If you’re not mowing your lawn regularly, you’re probably familiar with the hassle of overfilling your catcher. Grass clippings end up scattered everywhere, and you end up with a messy yard after all your hard work. [Dominic Bender] designed a mower fill gauge to eliminate this problem which shows you when your catcher is getting full.
The concept behind the gauge’s operation is simple. Catcher-based mowers rely on airflow from the spinning blades to carry grass into the catcher. That airflow is, in this case, also used to push up a flap mounted in the top of the catcher. As the catcher fills with grass, that airflow no longer reaches the flap, which sinks down, indicating the catcher is getting full. The basic design is a simple 3D printed flap and housing that uses a short piece of filament as a hinge. There’s also a small mesh guard to stop the flap getting clogged by the incoming grass clippings.
If you’re the forgetful sort, or your enthusiastic children aren’t always emptying the catcher when they should, this gauge might be a useful tool for you. Alternatively, consider robotizing your mowing in the vein of other builds we’ve seen, including one by yours truly. If you’ve got your own nifty gardening hacks, be sure to drop us a line!
I remember something very similar on lawn mowers in the 70’s and 80’s
Our Makita lawn mower (recent model) has the exact same thing built-in, the plastic joint was just a bit sticky initially and needed a bit of finishing.
Well, first sentence in Article is: “First of, I saw this on a commercially available lawn mower a while back.”
so, yeah…
No it isn’t. The first sentence of the article is “If you’re not mowing your lawn regularly, you’re probably familiar with the hassle of overfilling your catcher.” Your sentence doesn’t appear in this article at all.
Click the “which shows you when your catcher is getting full.” link to find the instructables.com article:
https://www.instructables.com/Lawn-Mower-Fill-Gauge/
First sentence:
“First of, I saw this on a commercially available lawn mower a while back.”
True, Victa lawn mowers in Australia had these in the early 1970’s. Old mates just reinvented the wheel 😄
Why bother cutting the grass at all ? I enjoy butterflies and insects visiting my field of graminea. Zero maintenance, only once a year mowing at 6-8 inches high.
Not everyone has such an easy yard as yours. Out in the northwestern U.S. and southwest reaches of Canada the grasses grow quickly to over 5 ft tall, so frequent mowing during the spring and summer is a must. These are the same places we grow a lot of wheat, as the climate is naturally suited for growing strong, tall grass.
Also, did you consider how this might be useful to golf courses or landscapers? Precision is important for a lot of purposes, even if not ideal for yours.
By the look of my neighbour, southeastern of Canada has the same issue. It stabilized probably at around 7-8 feets.
Delightfully simple. I was sure the project was going to involve an arduino.
Same! I expected some contraption which would send a message to your telegram account that the lawnmower is full
I still would’ve been amused and liked the solution but sometimes its good to have simple solutions to simple problems
Sensation mowers out of Ralston, NE used a mesh you could see inside of. I’m not sure how well it worked since they are out of business.
I have never used a catcher, always left the grass clipings on the lawn.
I occasionally kick the bag in front of me to see how full it is ….
Don’t you know it’s full when your mower starts leaving clumps? This device reminds me of a coworker’s 6-year-old son who assured his 4-year-old brother, “I’ll let you know if you get stung by a bee.”
I once rented a house with two roommates in a college town that had rather good sized front and back yards with cut grass. Our mower broke one day and we werent too motivated to fix or replace it. So we simply let the grass grow. When it reached a lil over 12 inches tall, the city slapped an ordinance violation on our front door, giving us 72hrs to get it mowed. But I must say that I liked the looked of it long. It was nice and soft to roll around in, our black lab loved rolling in it as well! It had a nice lush green color without the bristly dried tips. I mean whats the point of growing thick Kentucky Bluegrass if your gonna mow it down to mere inches thereby forcing your yard into a perpetual state of partially burned arrid turf? Takes more water to keep it green! Dont make much sense.
Am I correct to assume that happened in the “land of the free”?
For contrast, I’ve checked our local (Polish) laws. There are no laws against growing (literal) grass however you like. You can’t keep waste on your land, and you can’t damage the soil, but growing grass is neither of these. A bit more rules apply to arable land (to limit weed growth), but that’s not the case in the city.
“Grass clippings end up scattered everywhere”
Uhh…yes? That is literally how you are SUPPOSED to be doing it.
Collecting your grass clippings and removing them is “doing it wrong”.
Mulch them back into the lawn so they can decay and get reused…
This guy gets it. Thanks Ian for saying what I came here to say. I haven’t fertilised the lawn since miving here in 2016, just mow all the grass and autumn leaves and let them mulch the soil. I’ll also add, leave the grass a bit “longer” to shade the soil and minimise water use. I like the second–highest setting on my mower.
I just kick the bottom of the bag every now and then while I mow. It also tells me when the bag isn’t filling because the grass is clumping up before the bag (usually due to damp grass).