How to Choose the Right Electric Trimmer How to Choose the Right Trimmer for Your Home Garden? Trim tabs are available for either top or bottom motor.
How to choose the right electric trimmer
Many gardeners dream of seeing a well-groomed and beautiful lawn on their site. Trees, flowers and other elements of the recreation area look quite attractive against the background of a neat green carpet. In order for the lawn to be always well-groomed, it is required to periodically cut it, and this is where trimmers help the owners.
A trimmer is necessary for everyone who has their own plot, because with it you can mow the grass even in inaccessible places.
But what about lawn mowers? A device such as a trimmer, in comparison with lawn mowers, is lightweight and easy to use. With its help, you can calmly create a beautifully trimmed lawn in hard-to-reach places and on uneven surfaces where the lawnmower cannot pass. This device is convenient for mowing grass both around trees and bushes, and along walls, fences and paths.
Trimmer types
- Top mounted engine. Such devices are quite expensive, but they have a powerful engine, thick line and they can cut even very thick and wet grass. During operation, the overhead position of the engine, as practice has shown, is more convenient due to the rational distribution of weight.
- With the engine located at the bottom. The under-engine unit is well suited for mowing soft turf or permanently mowed grass. But the duration of its work is short in time, that is, this device requires constant rest. This type of trimmer should never be used for cutting wet grass. But the lower location of the engine can significantly reduce power.
Trimmer handle types:
Trimmer handle diagram.
- "D" shaped;
- "T" shaped;
- "J" shaped.
A person with some experience with trimmers knows how important the shape of the device’s handle is. Therefore, in order to choose the right trimmer, you should decide what kind of grass it will be needed for mowing and for what territory it is bought. After all, the shape of the handle of the future trimmer depends on these factors.
- The “D” -shaped handle is ideal for smaller jobs, but at the same time requires great maneuverability from the operator. For example, when mowing grass along paths, fences, walls and around trees, bushes and flower beds. In this case, the fishing line comes to the rescue. Most of these devices have an automatic line.
- For lush grass clumps, it is best to choose a “D” handle trimmer, which is additionally equipped with a “J” handle, with the option to attach a knife. This addition protects against the danger of approaching the bevel gear. The “J” handle is best used when the trimmer is equipped with a grass knife.
- Trimmer with “T” -shaped handle for work in open spaces and for a large amount of work. This device is perfect for cutting thick tall grass and cutting thick branches, as it has a powerful three-blade knife. Also the device with a “T” -shaped handle is suitable for large-volume work.
Lawn mowers device diagram.
The trimmer is equipped with a curved bar with a flexible shaft that directly transfers torque to the cutterbar. That makes it possible to use only a head with a fishing line as a cutting element. Older models have a rigid drive shaft and a straight shaft. This design provides a lower level of vibration of the trimmer, which means increased durability and reliability of the device. A person has the opportunity to use various cutting organs in the work, the visibility is improved and the reach area when mowing increases.
To choose the right trimmer, you need to know at least a little about its device. It is important that such devices have a cutting element. The choice of the cutting element, and therefore the trimmer, depends on the grass to be trimmed. The trimmer cutter is a head with one or more pieces of plastic line attached. This line is used for secondary lawn care. During operation, the line easily cuts grass, weed stems and even small shrubs.
As the line wears out, it needs to be replaced. New devices are replaced automatically or semi-automatically. With automatic feeding, the line changes independently, during each subsequent turn. In semi-automatic machines, as a rule, it is enough to hit the head of the device on the ground, and the mechanism itself unwinds the required amount of fishing line.
To reduce line wear, a safety clip can be placed in the trimmer above the cutting body, which prevents the line from approaching an obstacle. For weeds, hard grass, young growth of trees, you can pick up a metal knife as a cutting organ. For felling small trees, special discs with a certain number of teeth are used.
Types of trimmers
- Electrical;
- Gasoline;
- Rechargeable.
