Atco light 14 bottom blade adjustment

An image or two will help.

I'll take some in daylight and if it stops raining !

Here's 2 pics if it helps

I don't know about anyone else, but they don't really help me identify anything.

How about a full shot of the entire mower, one of the entire side frame and one of the inside of the frame adjacent to the cylinder end.

ok I'll try that

Not much help!  So let’s try a different tack.

The “nip” between the stationary bottom blade and the rotating blades of the cutting cylinder can be achieved in one of two ways. One is that the bottom blade and it’s carrier ( sole plate or bottom block) is rigid between the chassis side plates and the cylinder is suspended between two bearing assemblies that have a small amount of up and down movement to allow it to be aligned with the fixed blade - typically moved and locked by some form of screw adjustment.

Conversly the cylinder is held in a fixed position between the chassis side plates but the bottom blade on its carrier can move to achieve even alignment.

Which ever method is  provided should be revealed by a couple of decent images .

This kind of rings a bell back to 30 years or so ago when I acquired an Atco 14" with Villiers 2 stroke that was at a glance quite similar to my old neighbours Atco, which he used and maintained. So he was the obvious choice to work on it for me at the time.

His was I think a late 1940s machine whilst mine was, I recall, a 1950s.  His had much alloy and aluminium in its construction whilst my later one was more of steel.

His had the pivoting blade carrier in a way similar tho that used more recently on HD24" but I'm recalling that he came across the adjustment issue when he came to look at the cylinder/bottom blade set.  There was no pivoting/spring adjustment only a slotted movement on mountings to adjust, quite astounding.

Wondering if this is the same model of machine.?

I can't access my machine at present so can't totally answer the question but certainly feel that I've been here before with this problem.

C.

Hi

I've resized the original picture and added another one that the poster had uploaded but not added to the text. Might help a bit.

BTW, I'm going to have another look at the way the site handles uploads. Too many pictures appear on the forums in their smallest form that it can't be a coincidence.

Keith

From the pictures it doesn't look like there isn't way to adjust the cut, but it does remind me of the small Atco's fitted with the small villiers 4-stroke engine. Could your 2-stroke engined one be an earlier version of these ? If so, there should be an adjuster at each end of the bottom block. As I said, lets see a picture of the entire machine.

Better images but still too much of too little. A well lit diagonal view of either end of the cylinder / bottom blade interface,  inside the chassis side plates, is what is needed.  The new enlarged images plus a bit of guess work, certainly suggest that the bottom blade carrier is firmly bolted to the chassis side plates. Also the three bolt heads with the oiler cover between them, that presumably secure the cylinder bearing assemblies, show no obvious signs of slots behind them .  All rather strange but perhaps that’s how it is.

try uploading again

the pics are about 3.1mb

and another  1455/6 on the plate

final pic

shows the very bottom pair of bolts secure the bottom blade assembly to the side chassis

there doesn't seem to be any slots to allow adjustment

Just to confirm that this machine appears to be the same as my 1950s one that I referred to earlier. I think mine has the kick start though.?.  It's sat at the very far corner of my shed and sadly without a full empty of the shed I simply can't access it.!!  and I do remember my old neighbour finding the same issue as you have when he put it back into use for me 30 years ago, just can't get to it to check fully. If the blade carrier is not slotted then the cylinder bearing block mounting holes must be.?? with a chain adjustment facility to match.?

I used mine for a year or so and then the next curiosity must have taken over its role...and so on down the line, hence it's now resting in the shed. :)

C.,

Okay, I have never seen one like that, all the others I have seen have had a kickstart, but it rang a bell, didn't we have a post about a similar machine, so I went searching in the machinery manuals on this website and found this:

https://www.oldlawnmowerclub.co.uk/sites/default/files/opmanual/Atco-14…

Could it be that you have an Australian Atco ?

Well, the lack of an adjusting mechanism certainly fits the method in the Australian manual despite the tag on the mower saying Birmingham, England !

Thank you all for your exploration , luckily mine cuts well , I dressed the fixed blade and cylinder with a stone to clean them up and ensure a good contact.

Cuts the lawn nicely , runs and starts well  after sorting the points out. 16:1 ratio as per another light 14 book I found and 11/64 timing.

Happy now , nice and reliable and working well

Thanks all again

Just reading your service book attached yo a reply and there is a tipped carbon brush in my ht lead for sure. I replaced the main lead with a copper core and push on ht cap as the original ht lead was totally open circuit

I have one of these . In the second photo of the side of the machine you slacken the three bolts surrounding the bearing oiler flap and lower the cylinder DOWN onto the bottom knife . The other three bolts are under the chain case cover . Very primative and difficult to set correctly . I use  a strip  of phone book paper  folded in two . The cylinder should just cut 2 thicknesses but not cut 1. Too close will make the machine noisy and wear the cylinder . The Atco 14 two stroke deluxe ( with the split aluminium rear roller and cone clutch ) of the same age has a micro adjust on the bottom knife UP to the cylinder and is much better. With modern 2 stroke oils you can safely use 20:1 or even 25:1 - the amended original instructions  said 3/4 pint of oil to 2 gallons of petrol instead of 16:1  -   I have used this for over 30 years