Atco Ensign B14 project

Tagged: Atco Ensign B14 restoration. Grass collector.

This topic has 3 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 8 months ago by dorigny.

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August 4, 2020 at 3:30 pm #35171
vhgmcbuddy
Member
Hello everyone.
I have recently acquired an Atco Ensign B14 and although its in poor cosmetic shape its mechanically very good.
I have ordered some paint (RAL 6002 was suggested) and will give this a try.
I have added a new battery pack as the mower came without one. I made one using a 5Ah sealed lead acid battery and bought a 20A lead with SAE connector to attach to the mower. It works perfectly and has the added advantage of costing a third of the price of an Atco battery and being twice the Ah rating.
My question is actually about the angle of the grass collector box.
Its tips up at a ridiculous angle, such that the box is only 1/4 full before the clippings start to drop back into the cutting cylinder.
I have attached a couple of photos to show the angle and also the bolt that I would expect to be able to undo to adjust the angle of the bar that supports the grass box.
However, you cannot adjust this as (see pic) there is a stop (corroded white blob) preventing the bar being adjusted in this way.
Am I missing something? Do I have the wrong collector box?
I know it needs to tip slightly upwards to avoid flattening the grass but not at this angle.
The box needs emptying every 1 minute.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also ant other comments tips about the restoration would be very welcome.
Thanks
Jason
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August 4, 2020 at 9:21 pm #35174

wristpin
Participant

From the look of your images The problem could be that you are trying to cut off too much at a time. I think that you should see an improvement if you get the grass down to the stage where you are only cutting off half inch at a time. Also I think that you will find that the deflector or throw plate behind the cutting cylinder has slots where it’s secured to the engine platform. Try moving it so that where the part is in line with the cylinder centre shaft the gap is reduced.

August 4, 2020 at 11:15 pm #35175

vhgmcbuddy
Member

Many thanks,
I will look into that and also I had planned to try again at the weekend with shorter grass.
It was a bit long!

August 5, 2020 at 7:20 pm #35182
dorigny
Participant
Here’s some photos scanned from the Ensign sales literature of the day…includes views of the grassbox 😉 🙂

C.
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