Trimmers are ideal for quickly cutting lawns, mostly with soft grass. Usually these are low-power devices with simple design features and an electric motor. The trimmer is used for work in a small area that is near the house or a place where there is a constant power supply. But the power that the trimmer has is significantly less than that of gasoline devices.
Types of lawn trimmers.
What are the advantages of a trimmer:
- Low noise level;
- Relatively low weight;
- Ease of starting the device;
- There is no need to constantly refuel the device;
- Harmless to the environment.
What are the disadvantages of the trimmer:
- Low power makes it difficult for this device to cut thick grass and thick weeds;
- Has limited movement as it is tethered to an electrical outlet.
How to tuck the line into the trimmer
Some trimmers do not have instructions for threading line into the drum. Not everyone guesses to look at the factory gas station after buying a trimmer. And now the line ended, but how to fill a new one is unclear.
I also had to thread the line into the trimmer drum for my own reasons, through trial and error. Perhaps my method is not the best and not entirely correct, but it works.
I buy trimmer line with a diameter of 2-3 mm. On a flat lawn, I spread it all (12-18 meters) and fold it in half.
I disassemble the trimmer drum (left thread).
I insert the loop, folded in half, into the spool. The coil is divided into two halves. The loop is inserted into the slot in the middle separating cheek of the spool.
Now it remains to wind the fishing line (in the direction of the arrow on the reel, against the rotation of the drum)
And assemble the drum by pushing the ends of the line out.
The release of the fishing line instead of the worn out during the trimmer operation occurs in a semi-automatic mode. To do this, without turning off the trimmer, lightly hit the drum on any hard surface.
If the line does not come out of the drum, then it may be stuck between the turns on the spool or wound in the wrong direction.
Line does not lengthen automatically
If the line does not lengthen when you lightly hit the trimmer button on the ground, then the reasons for this may be the following.
Option 1 a bite occurred, i.E. Clamping the cord between turns. This problem usually appears if the user has been winding the line on the reel unevenly, with intersecting turns, or winding it with insufficient tension. In the latter case, when the mowing head rotates at high speeds under the influence of centrifugal force, the cord begins to tighten, as a result of which inter-turn clamping of the fishing line is possible. To fix the problem, you will have to disassemble the coil on the trimmer and rewind the cord correctly, that is, in even turns with good tension.
Option 2 too short ends protrude from the head. The line may not come out when hitting the ground if the ends sticking out of the head are not long enough (short). In this case, the centrifugal force is not enough to stretch the line. Therefore, it is required to stop the unit (turn off the engine or disconnect the trimmer from the mains) and pull the line manually, after pressing the button.
Option 3 the line is brazed inside the mowing head. This causes the coil to lock and not spin when the button is pressed. Basically, this happens for several reasons: poor quality of the cord, overheating of the coil during prolonged operation of the unit, line hitting hard objects.
- In the first case, third-party cord can be made of low-quality and low-melting materials that cannot withstand mechanical and temperature stress. Therefore, you should give preference to "branded" lines.
- But, if you nevertheless purchased a fishing line of unknown quality, and it is often soldered during operation, then you can follow the example of some users who, after filling the cord into the reel, wet it with either silicone grease (from a can) or mineral oil. This procedure greatly reduces the likelihood of the coils of the fishing line being soldered together.
- Also, the line can be soldered if it hits a hard object (stone, fence, dry branch, etc.) during mowing. As a result, it stretches slightly and is pulled back into the head at high speed. From friction, the cord heats up, and its turns stick together. The only thing that can be done to eliminate this problem is to open the trimmer spool and rewind the line.
DIY trimmer coil repair
The trimmer, whether petrol or electric, is the only solution for mowing grass in hard-to-reach places that a wheeled lawnmower cannot handle. As a cutting tool in trimmers, metal knives or a special line are used, which is tucked into the trimmer coil. But, unfortunately, the trimmer heads become unusable over time during operation. Some malfunctions can be corrected by hand, and some require a complete replacement of the mowing head.
