rather than winding it, go with a heavy duty wire, wrap it around just once and then twist the wire onto itself inside the spool with a piece coming out the hole.
I found it irritating... Why would you place the head anywhere near your toes? Might as well take the time out in the video to explain to people not to use the trimmer for their beards...
The wire unwinds from the spool cuz you did not tie or twist onto the spool properly. I did the same w/ a Greenworks trimmer which has 2 holes for the wire, easy to tighten around the spool cuz you wrap each wire in opposite direction. Stainless 0.25 wire will cut thru weeds easy & doesn't fray like plastic wire. Remember to wear protective eyewear & long sleeves cuz metal shards ain't nice to receive.
Me too, I will sell my week wacker if i can't find an alternative. Horrible amounts of microplastics perfectly distributed all over the yard. Why is nobody speaking about this?
/blink Um... quick pov here: I don't know where you live, but in most cases it's gonna take a minute for microplastics to make their way to the water table from your yard. Likewise, I really doubt you're using your back yard for growing the only food your family eats. You're talking about the equivalent of like two 20oz soda bottles over your lifetime. Maybe you're solving the wrong problem?
Use braided cable and even better use a grommet without the spool - open the braided in the middle then twist the wire tight around the grommet and feed out the braided, cut to length to avoid the guard and bam
Using those old electric trimmers are the real safety concern. First problem is the cord of course. You will be so focused on not getting tangled up in the extension cord, that you will eventually trim your boots/toes. And this is made even easier by problem two. The length of this old trimmer is too short, putting the spin head dangerously close to your feet. Newer trimmers are probably at least a foot longer making it much harder to get the spin head next to your feet. Not impossible, just more difficult. Also, with a shorter length trimmer, you will be bending over slightly to extend your trim reach and protect your feet. This will lead to quicker fatigue and back pain. I know we work with what we got, and I do appreciate your concern for safety. Just wanted to share some other insight on the matter. Nice experiment though.
What if you used something like a heavy gauge guitar string (bottom E of standard guitar or a bass guitar string)? These are made to be strong, flexible and are wirewound. Guitar strings also have a 'bobble' at the bottom end which may stop it coming out of the hole in the spool, so just thread it through the hole and cut to length?
I bought a leaf mulcher which just uses short like 12in lengths of plastic line (about 1.5mm thick) and thought, what if I used cable instead. The blades are rather protected, so toe removal isn't a worry and I think it'll take care of thicker branches, and being a braided cable should provide better cutting. NOW I just need to see if I have the wire or need to buy it.
I've used zip ties and thin metal wire, almost as thin as a twist ties. I just secured them to the holes. Zip ties worked better but broke pretty easy. Thought I'd watch you do it first before trying thicker wire. Hahaha! Thank you. Glad to be alive on thus earth the same time as you.
When trimming use one direction only, usually the direction the wire is turning. Try and not go left to right or right to left. This stops making a mess and your wire might not break as much.
How about you spend 30 seconds googling "metal fatigue". I'll wait... You're back? Capital! Now, see - and try to follow me here - when a flippy-floppy piece of wire comes in contact with a stationary object that is, oh, let's say the size of large stick, that wire cannot, it turns out, pass through the aforementioned object, since two objects cannot occupy the same place at the same time, see? So what HAPPENS is your flippy-whippy wire winds itself AROUND that object. But, uh-oh! You have a motor putting out - let's call it 5 ft lbs of torque... at 6500 rpm. So THAT means it's getting ripped right back off again Now... take a paper clip and flex it back and forth a dozen times. See that? Your wire is doing that 110 times a SECOND. The pieces are BREAKING - you can HEAR THEM SCREAMING OFF AT ORBITAL VELOCITY as the centrifugal forces being exerted on them WIN. You're better off sticking with something DESIGNED for elastic deformation and leave the plastic deformation materials alone.
