I just bought a new Earthwise 7 blades reel mower

[Jacobariel1]

I used the Earthwise 16" 7 blades mower for the first time after always using a rotary and I am unsure if it's a good choice as I am not impressed.
I set the cut at 0.5" by lowering the wheels and the roller to the lowest setting, however it cuts close to or at the rotary cut of 1". In reality it looks the same as the rotary.
Is it because the factory roller is not folding the Bermuda blades down from lack of weight?

 

[Red]

Congrats on the purchase.

If you’re looking to cut it lower you’ll need to upgrade the rear roller to a conveyor roller. It’s a smaller diameter than the plastic roller that’s from the factory. I got mine from reel cnc.

I believe you can lower the earth wise down to 1/4” with this roller but don’t quote that, I do know I can cut at a 1/4” on my 18” Scott’s pro with the roller

16” roller upgrade link

 

[Red]

I forgot to add, when I got my first reel mower I did a scalp with my rotary and bagged it. Then maintained cutting with the reel mower at 1/2”. That helped thin the grass out so to speak to allow the reel mower to shine. With gas powered reels I don’t think you’d have to do that. But the price point doesn’t make sense for my lawn size

 

[Jacobariel1]

I forgot to add, when I got my first reel mower I did a scalp with my rotary and bagged it. Then maintained cutting with the reel mower at 1/2”. That helped thin the grass out so to speak to allow the reel mower to shine. With gas powered reels I don’t think you’d have to do that. But the price point doesn’t make sense for my lawn size

Thank you! Same here I have a small lawn so a manual reel is all I need. That roller link is yikes, expensive. Ive seen other people buy conveyor rollers for $25ish and it weights like 8lbs vs the one you sent me at 11lbs.
The last time I mowed with the rotary at 1" it scalped a little and another day I tried the reel like that so to be fair before I buy a better roller I am waiting for the Bermuda scalp areas to green up and re try the reel at .5".
If there is no scalping I'll try a heavier roller. I need to rule out scalping first.

 

[Red]

it’s a little pricey, but it’s a guaranteed fit and the brackets they send work perfectly with the roller. There’s a lot of people who have modded the earth wise.

As far as scalping, you’re probably going to get that quite a bit unless you do a sand level. Otherwise you’ll have to keep your HOC closer to an inch, but you’re losing some of the benefits of reel mowing.

With a heavier roller, you may notice a little more scalping, but mostly you’ll notice that the mower won’t “float” over the grass as it thickens up and gets more dense.

 

[Red]

I just remembered my solution when I had my 16” Scott’s… I had gotten a piece of 2” pvc and filled it with lead and zip tied it to the plastic bracket to adjust the height. This added I think 8 pounds to the original roller and did improve the cut quality. It’s been a while since I did that. I’ll try to take a pic of the setup. But that may be another option that you could try out before you buy an upgraded roller.

 

[Jacobariel1]

I went ahead and got the REELCNC from the link you sent. It arrives tomorrow.
I notice when mowing at the lowest setting I get some resistance here and there at times from sitting low.
Does this mean I need to raise the roller height on the REELCNC since it weights way more, 11 lbs?
I am afraid in doing so I won't be able to cut at .5"
At the same time if I set it to 3/4 cut it may still do .5" since it is now heavier.

 

[Red]

You’re probably getting resistance from the reel making contact with the ground or possibly debris getting between the reel and bedknife. Like I mentioned, if you haven’t done any leveling you’ll likely hit some high spots that you may not come close to with the rotary.

As far as height adjustments, the stock roller is close to two inches in diameter I believe, whereas the conveyor roller is 1.5” roughly. If you leave your adjustment the same you’ll be cutting quite a bit lower than you were with the stock roller.

The weight of the roller will help slightly to get the bed knife lower, but the biggest benefit is it keeps the back of the roller from bouncing. By weighing it down you’ll see a more consistent cut on the grass.

The lowest cut height you can achieve really depends on how even your lawn is. I’ve sand leveled the past few years and I’m able to cut down to 1/4” on the mower (I’d love to be able to maintain that level cause it looks so good when it’s cut)

Also, with cutting low like that you don’t really want to maintain a cut at the lowest that reel can go. You want to be able to drop it down to scalp then raise back up slightly to get a maintenance level. And by that I mean if you scalp at 1/4”, then you’re maintenance height should be 3/8” minimum.

I know I’ve thrown out several numbers and that it can seem overwhelming trying to be super precise and accurate, but it will click after a few weeks of using the reel mower and you’ll be able to eyeball adjustments in a way.

