I use an electric line-trimmer to mow a grassy area of stony ground
that I hesitate to call "lawn". Originally the trimmer came with a
thin flexible nylon line, and while it performed satisfactorily, I
was horrified at the amount of nylon line it consumed. I felt I had
to too frequently tap it on the ground to feed more line and drooping
branches of shrubs and Morning Glory would tangle with it and draw
out excess line, only to have it instantly severed by the trimmer's
built-in metal cutter. Besides, I pictured all the nylon dust with
which I was needlessly contaminating the yard each time I mowed.

So I purchased a heavier gauge green nylon line, the stuff with about
8 sharp corners. It is stiff and demands some dexterity to get it
wrapped around the spool properly and the ends threaded through the
pair of eyelet holes for it to feed out.

Despite seven hours of mowing, it's still on the first spool of
this thicker line, so it is indeed lasting considerably longer,
though there are only about 2 turns remaining now.

But the mystery is this: not once have I bumped it on the ground
to feed more line! Every time I check, the two nylon whiskers
are about one cm short of the length where they would be auto-
matically trimmed. So the line must be feeding through all by
itself. The coil of line cannot slip around on the spool, I made
sure of that. I can't figure out the mechanism by which this magic
automatic feed operates. I am quite sure it is not feeding so much
at a time as to have it trimmed by the metal blade, as I would
recognise the characteristic sound; and the fact that one spool is
giving such enduring service attests that none is being wasted in
that way.

Anyone seen this phenomenon before??
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

John Savage wrote:
I use an electric line-trimmer to mow a grassy area of stony ground
that I hesitate to call "lawn". Originally the trimmer came with a
thin flexible nylon line, and while it performed satisfactorily, I
was horrified at the amount of nylon line it consumed. I felt I had
to too frequently tap it on the ground to feed more line and drooping
branches of shrubs and Morning Glory would tangle with it and draw
out excess line, only to have it instantly severed by the trimmer's
built-in metal cutter. Besides, I pictured all the nylon dust with
which I was needlessly contaminating the yard each time I mowed.

So I purchased a heavier gauge green nylon line, the stuff with about
8 sharp corners. It is stiff and demands some dexterity to get it
wrapped around the spool properly and the ends threaded through the
pair of eyelet holes for it to feed out.

Despite seven hours of mowing, it's still on the first spool of
this thicker line, so it is indeed lasting considerably longer,
though there are only about 2 turns remaining now.

But the mystery is this: not once have I bumped it on the ground
to feed more line! Every time I check, the two nylon whiskers
are about one cm short of the length where they would be auto-
matically trimmed. So the line must be feeding through all by
itself. The coil of line cannot slip around on the spool, I made
sure of that. I can't figure out the mechanism by which this magic
automatic feed operates. I am quite sure it is not feeding so much
at a time as to have it trimmed by the metal blade, as I would
recognise the characteristic sound; and the fact that one spool is
giving such enduring service attests that none is being wasted in
that way.

Anyone seen this phenomenon before??

No and I am by no means an expert on these things but I will have a guess.
The heavier line pulls harder due to centrifugal force and this is slowly
unreeling it, luckily at a useable rate. In any case bless the day that you
have serendipity and not sod's law at your house.

David

On 25/04/2010 8:01 AM, David Hare-Scott wrote:
John Savage wrote:
I use an electric line-trimmer to mow a grassy area of stony ground
that I hesitate to call "lawn". Originally the trimmer came with a
thin flexible nylon line, and while it performed satisfactorily, I
was horrified at the amount of nylon line it consumed. I felt I had
to too frequently tap it on the ground to feed more line and drooping
branches of shrubs and Morning Glory would tangle with it and draw
out excess line, only to have it instantly severed by the trimmer's
built-in metal cutter. Besides, I pictured all the nylon dust with
which I was needlessly contaminating the yard each time I mowed.

So I purchased a heavier gauge green nylon line, the stuff with about
8 sharp corners. It is stiff and demands some dexterity to get it
wrapped around the spool properly and the ends threaded through the
pair of eyelet holes for it to feed out.

Despite seven hours of mowing, it's still on the first spool of
this thicker line, so it is indeed lasting considerably longer,
though there are only about 2 turns remaining now.