@@m007mm Okay, you got me. What _about_ it? It's... uh...pretty neat? I guess? I suppose if you're asking me how what I said above applies to, oh, let's say 12ga romex electrical wire, then my response - and you're not going to believe this, but I swear I'm not making it up - would go something like this: So... the wire is made to carry current through your home? Yanno, that manufacturers intend to be concealed within a semi-rigid, multi-layered sheathing? the kind that is intended to live forever, post-install, inside your residential walls? _...Also_ isn't intended to be or tested to stand up to being wrapped around something the diameter of a dime then torn back off again several dozen times a second. I know: it's shocking (ba-BUMP!), but nevertheless, it's true. It almost as if these massive manufacturers have dozens of people with material and mechanical engineering degrees that have collectively spent hundreds of man-hours calculating precisely what the tolerances and capabilities of every product being commercially sold these days need to satisfy, and when said products are employed in such a way that violently overstresses these tolerances they just don't stand up at ALL! _WEIRD, amiright!?_
@grumblycurmudgeon First, simply stellar username, my friend, stellar. I have a few rebuttals, though I do not deny your assessment is generally totally accurate. I know, a comment supporting another comment is super weird on The CZcamsz these days. But hear me out here: 1. A trimmer being used _correctly_ should ideally never encounter your _wrapping_ scenario. If a user were to pass the cutter head _slowly_ counter to the spinning direction, then _just the tip_ of the cutter (metal wire) should ever make contact. Now, granted, the tip would still get hella wear-and-tear resulting in ever shortening wire, but ideally it would never encounter a situation where it tries to occupy the same space as a rock or stick, rather the tip would scratch the bejezuz out of it til it cuts through like a really crappy saw blade. 2. Trimmers are best used at full RPM non-stop. This start/stop/start strategy is inherently gimpy, and results in extra cutter gimpyness. No one wants a gimpy trim-job. Run that sucker at full blast and the wire should stay extended and essentially become rigid enough due to the centripetal forces as to behave much like a solid blade. 3. Manufacturers like to engineer _consumables_ that only _barely_ do their job such that you feel like it's working, but actually results in you still needing to buy more of the consumables (like inkjet printers!). Maximum profit! They don't choose material that excels at the job AND last forever. That would fail at capitalism. Finally, there are solid metal blades available for many trimmer models, thus solving all these issues in one fell swoop. I used one years ago to take down bullrushes in a storm pond at a petrochemical plant. Fun times.
rather than winding it, go with a heavy duty wire, wrap it around just once and then twist the wire onto itself inside the spool with a piece coming out the hole.
I appreciate the emphasis on safety with this one, not enough seriousness on the internet these days. People be stoopid.
I found it irritating... Why would you place the head anywhere near your toes? Might as well take the time out in the video to explain to people not to use the trimmer for their beards...
The wire unwinds from the spool cuz you did not tie or twist onto the spool properly. I did the same w/ a Greenworks trimmer which has 2 holes for the wire, easy to tighten around the spool cuz you wrap each wire in opposite direction. Stainless 0.25 wire will cut thru weeds easy & doesn't fray like plastic wire. Remember to wear protective eyewear & long sleeves cuz metal shards ain't nice to receive.
Im here because I suddenly wondered how much microplastic weed eaters are scattering into the soil
Me too, I will sell my week wacker if i can't find an alternative. Horrible amounts of microplastics perfectly distributed all over the yard. Why is nobody speaking about this?
@@ThreeBooleans they are speaking about it. But they're saying: "Why are all these microplastics everywhere?" 🤦♂️
/blink
Um... quick pov here: I don't know where you live, but in most cases it's gonna take a minute for microplastics to make their way to the water table from your yard. Likewise, I really doubt you're using your back yard for growing the only food your family eats.
You're talking about the equivalent of like two 20oz soda bottles over your lifetime.
Maybe you're solving the wrong problem?
@@ThreeBooleansbecause who cares
Use braided cable and even better use a grommet without the spool - open the braided in the middle then twist the wire tight around the grommet and feed out the braided, cut to length to avoid the guard and bam
I used some stainless wire to clear brush and its still there. It was 18 gauge.
We can see The King watching over you in the background while you’re in your garage. Good stuff!
Has anyone soldered the ends of the braided wire ?
How would piano wire be?
Using those old electric trimmers are the real safety concern. First problem is the cord of course. You will be so focused on not getting tangled up in the extension cord, that you will eventually trim your boots/toes. And this is made even easier by problem two. The length of this old trimmer is too short, putting the spin head dangerously close to your feet. Newer trimmers are probably at least a foot longer making it much harder to get the spin head next to your feet. Not impossible, just more difficult. Also, with a shorter length trimmer, you will be bending over slightly to extend your trim reach and protect your feet. This will lead to quicker fatigue and back pain. I know we work with what we got, and I do appreciate your concern for safety. Just wanted to share some other insight on the matter. Nice experiment though.
What if you used something like a heavy gauge guitar string (bottom E of standard guitar or a bass guitar string)? These are made to be strong, flexible and are wirewound. Guitar strings also have a 'bobble' at the bottom end which may stop it coming out of the hole in the spool, so just thread it through the hole and cut to length?
We're down the engine too much you have to have like a '67-54 cc trimmer they do make them now they are real CC type of trimmer
Best guess? You'd wind up with something that sounds a lot like Anthrax or Slayer. Possibly Suicidal Tendencies? Like that and like that.
