.

In the case where the blade has already been severely damaged, you may not need to run the grinder across the blade length; this is because the blade may have been damaged from mowing very hard objects such as rocks and branches. Once a blade is damaged, then it should be replaced rather than try to sharpen it because even if you sharpen the blade, it can never be restored to a satisfactory condition, nor will it serve you well. Hence, you will only end up getting frustrated; other parts of the mower will also be affected by the defective blade, which could lead to quick deterioration of the entire machine.

Guide on How to Balance Lawn Mower Blades?

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Now that you are done sharpening the blade, the next thing is to discover how to balance mower blades. Note that the blades should be balanced after it has been sharpened to ensure optimal performance of the blade, if you balance the blade before sharpening, then it would have been a futile effort as the two processes are connected.

Another consequence of balancing the blade before sharpening is that the blade will gain more weight on one side as compared to the other side. This, in turn, will lead to underperformance of the lawnmower. That is not all; it could also cause additional damage to both the blade and the motor. Therefore, it is vital to balance the blade properly and also do so after sharpening the blade.

To balance the blade properly, the following steps should be taken:

Step 1: Acquire a Blade Balancer

To get a mower blade to be balanced, you will need a special kind of balancing tool; in most cases, the balancer component for mower blades is often used. It is advantageous to invest in this especially for lawn mowers who regularly mow their fields regardless of the type of lawnmower or its size. A regular lawn mower balancer has a cone shape with which the mower blade is balanced on its apex.

Step 2: Checking the Blade’s Balance

There is the need to first check the mower blade on the balancer before it can then be balanced; this ensures that the blade will function optimally when you mow your filed.

To check the balance of the blade, place the blade at the top of the balancing device, and once correctly positioned at the tip of the balance, then take note of the side that dips downwards. The side that dips downwards is an indication that the blade on that side is heavier than the other one, which has more mass.

Most times, mower users only hang their mower blades in a horizontal position across a nail, it is usually through the center of the hole of the blade and is a technique used to observe the direction the blade will tip towards. If one side seems heavier than the other, then some materials should be removed from the heavier side until you get an even balance. You could buy a very cheap blade balancer for this purpose as any other type will cost you more.

Step 3: Grind Until It’s Balanced

Having determined the mass of the blade, it’s now time to grind the blade, which is on the heavier side. To do this, you must apply extra care as the tools are very sharp and could lead to injury if handled carelessly.

While grinding the blade, do so lightly to achieve a good balance. It may be a slow process, but it’s safe and effective as well, also note that you may be required to grind the blade severally while checking the balance at the same time until the idle balance is achieved.

If you noticed that one of the blades is still dropping more heavily than its other side, then you should continue grinding. You will know when a blade is balanced after placing it on the apex of the blade balancer. A balanced blade is one in which both sides are of equal mass and level.

Other Things to Consider

Some users may encounter some issues when balancing and grinding their mower blades. It is important that these issues be resolved to ensure that the blade functions as it should.

There some users who have a different kind of mower, power, and size of  lawnmower, for this set of people, there is a need for them to learn how to balance their type of mower as it is different from the regular ones and so may require some special techniques.

If you have a mower whose blade has not been balanced before, removing it may be quiet tricky as its usually tight; therefore, it is crucial to select the right type of impact wrench. It is also necessary to check if your mower blade is straight before going ahead to remove it with a simple rotation.

Conclusion

Balancing a mower blade isn’t as difficult as perceived after all, all you need do is take the right precautions and follow the guidelines and just like that your blades will be sharp and back to functioning well. Now that you know how to balance lawn mower blades, your lawns will look nice and beautiful.

Watch This Video To Learn More About Sharpening And Balancing Lawn Mower Blades

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