But the mystery is this: not once have I bumped it on the ground
to feed more line! Every time I check, the two nylon whiskers
are about one cm short of the length where they would be auto-
matically trimmed. So the line must be feeding through all by
itself. The coil of line cannot slip around on the spool, I made
sure of that. I can't figure out the mechanism by which this magic
automatic feed operates. I am quite sure it is not feeding so much
at a time as to have it trimmed by the metal blade, as I would
recognise the characteristic sound; and the fact that one spool is
giving such enduring service attests that none is being wasted in
that way.

Anyone seen this phenomenon before??

No and I am by no means an expert on these things but I will have a
guess. The heavier line pulls harder due to centrifugal force and this
is slowly unreeling it, luckily at a useable rate. In any case bless the
day that you have serendipity and not sod's law at your house.

David
David it sounds like you need to lighten up at home.
Youre far too intelligent to not to give way in some situations....
and it seems from where I'm sitting to stubborn not to.
We could both be like that. All people have to make a choice in life,
and you cant make it for them.
PS Im not being cynical at all. I'm a bit like you.....A measured
approach....

On 25/04/10 08:01, David Hare-Scott wrote:
John Savage wrote:
I use an electric line-trimmer to mow a grassy area of stony ground
that I hesitate to call "lawn". Originally the trimmer came with a
thin flexible nylon line, and while it performed satisfactorily, I
was horrified at the amount of nylon line it consumed. I felt I had
to too frequently tap it on the ground to feed more line and drooping
branches of shrubs and Morning Glory would tangle with it and draw
out excess line, only to have it instantly severed by the trimmer's
built-in metal cutter. Besides, I pictured all the nylon dust with
which I was needlessly contaminating the yard each time I mowed.

So I purchased a heavier gauge green nylon line, the stuff with about
8 sharp corners. It is stiff and demands some dexterity to get it
wrapped around the spool properly and the ends threaded through the
pair of eyelet holes for it to feed out.

Despite seven hours of mowing, it's still on the first spool of
this thicker line, so it is indeed lasting considerably longer,
though there are only about 2 turns remaining now.

But the mystery is this: not once have I bumped it on the ground
to feed more line! Every time I check, the two nylon whiskers
are about one cm short of the length where they would be auto-
matically trimmed. So the line must be feeding through all by
itself. The coil of line cannot slip around on the spool, I made
sure of that. I can't figure out the mechanism by which this magic
automatic feed operates. I am quite sure it is not feeding so much
at a time as to have it trimmed by the metal blade, as I would
recognise the characteristic sound; and the fact that one spool is
giving such enduring service attests that none is being wasted in
that way.

Anyone seen this phenomenon before??

No and I am by no means an expert on these things but I will have a
guess. The heavier line pulls harder due to centrifugal force and this
is slowly unreeling it, luckily at a useable rate. In any case bless the
day that you have serendipity and not sod's law at your house.

I agree with David, the same happened to me.

But as an aside, centrifugal force is fictitious.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_force

"Lionel" wrote in message
...
On 25/04/10 08:01, David Hare-Scott wrote:
John Savage wrote:
I use an electric line-trimmer to mow a grassy area of stony ground
that I hesitate to call "lawn". Originally the trimmer came with a
thin flexible nylon line, and while it performed satisfactorily, I
was horrified at the amount of nylon line it consumed. I felt I had
to too frequently tap it on the ground to feed more line and drooping
branches of shrubs and Morning Glory would tangle with it and draw
out excess line, only to have it instantly severed by the trimmer's
built-in metal cutter. Besides, I pictured all the nylon dust with
which I was needlessly contaminating the yard each time I mowed.

So I purchased a heavier gauge green nylon line, the stuff with about
8 sharp corners. It is stiff and demands some dexterity to get it
wrapped around the spool properly and the ends threaded through the
pair of eyelet holes for it to feed out.

Despite seven hours of mowing, it's still on the first spool of
this thicker line, so it is indeed lasting considerably longer,
though there are only about 2 turns remaining now.

