# Home Made EGO Lawn mower Stripe Roller



## Dmega (Aug 8, 2018)

*How I built a lawn stripe roller for the 21" ego self-propelled lawn mower.*



_Disclaimer:_ Making this stripe roller work requires alteration to the lawnmower which will probably void the manufacture warrantee. I am not responsible for any damage done to your lawn mower. My model could also me different to yours so always make sure you take your own measurements and is why I will not give exact dimensions.

Goal: To make nice looking lawn stripes using my ego lawn mower

Considerations: 2 years ago there were no official kits made for the ego lawn mower and I assume there still is none available judging my people asking me to do a write up.

Speaking to a service rep from Big League Lawns as to adapting their roller for the ego apparently the self-propelled motors burn out due to the added weight which I think was around 22 lbs.

To determine the "safer" limits of weight I attached the grass bag to the ego, cut the lawn then weighed the full bag. The exact number I can't remember but think it was around 20 lbs. So if you use the roller don't use the grass bag too much.

Inspection of the ego shows two possible attachment points, (1) at the wheels and (2) at the back of the lawnmower next to the door. I choose option (2) because option (1) required taking off the wheels which is added complications.

*Parts and Tools List*

3" dia. plumbing tube, PEX pipe, Screws, Nuts/locking nuts, 4 "L" brackets, 1" aluminium square tube, 2 castor wheels, 2 mechanical testing plugs, sand, washers, saw, drill and bits for metal.

*Steps*

1)	_Make the roller._



I used some 3" diameter tube cut to size from home depot and capped them with mechanical test plugs on each side. I had to change the test plug screw to something with more length to attach to an L bracket. I filled the tube with sand and weighed it. I think it came out to 10-12 lbs.

2)	_Make the bracket for the roller to connect to the ego._



I cut some square aluminium tube to the same length as the roller. Using regular "L" brackets I attached them to the tube with screws.

The "L" bracket has to now be connected to the roller but not restrict the roller from rotating freely. I fashioned a sleeve out of PEX pipe with and inner diameter allowing the screw be inserted through. Then a hole was drilled to a slightly bigger size as the outer diameter of the PEX pipe through the "L" brackets. The roller screw and sleeve was then put through the "L" bracket hole attached with a lock nut and washer. This was done on both ends.

3)	_Connect the roller and bracket to the EGO lawnmower._







I found a wheel caster at Home depot which fit perfectly from the outer edge of the lawnmower to the outer edge of the back door. I removed the wheel and used the castors bracket as the attachment for the rollers bracket. CAREFULLY I drilled holes into the back of the lawn mower which is plastic. The castor was attached with screws and nuts. Using the pins from the castors wheels I thread them through an L bracket and cut some PEX pipe spacers for each side of the "L" bracket to keep the roller from shifting side to side. The "L" bracket was the connected to the other side of the aluminum tube with screws and nuts.

How does it work?



The roller works very well to lay down stripes but they don' t last for more than 2 days. Maybe if it was 16-20 lbs total weight would do better for longer lasting stripes. If I had to make changes it would be a bigger diameter roller (more sand) or add a hook to add weights. With more weight the risk to break the plastic deck or the motor increases tho. So far the deck has held up well with the extra weight and no cracks yet. The motor is still working well too.


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## SOLARSUPLEX (Aug 4, 2020)

Simple enough! Do you have to use the self propelled feature on the mower? If not, why not just not use it when striping and add more weight? You could very easily add a shelf above that roller that could house whatever you want to make it heavier.


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