 

[Jacobariel1]

You’re probably getting resistance from the reel making contact with the ground or possibly debris getting between the reel and bedknife. Like I mentioned, if you haven’t done any leveling you’ll likely hit some high spots that you may not come close to with the rotary.

As far as height adjustments, the stock roller is close to two inches in diameter I believe, whereas the conveyor roller is 1.5” roughly. If you leave your adjustment the same you’ll be cutting quite a bit lower than you were with the stock roller.

The weight of the roller will help slightly to get the bed knife lower, but the biggest benefit is it keeps the back of the roller from bouncing. By weighing it down you’ll see a more consistent cut on the grass.

The lowest cut height you can achieve really depends on how even your lawn is. I’ve sand leveled the past few years and I’m able to cut down to 1/4” on the mower (I’d love to be able to maintain that level cause it looks so good when it’s cut)

Also, with cutting low like that you don’t really want to maintain a cut at the lowest that reel can go. You want to be able to drop it down to scalp then raise back up slightly to get a maintenance level. And by that I mean if you scalp at 1/4”, then you’re maintenance height should be 3/8” minimum.

I know I’ve thrown out several numbers and that it can seem overwhelming trying to be super precise and accurate, but it will click after a few weeks of using the reel mower and you’ll be able to eyeball adjustments in a way.

Yeah, what makes it confusing is the new roller because if currently I have it set to cut at .5 I wonder if I should raise the roller to the 3/4 cut and then let it get to 7/8 or 1" or so and keep cutting at 3/4.
I am afraid I'll get resistance at .5 because my lawn has some bumps here and there.

 

[Red]

Yeah, what makes it confusing is the new roller because if currently I have it set to cut at .5 I wonder if I should raise the roller to the 3/4 cut and then let it get to 7/8 or 1" or so and keep cutting at 3/4.
I am afraid I'll get resistance at .5 because my lawn has some bumps here and there.

You’ll have to test it out to find a good height to cut at. The larger the bumps, the higher you’ll have to cut.

Side note, if you only have a few spots you can get sand from a Home Depot to smooth them out instead of doing the whole yard.

But before you jump into the rabbit hole, play around with the reel mower cutting height. You’ll find something that works pretty quickly. And you’ll probably not even wind up measuring anything until you get it cutting.

 

[Jacobariel1]

You’ll have to test it out to find a good height to cut at. The larger the bumps, the higher you’ll have to cut.

Side note, if you only have a few spots you can get sand from a Home Depot to smooth them out instead of doing the whole yard.

But before you jump into the rabbit hole, play around with the reel mower cutting height. You’ll find something that works pretty quickly. And you’ll probably not even wind up measuring anything until you get it cutting.

My rotary would scalp just in a few spots at 1" that's why I decided on the reel. I hope to be able to use the reel at 1" or slightly lower without scalping because if it still scalps I wasted money and time because if I level the yard more eventually the rotary would not have issues at 1"

 

[Jacobariel1]

Also what sand is best. Looking at the home depot site there is pavers, sand mix for topping and bedding, quikcrete all purpose and play sand.
I used playsand before just to throw around lightly and because it creates more heat which bermuda loves but I hear it tends to slide.
I won't go down the rabbit hole path yet but there is an area that's lower that I would like to raise to be close to even.
By the way here is a pic from 5/11. Cut at 1 and 3/8 with the rotary.

 

[Red]

My rotary would scalp just in a few spots at 1" that's why I decided on the reel. I hope to be able to use the reel at 1" or slightly lower without scalping because if it still scalps I wasted money and time because if I level the yard more eventually the rotary would not have issues at 1"

Like I said, you’ll have to play around with it. My last reel was a 16”. I leveled and didn’t scalp anywhere after that. When I upgraded to an 18”, I would scalp in some areas, and even going in different directions I still hit a couple spots that are just a touch high.

A wider cutting path doesn’t ride the bumps as smoothly as a more narrow cutting path. You’re going from a rotary which is probably 21” or so down to 16”. You’ll have to test it out to make it work for your lawn. Even if you stay cutting at 1”, I wouldn’t say you wasted money. The cut of a reel is much better for grass than a rotary- the whole cutting vs tearing of the grass blades thing.

 

[Red]

Also what sand is best. Looking at the home depot site there is pavers, sand mix for topping and bedding, quikcrete all purpose and play sand.
I used playsand before just to throw around lightly and because it creates more heat which bermuda loves but I hear it tends to slide.
I won't go down the rabbit hole path yet but there is an area that's lower that I would like to raise to be close to even.
By the way here is a pic from 5/11. Cut at 1 and 3/8 with the rotary.

