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Award Winning Support Cylinder or Rotary Mower? Which to choose
Are you considering a Cylinder or Rotary mower and unsure which type to choose?
Whether you are a golf course, bowling green, football pitch or a domestic lawn customer, a common debate is which mower should I use – cylinder or rotary?
Cylinder Mowers
Cylinder Mowers cut using a series of blades in a spiral formation. The spinning blades trap the blades of grass against a stationary bottom blade, producing a precision scissor-like cutting action. This process dates back to the 1830s where it was originally based on a machine used to trim the hairs on worsted wool in weaving mills.
Cylinder mowers need periodic and precise adjustment to maintain the quality of cut. An off cut cylinder will chew the grass giving a very poor quality of cut, which could be far worse than a blunt rotary. A quality cylinder mower with 5 or more blades will allow you to cut down to 3mm in height due to its sensitive height adjusters.
Rotary Mowers
The best way to describe a commercial ride on mowers is the grass is cut similar to a scythe, so one solid blade spins at high speed under the mower and cuts the top off the grass as it moves forward. Due to only having one solid blade, it will not cut as short as a cylinder a rotary mower normally cuts to between 10mm and 15mm.
PROs of a Cylinder Mower
- Quality of cut is better due to scissor action
- Allows you to cut lower and micro adjusters for height setting
- Collection is normally better to the box being front mounted
- Rear roller for striping – making the mowed grass more visually pleasing
- Battery, petrol or diesel models are available
CONs of a Cylinder Mower
- Generally more expensive to purchase
- More expensive to maintain due to sharpening of the blades
- Area to be cut needs to be relatively flat so as not to scalp the grass due to cutting at lower heights
- Blades are easily damaged, if any stones or tree branches are on the uncut lawn and pass through the blades then this is likely to cause damage
- Grass needs to cut more frequently
PROs of a Rotary Mower
- Suitable for cutting longer grass
- Less expensive to purchase than a cylinder mower
- You can cut less frequently than with a cylinder
- Cheaper to maintain than a Cylinder mower
- Available in petrol, diesel or battery models
- Can mulch if no collection is needed and can have rear or side discharge
- Will cut through foreign objects twigs etc better than a cylinder
- Areas to be cut don’t need to be as flat as with a cylinder
CONs of a Rotary Mower
- The quality of cut is not as good as a cylinder
- Collection is normally at the rear so not as good as a cylinder mower
- Generally on 4 wheels so no striping is achieved but you can buy with a rear roller
- Can’t cut below 10mm and height adjustment is not micro adjustment – normally in 5mm increments
In Summary
In summary, careful consideration is needed on budget and application. Both can offer an efficient, high quality cut but in general cylinder mowers are for specific applications such as bowling greens where as rotary mowers are for more general mowing requirements.
Read more on the GGM Blog:
What to consider when choosing a Ride-On Mower
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