0 turn lawn mowers are handy contraptions. Before you spend $2,000 on a machine, you might be interested to know what exactly you are paying for. How do 0 turn lawn mowers work? What makes them different from other lawn mowers?
Rotary Motors
A four-stroke rotary motor powers most mowers. A piston, attached to a spinning axle, is pushed up and down inside a combustion chamber. At the top of the chamber are two valves. One opens to allow fuel to enter the chamber and the other opens to allow the exhaust to exit the chamber. In stroke one, the fuel valve opens and fuel enters the chamber and pushes the piston down. It is closed again for stroke two as the rising piston compresses the fuel and then ignited. The small explosion pushes the piston back down, representing stroke three. In stroke four, the exhaust valve is opened and the burned fuel is pushed out of the combustion chamber. In a lawn mower, the piston is connected to a vertical axle in the center of the deck casing. The blade that cuts the grass is attached to this axle a few inches above the ground. The motor turns the blade at 3,000 revolutions per minute to chop the grass. The safeties act as a throttle that allows the initial valve to release fuel into the engine.
Reel Mowers
This mower is the only type that does not run off of a rotary motor. A reel mower is powered by movement. When a person pushes the mower, a series of blades that are attached to the wheel axle begin to spin in a horizontal cylindrical casing. Another blade that runs along the side of the cylinder and sits close to the ground pushes the grass up into the rotating blades. The rotating blades and the running blade act as scissors that shear the grass as the machine is pushed.
How Understanding Your Mower Can Help You
Firstly, knowing how your mower works will help you buy exactly the mower you want. If you don’t mind using fuel, the 0 turn lawn mower and other rotary motor machines will save you time and physical effort. This knowledge can also help you make smart repairs so you can either fix it yourself or understand what a repairman is doing to your machine. If for no other reason, it is truly fascinating to understand machines that we take for granted.