But the mystery is this: not once have I bumped it on the ground
to feed more line! Every time I check, the two nylon whiskers
are about one cm short of the length where they would be auto-
matically trimmed. So the line must be feeding through all by
itself. The coil of line cannot slip around on the spool, I made
sure of that. I can't figure out the mechanism by which this magic
automatic feed operates. I am quite sure it is not feeding so much
at a time as to have it trimmed by the metal blade, as I would
recognise the characteristic sound; and the fact that one spool is
giving such enduring service attests that none is being wasted in
that way.

Anyone seen this phenomenon before??

No and I am by no means an expert on these things but I will have a
guess. The heavier line pulls harder due to centrifugal force and this
is slowly unreeling it, luckily at a useable rate. In any case bless the
day that you have serendipity and not sod's law at your house.

I agree with David, the same happened to me.

But as an aside, centrifugal force is fictitious.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_force

You mean for 29 years with the BoM I was deluded as to why the wind changes
direction at the equator......................

Lionel wrote:

No and I am by no means an expert on these things but I will have a
guess. The heavier line pulls harder due to centrifugal force and
this is slowly unreeling it, luckily at a useable rate. In any case
bless the day that you have serendipity and not sod's law at your
house.

I agree with David, the same happened to me.

But as an aside, centrifugal force is fictitious.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_force

If I had said the line was unreeling due the greater tension from using
heavier line brought about by constraining rotating objects having a
tendency to continue their motion in a straight line in accordance with
Newton's laws of motion, would it have helped any more in the given
situation? So I said centrifugal force and everybody knew what I meant.

David

SG1 wrote:
No and I am by no means an expert on these things but I will have a
guess. The heavier line pulls harder due to centrifugal force and
this is slowly unreeling it, luckily at a useable rate. In any case
bless the day that you have serendipity and not sod's law at your
house.

I agree with David, the same happened to me.

But as an aside, centrifugal force is fictitious.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_force

You mean for 29 years with the BoM I was deluded as to why the wind
changes direction at the equator......................

I thought metrologists would be speaking of coriolus forces making wind
circulate in different directions. I suppose the two are related to some
extent.

David

"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
...
SG1 wrote:
No and I am by no means an expert on these things but I will have a
guess. The heavier line pulls harder due to centrifugal force and
this is slowly unreeling it, luckily at a useable rate. In any case
bless the day that you have serendipity and not sod's law at your
house.

I agree with David, the same happened to me.

But as an aside, centrifugal force is fictitious.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_force

You mean for 29 years with the BoM I was deluded as to why the wind
changes direction at the equator......................

I thought metrologists would be speaking of coriolus forces making wind
circulate in different directions. I suppose the two are related to some
extent.

David

No spin no coriolis & no centrifugal. Thank God for gravity.

On 28/04/10 08:18, David Hare-Scott wrote:
Lionel wrote:

No and I am by no means an expert on these things but I will have a
guess. The heavier line pulls harder due to centrifugal force and
this is slowly unreeling it, luckily at a useable rate. In any case
bless the day that you have serendipity and not sod's law at your
house.

I agree with David, the same happened to me.

But as an aside, centrifugal force is fictitious.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_force

If I had said the line was unreeling due the greater tension from using
heavier line brought about by constraining rotating objects having a
tendency to continue their motion in a straight line in accordance with
Newton's laws of motion, would it have helped any more in the given
situation? So I said centrifugal force and everybody knew what I meant.

There there, I was just being cheeky .

On 28/04/10 05:10, SG1 wrote:
wrote in message
...
On 25/04/10 08:01, David Hare-Scott wrote:
John Savage wrote:
I use an electric line-trimmer to mow a grassy area of stony ground
that I hesitate to call "lawn". Originally the trimmer came with a
thin flexible nylon line, and while it performed satisfactorily, I
was horrified at the amount of nylon line it consumed. I felt I had
to too frequently tap it on the ground to feed more line and drooping
branches of shrubs and Morning Glory would tangle with it and draw
out excess line, only to have it instantly severed by the trimmer's
built-in metal cutter. Besides, I pictured all the nylon dust with
which I was needlessly contaminating the yard each time I mowed.