Every one will recommend masonry sand. The grains are more coarse but very even and consistent. I used masonry sand once, it worked as it was supposed to, but it was a little more expensive than the other sand I used, cushion sand. I would describe this as a slightly finer grain. This sand also worked very well, and for it being cheaper I would use it again. I ordered it from a local guy with a dump truck. If I remember right, I ordered 4 yards of masonry sand and it was about $300 delivered to my driveway. The cushion sand was closer to $200 for the same amount if I remember correctly.

If you’re just wanting to do a smaller spot level, I’d go with play sand or a general purpose sand.

Topping mix will harden when it gets wet. That’s usually what bathtubs are set on. It gets mixed up like concrete or mortar and spread out then the bathtub is set on it to provide a solid base that’s more easily removed than concrete.

More simply put, you’ll want to find the cheapest sand that contains only sand.

 

[Jacobariel1]

Like I said, you’ll have to play around with it. My last reel was a 16”. I leveled and didn’t scalp anywhere after that. When I upgraded to an 18”, I would scalp in some areas, and even going in different directions I still hit a couple spots that are just a touch high.

A wider cutting path doesn’t ride the bumps as smoothly as a more narrow cutting path. You’re going from a rotary which is probably 21” or so down to 16”. You’ll have to test it out to make it work for your lawn. Even if you stay cutting at 1”, I wouldn’t say you wasted money. The cut of a reel is much better for grass than a rotary- the whole cutting vs tearing of the grass blades thing.

I hear you. Today I used the reel but still with the stock roller set to lowest settings. Based on the picture there is some scalping correct? Once I get the other roller hopefully tomorrow next time I mow I'll try first 3/5 because if the stock roller scalps at .5 I suspect the roller with more weight and with the smaller diameter like you said is likely going to cut lower. If 3/4 don't work I'll raise it more to the next level and so on. You are right it is about trying the different hoc until it works out. Here are two one with sunlight and the other not so much.

 

[Red]

It looks like you’ve got some ridges from the top of the yard down towards the street where it looks like the mower is dipping down. Have you tried mowing it diagonally? That may help reduce some scalp as the mower would be less likely to dip down.

For leveling that small dip in the front, you can fill it with sand, but I would mix the sand with compost o top soil depending on how deep it is. That will help keep the fill a little more cost effective.

Another thing you may experience if washboarding. That’s the small ridges in the grass from the reel. This is caused by the reel speed being lower on manual reels. It’s won’t be as prominent since you have a 7 blade reel, but you’ll probably see them in a few spots. My fix is going in perpendicular directions to double cut the grass. Sometimes I’ll go north to south, then east to west, and if I want an even smoother looking cut, I’ll go diagonally, so it will wind up being a triple cut or quadruple cut lol. But, it will entirely eliminate any noticeable washboarding and makes the grass look very smooth.

 

[Red]

Have you adjusted the main wheels to go to the lowest level?

 

[Jacobariel1]

It looks like you’ve got some ridges from the top of the yard down towards the street where it looks like the mower is dipping down. Have you tried mowing it diagonally? That may help reduce some scalp as the mower would be less likely to dip down.

For leveling that small dip in the front, you can fill it with sand, but I would mix the sand with compost o top soil depending on how deep it is. That will help keep the fill a little more cost effective.

Another thing you may experience if washboarding. That’s the small ridges in the grass from the reel. This is caused by the reel speed being lower on manual reels. It’s won’t be as prominent since you have a 7 blade reel, but you’ll probably see them in a few spots. My fix is going in perpendicular directions to double cut the grass. Sometimes I’ll go north to south, then east to west, and if I want an even smoother looking cut, I’ll go diagonally, so it will wind up being a triple cut or quadruple cut lol. But, it will entirely eliminate any noticeable washboarding and makes the grass look very smooth.

Not diagonally. I have been mowing back and forth but will try that. Yes that front part by the trash bins is really low. I will get playsand and topsoil and make it as close to even as the raised side.

 

[Jacobariel1]

Have you adjusted the main wheels to go to the lowest level?

I have the main wheels and the stock roller at the lowest level. The REELCNC arrived today. When I mow again I'll try and see what it does.

 

[Jacobariel1]

I'm not happy. I placed the REELCNC roller and it scalped more like your said. I'm not unhappy about that as this is a learning curve but even when I raised it from .5 to 1 it looks the same but of course from being so low.
If by chance when I let it grow out and begin to cut at 1" if it leaves behind those attached runners I'm going to return the reel.