How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

It is quite difficult to mow reeds, thick dry grass and small bushes using a fishing line, especially the most common one - round in cross-section. For such cases, you will need a two-component cord consisting of different materials: a durable metal core, which is located inside a nylon fishing line.
However, among all types of cords, this is the most expensive, and it is not often on sale, so it is not easy to find. But it is possible to make an analogue of such a working element of the trimmer with your own hands from quite accessible and inexpensive materials.
How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

Will need


Everything you need for work can be found in the household or bought in a store, spending very little money:
  • a piece of two-millimeter steel cable (metal rope);
  • a washer with a splined central hole and a flat washer;
  • a cup-shaped sleeve with a central smooth hole;
  • nut with left-hand thread (included with the trimmer);
  • six nuts with rounded top edges;
  • two bolts;
  • standard solder.

How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

The tools that we will need for the job also cannot be classified as rare and hard-to-find items:
  • bench vice;
  • core and hammer;
  • drill and hand file;
  • welding machine;
  • soldering iron and wire cutters;
  • socket wrench with side handle.

Making a cable cord holder


On the outer generatrix of the cup-shaped bushing on the back side, using a ruler and a marker, mark two marks on diameters perpendicular to each other.
How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

Then, focusing on the first four marks, we transfer them to the middle of the side surface of the cup-shaped bushing strictly vertically.
We clamp the cup-shaped bushing in a bench vice and in the marked places, using a core and a hammer, mark the drilling points, which we do with a drill. You should get two opposite holes, located at perpendicular diameters.
How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

We clean the metal around all four holes, processing them one by one with a hand file.
Above each of the four holes on the outside we install and weld a nut with a rounded top.
How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

We clamp two bolts in series in a vice and drill through holes with a diameter of slightly more than two millimeters directly under the heads.
How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

We screw the nuts onto them and place both bolts with the screwed nuts into the annular recess of the cup-shaped bushing with their heads inward, symmetrically between two holes opposite each other.
How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

The location of the bolts should be such that the nuts on them can be twisted and unscrewed freely from the head to the top of the holes drilled in them.
After making sure once again that the bolts are laid correctly, we weld them to the bushing on both sides.
How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

We unwind a two-millimeter cable and pass it at one end through any of the side holes in the cup-shaped sleeve towards the bolt.We pass the hole in it with the rope and pull the end of the rope out through the hole in the sleeve on the other side of the bolt, helping ourselves with wire cutters.
How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

We set the required length of the elongated cord and, having measured the same size on the other side, cut the cord in the intended place with wire cutters.
We do the same with the second “antennae”, and tighten the nuts on the bolts using an open-end wrench with a force sufficient to securely fix the “antennae” in a given position.
How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

Usually, tendrils at high operating speeds quickly become frayed, lose strength and begin to break under the influence of enormous centrifugal force. These impair the performance of the trimmer, but more dangerously, they can injure the legs of the operator or people nearby.
Therefore, you should make a shell of solder using a soldering iron along the entire length of the “antennae” of the cable. Soft solder, which has significant plasticity, when in contact with the stems of grass and small bushes, absorbs most of the impact force and, thereby, protects the cable from destruction. So, the homemade working part of the trimmer is ready.
How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

Installing a bushing with antennae-ropes on a trimmer


How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

We remove the plastic spool of fishing line from the lawn mower and instead install a self-assembled working part of the trimmer based on a two-millimeter steel rope. We securely tighten it with a nut with a left-hand thread using a socket wrench with a side handle, locking the drive from the back with a screwdriver through a special hole.
How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

We make sure that none of the ends of the ropes touch the protective casing, which is one of the conditions for safe operation of this tool.To do this, we pull each “antennae” opposite the casing one by one with force by hand and note the presence of a quite noticeable gap between the ends of the antennae and the protective casing.
How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

Testing homemade products in action


We go out with the tool to the place where weeds and bushes grow, and turn on the trimmer, having first covered our face with a transparent visor or at least protective glasses.
How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

We are convinced that the work of a trimmer with a homemade working element based on a steel rope has become much more efficient and productive.
How to replace fishing line in a trimmer with steel cable

Warning


Do not get carried away with increasing the diameter used to make the “antennae” of the rope. This will lead to rapid wear of the drive and even breakdown of the trimmer motor, especially if it is electric, due to the increased effort. This also increases the likelihood of serious injury if the cable “tendril” breaks at high speeds.

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Comments (19)
  1. Alexei
    #1 Alexei Guests May 6, 2019 11:44
    9
    Passed stage. The line will be fluffy at the ends. Riveting with small nuts also does not help... It mows well, but not for long.
    1. Dmitry Spitsyn
      #2 Dmitry Spitsyn Guests 6 May 2019 16:44
      1
      Have you tried wire?
    2. Guest Gosh
      #3 Guest Gosh Guests 6 May 2019 22:28
      1
      the tip of the cable can simply be welded by electric welding so that it does not unravel
  2. Alexei
    #4 Alexei Guests 6 May 2019 16:54
    22
    The cable mows better, BUT it’s painful to pull pieces of the cable out of your legs...
  3. Gennady
    #5 Gennady Guests 6 May 2019 17:29
    30
    there is nothing better than a special fishing line - all these wires and cables are from the evil one. for 13 years of work
    I tried everything that could be inserted with the trimmer, so don’t waste your time.
  4. Basil
    #6 Basil Guests 6 May 2019 19:45
    8
    should not be doing that. It’s better to put out the knives then. the cable breaks with small wires and you can easily get injured.
  5. Guest Alexander
    #7 Guest Alexander Guests May 7, 2019 08:33
    1
    In the photo, the bushing that presses the steel knife has been modified... Why was it replaced with a cable? if the block with fishing line was not finalized. The title is about Thomas, the text is about Jeremiah.
  6. Eugene
    #8 Eugene Guests May 8, 2019 07:56
    6
    The trimmer has high speeds and therefore good balancing of the head is necessary. And so the gearbox will not last long. If you kill the trimmer, repairs will be even more expensive.
    1. Guest Alex
      #9 Guest Alex Guests 14 May 2019 20:42
      0
      Stop raving. For many years now I have been using a cable instead of a fishing line, and no balance is disturbed there.
  7. Guest Vladimir
    #10 Guest Vladimir Guests 8 May 2019 10:54
    2
    Such a finished coil sells for 400 rubles.
  8. Guest Valery
    #11 Guest Valery Guests 9 May 2019 20:19
    4
    If you want to mow thick grass and bushes, use knives. Why split hairs?
  9. Apexander
    #12 Apexander Guests May 10, 2019 08:31
    2
    I installed a multi-strand cable, I didn’t like the wear, almost like the fishing line, for me then the fishing line is better
  10. Eugene
    #13 Eugene Guests 10 May 2019 09:10
    4
    Has anyone thought about the imbalance? will break everything to hell.