Topper repair to save £700.

[shumungus]

Blade carrier on a 9ft rhino topper. Broke the end off it and on investigation the other end was cracked. Phoned dealer new blade carrier £727 plus postage and would be at least a week.
Local plasma men very good and cut ne a bit of 25mm thick 355 steel at very short notice. Damp here this morning so had a rip at it in the workshop. Now running like a sweetie.

 

[fermerboy]

Blade carrier on a 9ft rhino topper. Broke the end off it and on investigation the other end was cracked. Phoned dealer new blade carrier £727 plus postage and would be at least a week.
Local plasma men very good and cut ne a bit of 25mm thick 355 steel at very short notice. Damp here this morning so had a rip at it in the workshop. Now running like a sweetie. View attachment 983316View attachment 983317View attachment 983316View attachment 983317View attachment 983318View attachment 983319View attachment 983321View attachment 983322View attachment 983323View attachment 983325View attachment 983327View attachment 983328View attachment 983329View attachment 983330View attachment 983331View attachment 983333View attachment 983334

Good job, ours is bent up at the ends like yours too. Have heated and bent back with new welding along the side plates but can see it happening again.
Gets a hell of a torture cutting rushes etc.

 

[shumungus]

Good job, ours is bent up at the ends like yours too. Have heated and bent back with new welding along the side plates but can see it happening again.
Gets a hell of a torture cutting rushes etc.

They seem to eventually crack along the line of where they bend up at the end.

 

[C.J]

Mine bent up at the ends - poor design having the bracing end inline with the square hole

 

[fiatf130]

Who do you use for plasma cutting?

 

[shumungus]

Who do you use for plasma cutting?

David Fry.

 

[bravheart]

Good job there have you managed to keep it balanced?

 

[shumungus]

Good job there have you managed to keep it balanced?

Wondered about that and done my best to make my repair the exact same size and shape as original. Ran the topper up without blades the first time and there was no noticeable vibration. I could get it balanced as there are a couple of places not too far away with the toys to do it but I'm not going to bother. When you think that each blade weighs 5kg+ and bits get nipped out of them I think a few grams either way shouldn't make a big difference. If there had been vibration I would have been looking at truing the shaft and balancing the rotor but thankfully there is none.