Trimmer thought...

[CHEESE2009]

Would it be a good idea to remove the blade that cuts the trimmer string when it comes out too long?

What happens once it's removed? Will it spin all over the place if it's even a few cm out more than it's supposed to?

I just want to trim more area, gave this a thought. Anyone ever consider this, or try it?

[rawssrob]

I seen a guy in my area doing that but he had the head that you plug the wire into. I have the same type of head on my trimmers and was wanting to try it myself. I just wonder if too much more would bog down the motor.

[CheapNEasy]

I would not recommend doing this, it could be potentially harmful to other and your own safety. The blade is there to keep the line from hitting the guard, if the guard is removed it could let out to far and hit you or the operator of the unit.

You can get Quick insert heads that take pre-cut line that make it much easier to get the correct length, they usually take thicker lines and last longer.

These heads cost around $20 and I have never had a problem with them, I use .155 line in mine and it last much much longer than other lines.

As for trimming a bigger radius, I would look into another unit before trying this route. I myself have a 22'' String Trimmer *Like a push mower/weed eater hybrid.

Just my thoughts

[StartALawnCareBusiness]

I definitely agree with CheapNEasy that you should not remove or alter the line limiter.

Mfgs optimize trimmer line length in correlation with the engine's ability to spin the bump head. If you allow line to protrude longer than where the blade is set, your RPMs will decrease giving you a less effective cut.

In addition to being dangerous, altering the line limiter blade or its location reduces trimmer line efficiency.

Keith

[SuperiorPower]

The real reasons for the debri guard and the blade are several:

1) RPM: The guard holds the trimmer string cutting blade which keeps the string at a standard length. Too much string length increases the drag on the engine, like Keith said.

What happens is it takes considerably more Horse Power to keep a longer string spinning at the same speed. If you pay attention while you are trimming, when the string on your trimmer gets short, the engine runs faster. Then you extend it, and the engine RPMs go back down to the speed where it was intended to operate. Especially on smaller and lower quality trimmers using the proper length trimmer string serves as a governor of sorts, preventing your trimmer engine from running too fast all the time and potentially overheating and damaging the engine. Now keep in mind the engine is not likely to overheat from just normal use as long as you don't trim EXTENDED periods of time with the engine "wrapped" at full RPM under no load.

2) Stress: Longer string also places considerable extra torque on the engine and drive system. I recall attending an update seminar for a popular higher end trimmer a number of years ago (over 10 years ago). As they were discussing problems and recalls they mentioned that they had a problem with a certain trimmer's shaft breaking. Now keep in mind, this is a straight shaft higher end trimmer with a solid machined steel shaft and with a full life time warranty on the shaft. They only had problems with one particular customer's trimmer.

After some research they found the customer had removed the guard to permit him to run a longer string. He was running a LONG string which in turn placed considerably more stress on the shaft which after continuous hours of operation caused the shaft to fatigue and break or the splines shear off. The manufacturer stated they did not mind the operator having removed the guard but for this customer the shaft was no longer considered under warranty since the customer had modified the product. So keep this in mind if you choose to run a long string.

3) Personal Protection: There is little danger associated with not operating the trimmer with the guard attached, however, there is a slight danger. The primary protective functions of the guard are,
a) Protect the operator from flying dangerous debri should your measly powered trimmer (most trimmers are less than 2 HP but operate at high RPMs) decide to grab items like rocks and sticks and through them at you. However, this is not that great of a concern when you consider that if it were a great concern the guard would likely be all the way around the front and sides of the string as well.
b) Protect the operator from excessive flying grass and weeds.
c) Another purpose for the guard is to keep the trimmer string at a length the manufacturer has deemed to be the maximum reasonable or suggested length for this trimmer. This is not to say that your trimmer is not capable of operating successfully or acceptibly with a string 2"-6" longer, but it is not recommended to do so.


If you decide you want to run a longer string you would need to completely remove the guard. The reason is if you only removed the blade the string would get too long and would get wrapped up in the guard, rendering the trimmer almost completely useless. This is because as the string wraps around the guard it increases the resistance on the engine far beyond what several extra inches of free flying string would. This in turn causes the engine to lose its power and RPMs.