I bought a leaf mulcher which just uses short like 12in lengths of plastic line (about 1.5mm thick) and thought, what if I used cable instead. The blades are rather protected, so toe removal isn't a worry and I think it'll take care of thicker branches, and being a braided cable should provide better cutting. NOW I just need to see if I have the wire or need to buy it.
Wait, so I DON’T want the wire to take a toe off? Hmmm.... If you say so...
No bike rim spoke works perfect
Oooo!!
howzaboud u run tha ELECTRIC-trimmer at-full-speed -- CONSISTENTLY...?? Geeeez-Louise!
The main issue is you’re using a spool fed electric weed wacker. Use a gas one that takes a single line. Good trial though.
I' trying pure titanium wire, no feet, properties, full face mask and light on weedeater
Use a zip tie next time to secure the wire
😁
Nice boots what sort are they?
Desert Combat Military issue boots, I really like them
You should've tied it on
I've used zip ties and thin metal wire, almost as thin as a twist ties. I just secured them to the holes. Zip ties worked better but broke pretty easy. Thought I'd watch you do it first before trying thicker wire. Hahaha! Thank you. Glad to be alive on thus earth the same time as you.
When trimming use one direction only, usually the direction the wire is turning. Try and not go left to right or right to left. This stops making a mess and your wire might not break as much.
How about you spend 30 seconds googling "metal fatigue". I'll wait...
You're back? Capital! Now, see - and try to follow me here - when a flippy-floppy piece of wire comes in contact with a stationary object that is, oh, let's say the size of large stick, that wire cannot, it turns out, pass through the aforementioned object, since two objects cannot occupy the same place at the same time, see?
So what HAPPENS is your flippy-whippy wire winds itself AROUND that object. But, uh-oh! You have a motor putting out - let's call it 5 ft lbs of torque... at 6500 rpm. So THAT means it's getting ripped right back off again
Now... take a paper clip and flex it back and forth a dozen times. See that? Your wire is doing that 110 times a SECOND. The pieces are BREAKING - you can HEAR THEM SCREAMING OFF AT ORBITAL VELOCITY as the centrifugal forces being exerted on them WIN.
You're better off sticking with something DESIGNED for elastic deformation and leave the plastic deformation materials alone.
What about electric wire?
@@m007mm Okay, you got me. What _about_ it? It's... uh...pretty neat? I guess?
I suppose if you're asking me how what I said above applies to, oh, let's say 12ga romex electrical wire, then my response - and you're not going to believe this, but I swear I'm not making it up - would go something like this:
So... the wire is made to carry current through your home? Yanno, that manufacturers intend to be concealed within a semi-rigid, multi-layered sheathing? the kind that is intended to live forever, post-install, inside your residential walls?
_...Also_ isn't intended to be or tested to stand up to being wrapped around something the diameter of a dime then torn back off again several dozen times a second. I know: it's shocking (ba-BUMP!), but nevertheless, it's true.
It almost as if these massive manufacturers have dozens of people with material and mechanical engineering degrees that have collectively spent hundreds of man-hours calculating precisely what the tolerances and capabilities of every product being commercially sold these days need to satisfy, and when said products are employed in such a way that violently overstresses these tolerances they just don't stand up at ALL! _WEIRD, amiright!?_
@grumblycurmudgeon First, simply stellar username, my friend, stellar. I have a few rebuttals, though I do not deny your assessment is generally totally accurate. I know, a comment supporting another comment is super weird on The CZcamsz these days. But hear me out here:
1. A trimmer being used _correctly_ should ideally never encounter your _wrapping_ scenario. If a user were to pass the cutter head _slowly_ counter to the spinning direction, then _just the tip_ of the cutter (metal wire) should ever make contact. Now, granted, the tip would still get hella wear-and-tear resulting in ever shortening wire, but ideally it would never encounter a situation where it tries to occupy the same space as a rock or stick, rather the tip would scratch the bejezuz out of it til it cuts through like a really crappy saw blade.
2. Trimmers are best used at full RPM non-stop. This start/stop/start strategy is inherently gimpy, and results in extra cutter gimpyness. No one wants a gimpy trim-job. Run that sucker at full blast and the wire should stay extended and essentially become rigid enough due to the centripetal forces as to behave much like a solid blade.
3. Manufacturers like to engineer _consumables_ that only _barely_ do their job such that you feel like it's working, but actually results in you still needing to buy more of the consumables (like inkjet printers!). Maximum profit! They don't choose material that excels at the job AND last forever. That would fail at capitalism.
Finally, there are solid metal blades available for many trimmer models, thus solving all these issues in one fell swoop. I used one years ago to take down bullrushes in a storm pond at a petrochemical plant. Fun times.
Try it with zip ties