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frequency of reel grinding

3 posts
  1. Michael Rogers
    Michael Rogers avatar
    2 posts
    9/17/2015 12:09 AM
    Hello,

    How often or after how many hours do you grind your

    greens
    tees
    fairway mowers?

    I am 419 tees, fairways and bent/poa on greens.

    Thanks
    Michael Rogers
    Marbella Golf Country Club



  2. Michael Wagner
    Michael Wagner avatar
    0 posts
    9/17/2015 5:09 AM
    At my last course we had a newer peerless grinder that does a spin grind and a relief grind and because of the precision we eliminated back lapping. The reels were so perfect when I got done with them that they measured within .002 in. on either side. At this capacity I was doing 1 good grind early in the season then 3-4 touch-ups throughout the season for greens. 1 grind then 2 touch-ups for tees and fairways I did a full grind 2 times per year. As long as things were adjusted properly this gave me very good quality turf with no ripping or pinch/passover or what ever you want to call it. That being said I am now at a course that has a 1942 peerless grinder and we grind everything once a year except greens which get re-ground after aerification in August. Other than that we back lap quite often with the finest back lapping compound I can find. I still get a great quality of cut but it's a lot more work. Both courses are in the northeast on poa/bent everything.



  3. Henry Heinz
    Henry Heinz avatar
    0 posts
    9/17/2015 6:09 AM
    Its going to depend on your turf type, conditions, and expectations of your club. Here we grind when the paper tells us, no lapping at all. I did run on a schedule before, but this year has been extremely busy so I let the cut of paper tell me when we do our daily checks. Most of the time it's a light grinding on greens, about every other week to two weeks for greens. For Tees we run eight 260 SL's and grind roughly six times during our year. Fairways we were doing about every three weeks on schedule, but this year looks like we'll average about six to eight times per the year. We do not have to take much off, these are very fast grinds, and never any lapping. We use the Peerless 7000 and Ideal 6000 by SIP so we don't have any cone reels, and we can move very quickly through our units. 3 JD 8500's in and back out mowing in 2 hours and 40 minutes. Each place and person will have different schedules and methods of do things. I have a friend that grinds reels and knives at three weeks, then drops the knife and grinds them at on the sixth week and then does reels and knives again on the nine week mark. This keeps his quality of cut up, saves time and reel stock.

    Regards,



  4. Michael Rogers
    Michael Rogers avatar
    2 posts
    10/1/2015 12:10 AM
    Hello, Greens machines ( 2 2100´s, one triplex ), tees, fairways, collars, surrounds, roughs have never seen grinder in 3 1/2 years ( since new ), only backlapping. Is this normal ? believable???

    Some have 2000 hours without rectification?????

    Thanks

    Michael Rogers
    Marbella Golf Country Club



  5. Mike Tanis
    Mike Tanis avatar
    5 posts
    10/1/2015 2:10 AM
    Wow, that's unbelieveable, hell my greens mowers don't go longer than two weeks, and that's rare, no backslapping here. I just can't see how that's possible if top dressing is involved but apparently it is.



  6. Michael Rogers
    Michael Rogers avatar
    2 posts
    10/1/2015 5:10 AM
    Mike,

    The Flex 2100´s have about 1000 hours. We hand mow with two 2100´s during the week and with a John Deere and Toro triplex on weekends. After topdressing greens we use an old Jake for 2 or 3 days.

    My foreman and mechanic say all is well and all machines cut single paper well from end to end with correct amount of contact.

    We had a very rough summer with 100´s for July and 100% humidity for August. Our greens are very good throughout just not quite as fast ( just below 10 ) with single 3 mm cut as before. We have also had two winters with very little rainfall and in my opinion the calcium carbonate from well water has built up in greens.

    Thanks for input

    Michael



  7. Henry Heinz
    Henry Heinz avatar
    0 posts
    10/1/2015 7:10 AM
    That much lapping I bet they have a cone in them that you could only get from Baskin Robins Ice cream......



  8. Frank McQuiggan
    Frank McQuiggan avatar
    2 posts
    10/1/2015 8:10 AM
    3 1/2 years never ground only backlapping, I'm going to have to say impossible. I grind reels and bed knives every 3 weeks , along with hand filing every time the mowers go out. Been doing this for quite some years now and I don't see backlapping keeping the blade that sharp. I agree with Skip there probably is a good cone on those reels by now.

    If the reels have never been ground my question is what about the bed knives? How many have been changed?



  9. Melvin Waldron
    Melvin Waldron avatar
    43 posts
    10/1/2015 8:10 AM
    We grind once per year (3 course, shared grinder and mechanic and its an older grinder)

    We do back lap but not as often as I like.

    I've seen old Parkmasters and now that I think of it, I don't remember having reels ground when I was gro3wing up in Florida, but maybe they did do that in the winter, or they just replaced reels. Back in those days if the reel was on the lapping machine it was on for at least an hour a reel. (back in late 70's and early 80's)

    Mel

    Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO

  10. Ron Bradley
    Ron Bradley avatar
    63 posts
    10/1/2015 1:10 PM
    I can't believe thay cut very good only backlapping after all this time. I grind every two or three weeks depends on
    how much we topdress greens. I would grind for sure and hope I had enough reel left to get them back to a cylinder shape. I have not backlapped in over 15 years. Todays grinders are so much faster and you do not need to backlap at all.



  11. Bob Pruneau
    Bob Pruneau avatar
    5 posts
    10/3/2015 7:10 AM
    I take it you don't top dress either . If it doesn't cut newsprint it goes on the grinder . Sometimes I'll cheat a bit and pull the bed bar off to grind . Never front faced knives on machine I find it more accurate to pull them off if needed. When I had the foleys I back lapped and top front faced but with the Bernhard it's just as easy to touch them up. Tee / approach hand mowed ground 3 to 4 weeks ( toro 1600 ). Fairway every 5 to 6 weeks ( 3 x 7500 JD ) greens 5 toro 2100 and 2 x 2500E JD grind as needed . 2 to 4 weeks depending on argenomic practices .



  12. Jefferson Lumaquin
    Jefferson Lumaquin avatar
    0 posts
    10/17/2015 12:10 AM
    Fairway mowers - 2 x 5410's and 1 x 5610 - front faced every 3-4 days with a simplex 75; spin grind every 4-5 weeks
    Greens mowers - 4 Flex 21 and 4 eFlex - front faced everyday with bedknife buddy, spin grind every 20-25 hours
    Approach mowers - 2 x 3550's - same as fairway mower grind schedule
    all other misc. mowers - if it cant cut paper then we spin grind

    no relief grind, no backlap, no contact to slight contact on all reels



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