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Lawn Striper: The Maiden Voyage (update)
Frogleg,
I raised my mower deck to 3 1/4 inches, added weight to the roller, and cut again today. The roller is right around 14-15 pounds, about 2/3 full of sand. The striping effect is definitely more noticeable than it was after my first attempt. The weight/drag on the mower is definitely more noticeable too, but it's manageable. (Forearms get a good workout.) Still, I don't think I want any more weight than that. Again, maneuverability was not a problem, but I did frame the yard first w/o the striper attached. (It really does detach/reattach pretty easily.) The striping effect lasted about 3-4 days. Like I said before, the angle of the sun does make a big difference. Cutting across my previous stripes I can see a faint checkerboard pattern. Don't know if continued cross cuts will enhance this effect or not. Since I can't walk in a straight line, I doubt if I could match my own pattern anyway. Next time I'll probably try some curves and diagonals to see how I do there. Still not perfect, but it does make cutting the grass a little more interesting. Rick "Frogleg" wrote in message ... On Wed, 21 May 2003 18:27:34 -0500, "Rick and Dana Siekmann" wrote: To follow up on the earlier thread, for those who care...my Lawn Striper came via UPS today, which was handy as the yard was ready to be cut. (Because they are close to my home, I ordered direct from Inventtek, the company that makes it; it was here in two days.) I had the thing out of the box and attached to my Craftsman in less than five minutes. Luckily there was one hole in the wheel adjustment thing that I could use, otherwise I would have needed the extension bracket, or I would have had to drill a new hole. I did have to play around with it a little to get it lined up with the cutting deck. Once attached, there was only about 1/4 to1/8 inch clearance between the roller frame and back wheels, which meant there would be some drag. Still, not too bad, but some of the powder coat on the frame was rubbed off in the cutting. Since I cut my grass long, I tried it first without any extra weight, but I didn't see any real striping effect, so I added some sand. That worked a little better. Even with the added weight, it was pretty easy to push around, although I did opt to remove the roller for some of the tighter finish work around my landscaping. Still, maneuverablity wasn't much of an issue. But I will probably "frame" the yard first before the main cut in the future. Ultimately, I would describe the striping as somewhat less than stadium quality. (Of course, it didn't help that I am apparently incapable of walking in a straight line.) When the sun is at your back it looks pretty neat, but when facing the sun the effect is much less obvious. Across the grain, forget it. I didn't fully load the thing with sand, so that might have made a difference, but I'm not sure the trade off would have been worth it. At some point it would have become too labor intensive, especially up slopes. And I'm still not sure how good it is to be mashing the grass flat like that. Overall, I would probably give it about a 7 out of 10. Not perfect, but not bad, and definitely better than not using it. A pretty good toy. The next test will be the cross cut in a few days. Keep us posted. I am really interested in how long the effect lasts. |
#2
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Lawn Striper: The Maiden Voyage (update)
On Mon, 26 May 2003 14:46:27 -0500, "Rick and Dana Siekmann"
wrote: Frogleg, I raised my mower deck to 3 1/4 inches, added weight to the roller, and cut again today. The roller is right around 14-15 pounds, about 2/3 full of sand. The striping effect is definitely more noticeable than it was after my first attempt. The weight/drag on the mower is definitely more noticeable too, but it's manageable. (Forearms get a good workout.) Still, I don't think I want any more weight than that. Again, maneuverability was not a problem, but I did frame the yard first w/o the striper attached. (It really does detach/reattach pretty easily.) The striping effect lasted about 3-4 days. Like I said before, the angle of the sun does make a big difference. Cutting across my previous stripes I can see a faint checkerboard pattern. Don't know if continued cross cuts will enhance this effect or not. Since I can't walk in a straight line, I doubt if I could match my own pattern anyway. Next time I'll probably try some curves and diagonals to see how I do there. Still not perfect, but it does make cutting the grass a little more interesting. 3-4 days sounds pretty good. And anything that makes lawn-mowing more interesting is worth a try. :-) Do try diagonals. I think the pattern looks awfully classy. The next test will be how "manageable" this seems in mid-July. OTOH, it could be more entertaining than a couple of hours at the gym. |
#3
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Lawn Striper: The Maiden Voyage (update)
3-4 days sounds pretty good. And anything that makes lawn-mowing more interesting is worth a try. :-) Do try diagonals. I think the pattern looks awfully classy. The next test will be how "manageable" this seems in mid-July. OTOH, it could be more entertaining than a couple of hours at the gym. I'm kind of a gym rat anyway, so a hard workout doesn't bother me all that much. That's one of the ways I view yard work anyway--another form of exercise. That said, I'm thinking of adding still more weight to the roller to see if I can get the stripes to really stand out. Glutton for punishment, I guess. |
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