Rotary Mowers | 7 |
Rotary mower clip
Requirements for
acceptable performance
To understand rotary cutting theory you must understand the concept of clip.
Clip can be defined as the forward distance traveled by the cutting unit during one revolution of the blade. This distance is divided by the number of blade tips to arrive at the clip dimension. The dotted lines represent the cut path by the previous blade tip.
Although the blade cutting edge may be 3" - 4" long the very tip is the primary contact point with the grass blades on each pass.
The remaining portion of the cutting edge will tend to cut off the stragglers from the previous blade pass. The blade tips are normally lower than the rest of the blade to avoid any drag on the turf absorbing rotating horsepower and damaging the grass.
Factors which affect clip:
•Blade speed
•Ground speed
Three basic requirements for acceptable performance:
The blade must be straight with sharp cutting edges. The blade must have the proper attitude in relation to the ground surface.
The blade must rotate at the proper speed with an accommodating ground speed to get an acceptable clip.
Toro University Technical Training