So I purchased a heavier gauge green nylon line, the stuff with about
8 sharp corners. It is stiff and demands some dexterity to get it
wrapped around the spool properly and the ends threaded through the
pair of eyelet holes for it to feed out.

Despite seven hours of mowing, it's still on the first spool of
this thicker line, so it is indeed lasting considerably longer,
though there are only about 2 turns remaining now.

But the mystery is this: not once have I bumped it on the ground
to feed more line! Every time I check, the two nylon whiskers
are about one cm short of the length where they would be auto-
matically trimmed. So the line must be feeding through all by
itself. The coil of line cannot slip around on the spool, I made
sure of that. I can't figure out the mechanism by which this magic
automatic feed operates. I am quite sure it is not feeding so much
at a time as to have it trimmed by the metal blade, as I would
recognise the characteristic sound; and the fact that one spool is
giving such enduring service attests that none is being wasted in
that way.

Anyone seen this phenomenon before??

No and I am by no means an expert on these things but I will have a
guess. The heavier line pulls harder due to centrifugal force and this
is slowly unreeling it, luckily at a useable rate. In any case bless the
day that you have serendipity and not sod's law at your house.

I agree with David, the same happened to me.

But as an aside, centrifugal force is fictitious.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_force

You mean for 29 years with the BoM I was deluded as to why the wind changes
direction at the equator......................

I don't know, I have no idea about wind - will it help if I eat my beans .

g'day john,

i'm wading in a bit late here but all i can add is that you shouldn't
run line in these machines that is thicker than that recommended by
the manufacturer, if you have the work for heavier line then you need
to look at upsizing the machine to suit the purpose, by the sounds of
it something around a 20++cc straight shaft model?

also running the heavier line could cause clutch slippage and clutch
burn out, plus as i found the engine needs to work harder.



On Sat, 24 Apr 2010 07:36:04 +0000 (UTC), John Savage
wrote:
snipped
--

Matthew 25:13 KJV

len

With peace and brightest of blessings,

"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

Lionel wrote:
On 28/04/10 08:18, David Hare-Scott wrote:
Lionel wrote:

No and I am by no means an expert on these things but I will have a
guess. The heavier line pulls harder due to centrifugal force and
this is slowly unreeling it, luckily at a useable rate. In any case
bless the day that you have serendipity and not sod's law at your
house.

I agree with David, the same happened to me.

But as an aside, centrifugal force is fictitious.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_force

If I had said the line was unreeling due the greater tension from
using heavier line brought about by constraining rotating objects
having a tendency to continue their motion in a straight line in
accordance with Newton's laws of motion, would it have helped any
more in the given situation? So I said centrifugal force and
everybody knew what I meant.

There there, I was just being cheeky .

I is calm, I 's calm. I is nearly clam.

D

On 29/04/2010 7:35 AM, gardenlen wrote:
g'day john,

i'm wading in a bit late here but all i can add is that you shouldn't
run line in these machines that is thicker than that recommended by
the manufacturer, if you have the work for heavier line then you need
to look at upsizing the machine to suit the purpose, by the sounds of
it something around a 20++cc straight shaft model?

also running the heavier line could cause clutch slippage and clutch
burn out, plus as i found the engine needs to work harder.

The engine needs to work harder? Hell I reckon the guy at the end doesnt
really care bout the engine. As long as he doesn't hafta.

Gooday Len.

lol lol yep sounds about right, but the right machine does make the
job easier.

On Thu, 29 Apr 2010 10:00:06 GMT, PC wrote:

snipped

--

Matthew 25:13 KJV

len

With peace and brightest of blessings,

"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

gardenlen writes:
i'm wading in a bit late here but all i can add is that you shouldn't
run line in these machines that is thicker than that recommended by
the manufacturer, if you have the work for heavier line then you need
to look at upsizing the machine to suit the purpose, by the sounds of
it something around a 20++cc straight shaft model?

also running the heavier line could cause clutch slippage and clutch
burn out, plus as i found the engine needs to work harder.

Hi Len. Appreciate the caution about overloading petrol trimmers.
But that's not what I'm using.

I wrote:
I use an electric line-trimmer to mow a grassy area of stony ground
^^^^^^^^
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)