Regarding other options to trim a wider path, CheapNEasy suggested a walk behind or "push" style trimmer. This would likely take considerably longer to trim around a house, flower bed, etc, than a hand held. The walk behind would definitely not be as versatile if you needed to reach around or behind an object. However, if you are wanting to trim a large area or have an area where you can walk along side a building or a fenceline with a walk behind trimmer this may be very effective. Places where I have seen the walk behind (like the DR trimmer) being used is where the terrain is too rough for a regular push mower, the grass or weeds are too tall for a regular mower, or extended distances along fencelines.

The problem with using a trimmer head with the precut lengths of string is that you will not be getting a "bigger" cut area. However, like was said, the string is much heavier normally, or at least these aftermarket heads will normally accept heavier string.

[Little's]

I removed mine about a year ago and have removed it on the newest trimmer I got. Your line will last 4 times as long since it isnt getting cut off every time the head feeds. You can pick up about 4 inches of cut without any loss of rpm/ power etc. I will remove it on any new trimmer I get from now on. The performance has outweighed any downsides for me.

There may be some protective issues (your legs) when you do this, so be careful. But I have yet to hurt myself.

[CHEESE2009]

Thanks Eli!

Just read your post & pretty much cleared up all my concerns.

I know who to bug for these sort of things now, haha!

[SuperiorPower]

Thanks Eli!

Just read your post & pretty much cleared up all my concerns.

I know who to bug for these sort of things now, haha!

You are always welcome!! You know I do my best to provide accurate, honest, and detailed info! Plus I try to make sure I look out for y'all safety in the mean time!

[musician/lawnman]

I have removed the gaurds entirely on all 3 trimmmers. Saves line, yes it's a little harder on machines if you let the line get too long, but it also makes them lighter & ther reality is that gaurd isn't big enough to save you from much flying debris. out of 360 degrees it covers what? maybe 20? Gank it off & toss it! JMO

[SuperiorPower]

reality is that gaurd isn't big enough to save you from much flying debris. out of 360 degrees it covers what? maybe 20? Gank it off & toss it! JMO

Indeed!! That is exactly true. Like I said (under point 3.a), if it was truly intended to protect it would be around the front and sides as well. And it takes about 3.2 seconds (or less!) of using a trimmer to see that it really does not protect you from anything. Matter of fact, it really protects your legs and feet from nothing. Go trim for 5-10 minutes and see how much grass you get all over your shoes and lower legs. As far as protection goes, I suspect that it is there about as much as anything to be a "insurance" policy (liability control).

[CheapNEasy]

See what you guys are failing to see is that the guard isnt actually there to protect you from the debris.... It is mearly there to protect you from the line going out to far and tearing your legs and feet up....

Go ahead try it out, remove the guard... bump the line out a couple feet and see how it feels on your ankles and such.

This is the mentality that had McDonalds and other establishments put "Caution COFFEE may be HOT" on the cups.... "Stupid is as stupid does" sure you could just "not bump it out that far" but what happens when the bump mechinism fails and it feeds all the line out....

Just a little food for thought.

[Little's]

See what you guys are failing to see is that the guard isnt actually there to protect you from the debris.... It is mearly there to protect you from the line going out to far and tearing your legs and feet up....

Go ahead try it out, remove the guard... bump the line out a couple feet and see how it feels on your ankles and such.


Just a little food for thought.

Well what happens when it goes out more than 8 or 10 inches, it twists up around the head. The air drag wont allow the line to stay straight out while it is spinning, so in essence, nothing happens

[SuperiorPower]

See what you guys are failing to see is that the guard isnt actually there to protect you from the debris.... It is mearly there to protect you from the line going out to far and tearing your legs and feet up....

Go ahead try it out, remove the guard... bump the line out a couple feet and see how it feels on your ankles and such.

This is the mentality that had McDonalds and other establishments put "Caution COFFEE may be HOT" on the cups.... "Stupid is as stupid does" sure you could just "not bump it out that far" but what happens when the bump mechinism fails and it feeds all the line out....

Just a little food for thought.

Or you could go back and read my post to see what it REALLY is for. I have my doubts that any of the readers here on this board had any intentions of running a line long enough to reach their legs.

