[Note crossposted to uk.d-i-y,uk.rec.gardening]

I have an old 28cc McCulloch Strimmer (without brushcutter attachment)
and I'm getting really tired of having to replace the line, and the
'bump feed' has never worked since day one so I'm forever having to
stop to feed out more line from the spool.

So, what's to stop me (other than for safety reasons) from replacing
the plastic line with say, stout steel wire?

Pros & Cons?

Frank P wrote:

[Note crossposted to uk.d-i-y,uk.rec.gardening]

I have an old 28cc McCulloch Strimmer (without brushcutter attachment)
and I'm getting really tired of having to replace the line, and the
'bump feed' has never worked since day one so I'm forever having to
stop to feed out more line from the spool.

So, what's to stop me (other than for safety reasons) from replacing
the plastic line with say, stout steel wire?

Pros & Cons?



I am also interested in the answer to this.

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
Frank P wrote:

[Note crossposted to uk.d-i-y,uk.rec.gardening]

I have an old 28cc McCulloch Strimmer (without brushcutter attachment)
and I'm getting really tired of having to replace the line, and the
'bump feed' has never worked since day one so I'm forever having to
stop to feed out more line from the spool.

So, what's to stop me (other than for safety reasons) from replacing
the plastic line with say, stout steel wire?

Pros & Cons?



I am also interested in the answer to this.

Looks like a case for a bit of DIY experimentation to find out the life
expectancy of the steel wire.
I would guess that the failure mode would most likely be from fatigue
fractures bought about by the bending of the wire while it is doing
effective work. The kind of wire selected would make a huge difference to
the results. One example could be steel locking wire which copes well with
bending stress but would abrade fairly quickly. Another would be to try
stainless steel to which the opposite may apply.

However I will stick with the standard nylon line as the thought of steel
wire fragments leaving the cutter at high speed fills me with horror. One
could on the other hand make use of a brush cutter attachment :-))

Richard.

"Frank P" wrote in message
s.com...
: [Note crossposted to uk.d-i-y,uk.rec.gardening]
:
: I have an old 28cc McCulloch Strimmer (without brushcutter attachment)
: and I'm getting really tired of having to replace the line, and the
: 'bump feed' has never worked since day one so I'm forever having to
: stop to feed out more line from the spool.
:
: So, what's to stop me (other than for safety reasons) from replacing
: the plastic line with say, stout steel wire?
:
: Pros & Cons?
:

Nothing AFAICS, when I worked for.... when I was employed by the council,
all our strimmers were adapted/fitted with steel cable, line trimmer part
removed of course.

"Chris" wrote in message
...

"Frank P" wrote in message
s.com...
: [Note crossposted to uk.d-i-y,uk.rec.gardening]
:
: I have an old 28cc McCulloch Strimmer (without brushcutter attachment)
: and I'm getting really tired of having to replace the line, and the
: 'bump feed' has never worked since day one so I'm forever having to
: stop to feed out more line from the spool.
:
: So, what's to stop me (other than for safety reasons) from replacing
: the plastic line with say, stout steel wire?
:
: Pros & Cons?
:

Nothing AFAICS, when I worked for.... when I was employed by the council,
all our strimmers were adapted/fitted with steel cable, line trimmer part
removed of course.


I expect that, as responsible employers, the council insisted that all the
operatives wore the appropriate protective gear and of course they have
adequate levels of third party and public liability insurance. As a thread
in a DIY NG I would have thought what a public body does or does not do is
not really appropriate.

Richard.

: I have an old 28cc McCulloch Strimmer (without brushcutter attachment)
: and I'm getting really tired of having to replace the line, and the
: 'bump feed' has never worked since day one so I'm forever having to
: stop to feed out more line from the spool.

Huh, I have a McCulloch leaf sucker - and boy does it suck. Its
broken, so I take it to the repair man who informs me its a cheap DIY
thing and consequently the spares needed to fix it just aren't
available. His advice - bin it and buy a decent one.

Steve...

I actually tried this but the steel wire kept breaking and the machine damn
near shook itself to bits from vibration. Getting the wire to be EXACTLY the
same length each way is more difficult than you would suppose. I even tried
flexible steel wire to try and prevent the breakages but the imbalance was
even worse.
One more thing, the clutch has now died. Whether through old age or the
strain of my experiments I don't know but finding a new part is proving
difficult to say the least

Jb


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In uk.d-i-y Richard wrote:

"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
Frank P wrote:

[Note crossposted to uk.d-i-y,uk.rec.gardening]

I have an old 28cc McCulloch Strimmer (without brushcutter attachment)
and I'm getting really tired of having to replace the line, and the
'bump feed' has never worked since day one so I'm forever having to
stop to feed out more line from the spool.