The cord lengthens spontaneously
There are times when the trimmer user notices a very fast line flow. At the same time, he never hit the button on the ground to lengthen the line. The reason for the fact that the line spontaneously lengthens, being cut on a special knife on the casing of the device, may be the absence of a spring in the mowing head. Often novice users of mowers, trying to load the line into the reel, forget to install the pressure spring in the head, or even lose it when opening the lid, and in the future, do not even know about its existence.
Diagnostics with a multimeter
We need a digital multimeter for such a check. You can also use a pointer multimeter or such a device as an ohmmeter, there is no difference at all.
We set the digital multimeter to the measurement range of the least resistance, connect the probes of the device to the socket of the detachable connection \ output contacts of the electric motor \. The device in this example \\ photo # 10 \\ shows one, the display reading of the device means a break in the electric motor circuit.
It is necessary to further look at what may be the cause of the malfunction, and of course we will need to disassemble the two connected parts of the case, where the electric motor circuit is directly located.
Electric trimmer diagram
Line trimmer wiring diagram, simple, consisting of:
- Potentiometer, motor control speed;
- Capacitor
And directly the electric motor itself.
The cause of the malfunction at the beginning during a visual inspection was incomprehensible, the trimmer had to be completely disassembled to determine the true cause of the breakdown.
Checking with an indicator screwdriver
We need a simple indicator screwdriver tool to check the electrical connections.
Photo # 6 shows the detachable pin connection from the control handle. To check the electrical circuit of connections from the contacts of the plug \\ photo No. 7 \ to the detachable contacts \\ photo No. 6 \, for this, you can short-circuit the plug with the fingers of your left hand and alternately connect the plug with the tip of the indicator screwdriver to the detachable contacts.
In case of integrity, the absence of any break \ photo No. 9 \ in the electrical connections, the signal lamp of the indicator screwdriver will glow, that is, the electrical circuit is closed on the LED lamp of the indicator screwdriver.
When performing this diagnostics, it is also necessary to close the contact of the potentiometer \ push contact \ as shown in photo # 8.
We checked one half of the electric trimmer \ control handle \, the handle of the manual trimmer is in good condition, and then we need to check the second half of the trimmer, consisting of an electric motor and a capacitor.
Diagnostics with a multimeter
We need a digital multimeter for such a check. You can also use a pointer multimeter or such a device as an ohmmeter, there is no difference at all.
We set the digital multimeter to the measurement range of the least resistance, connect the probes of the device to the socket of the detachable connection \ output contacts of the electric motor \. The device in this example \\ photo # 10 \\ shows one, the display reading of the device means a break in the electric motor circuit.
It is necessary to further look at what may be the cause of the malfunction, and of course we will need to disassemble the two connected parts of the case, where the electric motor circuit is directly located.
Disassembling the trimmer
We start to disassemble the electric trimmer:
First, we disconnect the two connected trimmer halves, the control handle from the contact connection with the electric motor itself.
Two photographs \ photo # 2, photo # 3 \ show the sequence of disconnecting the electric motor from the control handle.
Next, we need to check, diagnose the control stick \ photo # 4 \. We disassemble this part and carry out diagnostics for individual electrical connections \ photo No. 5 \.
Checking with an indicator screwdriver
We need a simple indicator screwdriver tool to check the electrical connections.
Photo # 6 shows the detachable pin connection from the control handle. To check the electrical circuit of connections from the contacts of the plug \\ photo No. 7 \ to the detachable contacts \\ photo No. 6 \, for this, you can short-circuit the plug with the fingers of your left hand and alternately connect the plug with the tip of the indicator screwdriver to the detachable contacts.
In case of integrity, the absence of any break \ photo No. 9 \ in the electrical connections, the signal lamp of the indicator screwdriver will glow, that is, the electrical circuit is closed on the LED lamp of the indicator screwdriver.
When performing this diagnostics, it is also necessary to close the contact of the potentiometer \ push contact \ as shown in photo # 8.
We checked one half of the electric trimmer \ control handle \, the handle of the manual trimmer is in good condition, and then we need to check the second half of the trimmer, consisting of an electric motor and a capacitor.