If you extended the line out far enough to reach your legs (under normal operating conditions) one of 2 things would happen: a) On the smaller units the engine would physically not be able to power the 24"+ of line on each side (you said a couple of feet which I believe amounts to at least 24" to 36"!) and would only be long enough then to reach your legs if you are usinga curve shaft trimmer or b) you have a higher power unit (the biggest that are available) that may be capable of swinging that length of string and now you are running a 51" mower. And I have my doubts that even the biggest trimmer would be able to "operate" with 24" of string on each side, making it, at minimum, a 51" mower (24 + 24 + at least a 3" trimmer head = 51"). My figures of 51" are just if you have ONLY 24" of string on each side. At least most of the straight shaft trimmers I have seen or that I suppose our good friends and co-gophers would be using would still have room to spare with 24" of line on each side. Now I have NO INTENTIONS of proving you are wrong by being STUPID enough to actually try running a 24" line on each side of my trimmer head. I would also STRONGLY recommend our co-gophers do not try it either for the reasons mentioned in my original post (sections "a" and "b").
************************************************************************************************-

CheapNEasy, do you ever think about what you post??? If I did not know better I would almost believe that you are either a) purposefully providing incorrect information or b) are intentionally attempting to contradicting my posts and just happen to be providing incorrect information. For example, look above.

Or go look at the discussion where you provided wrong information on the settings for a Echo blower. The first time you provided information for the wrong BRAND (how in the heck??? Stihl vs Echo?!?!?!?!?!?) and the second time you posted a link to the owners manual. Now I know I am not a rocket scientists but let me tell you, I know the manufacturer is NOT going to provide raw setting data to the end users in this EPA restricted day and age. Sure, they may provide them with data regarding the settings of the screws WITH the limiter caps ON, but not with the limiter caps OFF. Seldom, and let me repeat, SELDOM (at least in my experience), can enough adjustment be obtained with the limiter caps on to actually affect the operation of the machine. Let me again reiterate as I did in that post,

Adjusting the carburetor is not something I would recommend doing unless you have proper training

Let me add to that, I do not recommend removing the limiter caps or making any adjustments unless you have the proper training. By "proper training" I mean that you are a properly trained small engine technician. And by "properly trained small engine technician" I do not mean that you graduated from some certificate mill or that you graduated some class, where ever it may have been, where they taught basic small engine operation and principles. THIS is the information I told you by Private Message that I was going to let you figure out on your own.

Now that we see this, would you like for me to tell the rest of the world the rest of the contents of your Private Messages to me? Like this sly remark about me and my wife (I would like to know who she is since I am not married and never been. But knowing who my future wife is goignto be would be nice info to have!)

I will not sit here a quote battle you, Ill let you go back to your wife and continue to undermine her as I do not have or need to argue with you as it seems you thrive on so much.

I will leave the grammar issues/typos alone since I am sure I made a few grammer mistakes in this post myself.

Or like the part about leaving because of disgracing yourself and then coming back under a new name?

Or would you like to just play nice? Trust me, I am not here to play dirty, but you started it. I am sure this part of this post will be deleted by morning, but I hope you will at least get a chance to read it and see the error of your ways.

As you said, "Just a little food for thought."
********************************************************************************

Breeze, sorry for sidetracking this thread. Let's get back to the business at hand in this thread.

[SuperiorPower]

Well what happens when it goes out more than 8 or 10 inches, it twists up around the head. The air drag wont allow the line to stay straight out while it is spinning, so in essence, nothing happens

He lives in his own little world. Or in his words, folks like you and me "are failing to see". But while you and I "are failing to see" some things, in our imperfect world we see things that differs slightly from his sight picture.

Oh, sorry, I am off track again. Let me get back to trimmer thoughts..........

For those who remove the guard, I am curious how far you normally allow the string to come out? Just what ever happens?

And I can definitely see your point of not wasting as much string. Heck, it seems who ever designed the heads never used a trimmer. The line gets too short, you bump, and now the line is too long so the blade has to cut 2" off..... There goes some more profit down the drain....

[CheapNEasy]

what happens when the bump mechinism fails and it feeds all the line out....

Not everyone here will be running a little cheap trimmer, and the line will not always twist around the head. I run .155 line.

I assure you it will not twist around the head and is more than capable of running 20" or more at a high speed enough to be effective and or destructive.

Seeing as I have equipment that will do so, and I do not know the models the other 200+ viewers or so have that have seen this post. I would not recomend taking the guard off.