So, what's to stop me (other than for safety reasons) from replacing
the plastic line with say, stout steel wire?

Pros & Cons?



I am also interested in the answer to this.

Looks like a case for a bit of DIY experimentation to find out the life
expectancy of the steel wire.

I expect that thin steel cable will last much, much longer than wire.

Frank P wrote in
s.com:

I use Oregon Starline (2.4 mm) which has a star x-section with sharp edges
and is very tough.

It worked so well I fitted it to my Flymo electric strimmer, (took a bit
of butchery) and it completely transformed that

mike

"Frank P" wrote in message
s.com...
[Note crossposted to uk.d-i-y,uk.rec.gardening]

I have an old 28cc McCulloch Strimmer (without brushcutter attachment)
and I'm getting really tired of having to replace the line, and the
'bump feed' has never worked since day one so I'm forever having to
stop to feed out more line from the spool.

So, what's to stop me (other than for safety reasons) from replacing
the plastic line with say, stout steel wire?

Pros & Cons?

Try these people,
http://www.small-engine-services.co.uk/index.php/access
Have a variety of blades and cutters.

HTH
Anthony

In article m, Frank P wrote:
[Note crossposted to uk.d-i-y,uk.rec.gardening]

I have an old 28cc McCulloch Strimmer (without brushcutter attachment)
and I'm getting really tired of having to replace the line, and the
'bump feed' has never worked since day one so I'm forever having to
stop to feed out more line from the spool.

Any ideas why the bump-feed doesn't work? I replaced the line in mine
a few days about and found that if the line isn't in correctly, it
can foul the mechanism and stop the bump-feed working. There's very
little to actually go wrong otherwise.

Useful ideas about replacement line from other people though. I have
a *lot* of weeds and long grass to strim at the moment and whilst the
normal line isn't really up to the job, the brush-cutter isn't quite the
right tool either.

James

On Thu, 20 May 2004 00:51:47 GMT, Frank P wrote:

[Note crossposted to uk.d-i-y,uk.rec.gardening]

I have an old 28cc McCulloch Strimmer (without brushcutter attachment)
and I'm getting really tired of having to replace the line, and the
'bump feed' has never worked since day one so I'm forever having to
stop to feed out more line from the spool.

So, what's to stop me (other than for safety reasons) from replacing
the plastic line with say, stout steel wire?

Pros & Cons?

It may pay to experoment with different line thicknesses. When I
bought my Stihl strimmer it was fitted with the thickest available
line (brown) and the line broke very quickly. As I already had a bulk
reel of the next thickness down (yellow) I started to use that and
found it lasted much longer. It may of course have been that the brown
line was old and had become brittle though.

So far as the bump start is concerned, it pays not to put too much
line on the reel, otherwise it's difficult to wind it smoothly. I
reckon on about six feet.

--
Andy Minter

In article ,
says...
On Thu, 20 May 2004 00:51:47 GMT, Frank P wrote:

[Note crossposted to uk.d-i-y,uk.rec.gardening]

I have an old 28cc McCulloch Strimmer (without brushcutter attachment)
and I'm getting really tired of having to replace the line, and the
'bump feed' has never worked since day one so I'm forever having to
stop to feed out more line from the spool.

So, what's to stop me (other than for safety reasons) from replacing
the plastic line with say, stout steel wire?

Pros & Cons?

It may pay to experoment with different line thicknesses. When I
bought my Stihl strimmer it was fitted with the thickest available
line (brown) and the line broke very quickly. As I already had a bulk
reel of the next thickness down (yellow) I started to use that and
found it lasted much longer. It may of course have been that the brown
line was old and had become brittle though.

So far as the bump start is concerned, it pays not to put too much
line on the reel, otherwise it's difficult to wind it smoothly. I
reckon on about six feet.


I gave up on bump start mechanisms as they all appeared to weld the line
on the reel

Current Stihl has a simple pull and twist on the head which releases a
fixed amount of line. So far I have had no problems with the line
sticking together.

Recommended length of line is 2.5m x 2


Paul Mc Cann

On Wed, 9 Jun 2004 06:48:33 +0100, Paul Mc Cann wrote:

snip

I gave up on bump start mechanisms as they all appeared to weld the line
on the reel

Current Stihl has a simple pull and twist on the head which releases a
fixed amount of line. So far I have had no problems with the line
sticking together.

I have a McCulloch Cabrio and that also utilises a spring-loaded pull
and twist mechanism, no problems with that except that sometimes the
line breaks just inside the head so it's a quick couple of minutes to
lift the top off the mechanism and rethread the line.

Recommended length of line is 2.5m x 2

Yup, the McCulloch book says two 8ft lengths of twine. I've stuck with
2.4mm thickness, which is the recommended size, and it seems to work
fine.