More recognised for its hedge-cutters in Ireland, Shelbourne Reynolds is to manufacture its own flail mower at its factory in Stanton, Suffolk. This machine will be launched at LAMMA 2018 in Peterborough.

The FBO 2800 flail mower has a working width of 2.8m and a transport width of 3.0m. It can be used in combination with one of the company’s hedge trimmers in a front-rear combination manufactured at the same site or on its own. Thanks to the mounting brackets, the mower can be used on the front or rear of the tractor.

“We previously tested the water with a flail mower model imported from Italy, but our engineering designers have now created our own machine, built to match our largest hedge trimmer models,” says Neil Smith, sales and marketing director at Shelbourne Reynolds.

“That means it can cope with the sort of high-power tractors often used with our HD800 hedge trimmers, and is sufficiently robust should it come into contact with tough material or a foreign object.”

The FBO 2800 has a double-skinned shell comprising two layers of 4mm-thick steel. From the PTO shaft, drive is transferred through a gearbox rated to take up to 235hp, depending on the unit specified. Power then passes to the 220mm rotor via a series of five V-belts with large-diameter pulleys to maximise the amount of belt wrap and minimise any possibility of belt slippage in tough conditions. By swapping pulleys, the mower can be run using either 540rpm or 1,000rpm PTO shafts.

The front cowl has an open throat design, to ensure it can accept large amounts of material, but towards the rear this becomes narrower to create a suction effect and ensure vegetation is completely pulverised. There is a choice of either 24 T-flails, which are 110mm-wide, or where finer mulching is required, 54 C-flails, which are 60mm-wide. Both types have a 10mm overlap. The FBO 2800 also has 600mm hydraulic sideshift ability which could be useful for moving around obstacles.