Excellent overview of your plans for the Skid Pro X4 brush cutter, Greg. It looks like your plans will address some of the stress points on the cutter. Thanks for this video and looking forward to more. 😊
I was just caught up with the fact you had a license tag on the back of your machine - defiantly a Canada thing. Considering this cutter in the near future. Thx
@@Mr.BrushCutter have same 75-2 high flow and run a mtl xct piston motor w carbides and never had any issues and we run it hard w our clearing business. That would freak me out never knowing when it could happen
The blades should not be breaking. Especially when they can swing away on the mount. I have a 72 inch brush mower from another manufacturer with 3/4” thick blades. I have hit large rocks and even a car frame hidden in tall grass and only suffered nicks in the cutting edge. Never had a blade bend notably ever. I would consider blades from another manufacturer. Also look into hardened washers instead of teflon which is too soft for the application.
My humble opinion is that the heat treatment is wrong. The blades are too hard. They either were not tempered properly or not at all (made in China). This will cause for UnTempered Martinsite. Martinsite is a "high temperature transformation" element that are very brittle and it will crack and fracture. Before cutting your mower apart go to a local Heatreater. Also try to find out what specific steel alloy they were made from. Explain to the Metallurgist the entire situation (this might be Chinese crap steel full of impurities). Ask him to check either the Brinell Hardness or the Rockwell Hardness. This will actually reveal the ultimate strength. While Heatreaters have minimum pricings they might just put them in the furnace with another batch of the same or similar alloy and run them thru for free to help a guy out. Also the furnaces must either be a vacuum environment or Endothermic environment. This is to prevent a decarburization layer on the surface, that is very soft. The heat treater will know. Take 4 new blades and one old one that is broken if you have it. This is a very dangerous situation. OR, you might buy the blades from an entirely different source. Another possible treatment is "Cryogenic treatment" which consists of using Liquid Nitrogen to treat your blades. This process will remove any "retained Martensite" and further prevent cracking and breaking. You might have to band them to a pallet and ship? Sorry. They usually charge by the pound plus a processing fee, maybe $200-$300. Cut this out and give it to a heat treater. This dangerous problem can be solved. No, I am not a Metallurgist, but an old school Mechanical Engineer who had some very good teachers. Cutting on your mower down for straight blades will cost way more than this. Keep me posted, Jim The mower cracks are an entirely different problem, but you can fix those, also add gussets to distribute the stresses and loadings. I think you mow rocks??? Sorry I know about where you are now. Try this: Vancouver Heat Treat Ltd 18911 96 Ave, Surrey, British Columbia, V4N3P3 Canada But shop around.
The blades always brake around the bolt hole. A metal guy said they look to be made out of spring steel. I will consult the local shop here to see if they can build better blades. They start braking when i get into bigger trees 6-8 inch ( they market the cutter for 8 Inch but in my humble opinion it is a 4-5 inch material cutter, if the blades were better that might change ) or if you run into a stump or big rock they tend to break. The first set of blades i had over 200 hours on them and had no issues.
Excellent overview of your plans for the Skid Pro X4 brush cutter, Greg.
It looks like your plans will address some of the stress points on the cutter.
Thanks for this video and looking forward to more. 😊
I was just caught up with the fact you had a license tag on the back of your machine - defiantly a Canada thing. Considering this cutter in the near future. Thx
Pieces of the blade break (multiple times)? Or are the blades coming loose from carrier? Crazy
They break at the bolt hole
@@Mr.BrushCutter have same 75-2 high flow and run a mtl xct piston motor w carbides and never had any issues and we run it hard w our clearing business. That would freak me out never knowing when it could happen
You hitting big rocks or something
The blades should not be breaking. Especially when they can swing away on the mount. I have a 72 inch brush mower from another manufacturer with 3/4” thick blades. I have hit large rocks and even a car frame hidden in tall grass and only suffered nicks in the cutting edge. Never had a blade bend notably ever. I would consider blades from another manufacturer. Also look into hardened washers instead of teflon which is too soft for the application.
What brand of mower are you runnin
@@Mr.BrushCutter I have a Quick Attach brand.
My humble opinion is that the heat treatment is wrong. The blades are too hard. They either were not tempered properly or not at all (made in China). This will cause for UnTempered Martinsite. Martinsite is a "high temperature transformation" element that are very brittle and it will crack and fracture. Before cutting your mower apart go to a local Heatreater. Also try to find out what specific steel alloy they were made from. Explain to the Metallurgist the entire situation (this might be Chinese crap steel full of impurities). Ask him to check either the Brinell Hardness or the Rockwell Hardness. This will actually reveal the ultimate strength. While Heatreaters have minimum pricings they might just put them in the furnace with another batch of the same or similar alloy and run them thru for free to help a guy out.
Also the furnaces must either be a vacuum environment or Endothermic environment. This is to prevent a decarburization layer on the surface, that is very soft. The heat treater will know. Take 4 new blades and one old one that is broken if you have it. This is a very dangerous situation. OR, you might buy the blades from an entirely different source.
Another possible treatment is "Cryogenic treatment" which consists of using Liquid Nitrogen to treat your blades. This process will remove any "retained Martensite" and further prevent cracking and breaking.
You might have to band them to a pallet and ship? Sorry. They usually charge by the pound plus a processing fee, maybe $200-$300. Cut this out and give it to a heat treater. This dangerous problem can be solved. No, I am not a Metallurgist, but an old school Mechanical Engineer who had some very good teachers. Cutting on your mower down for straight blades will cost way more than this. Keep me posted, Jim
The mower cracks are an entirely different problem, but you can fix those, also add gussets to distribute the stresses and loadings. I think you mow rocks???
Sorry I know about where you are now. Try this:
Vancouver Heat Treat Ltd
18911 96 Ave, Surrey, British Columbia, V4N3P3 Canada
But shop around.
The blades always brake around the bolt hole. A metal guy said they look to be made out of spring steel. I will consult the local shop here to see if they can build better blades. They start braking when i get into bigger trees 6-8 inch ( they market the cutter for 8
Inch but in my humble opinion it is a 4-5 inch material cutter, if the blades were better that might change ) or if you run into a stump or big rock they tend to break. The first set of blades i had over 200 hours on them and had no issues.
Junk blades if they brake .
Skid Pro customer service stinks! Their return policy stinks too! I delt with them once never again! Deceptive sales practices!