My old friend Jeff was always vocally upset that he didn’t come up with the idea of a string trimmer, commonly known as a Weed Eater or Weed Whacker. On the one hand, the idea is totally simple: spin some nylon line and cut grass and other relatively soft things. But, it turns out, that making the device actually usable requires a little bit of mechanical engineering.
Of course, the noisy part is a motor. The motor — driven by an engine, a battery, or a power cord — spins a flexible nylon line fast enough that the line becomes rigid from centrifugal force. That’s not the important part.
The humble spool at the bottom of the trimmer is where decades of mechanical engineering, questionable patents, consumer frustration, and genuine cleverness all meet. The earliest string trimmers were primitive. [George Ballas], who patented the Weed Eater in the early 1970s, reportedly got the idea from the rotating brushes in a car wash. Attach flexible cords to a spinning head, and they become cutting tools. In fact, the prototype used a tin can for the head. Elegant. But once the line wears down — which it does constantly — you need a way to expose fresh line. That turns out to be harder than it sounds.
The Simplest System
The easiest approach is fixed-length line. Some trimmers still work this way. You cut short pieces of heavy line (or buy it precut) and insert them into holes in the head. No spool. No springs. No moving parts.
These systems are rugged and are popular on commercial units designed to survive abuse. They also work well with thicker lines or even plastic blades. But they are annoying because every time the line wears out, you stop working and manually replace it. Spool-based systems became dominant very quickly.
The basic spool idea is straightforward enough. Wind a long nylon filament onto a reel. Some reels have two sections to feed line out on two sides of the rotating head. As the line wears away, feed out more line from the spool. But how do you do that while the thing is spinning at several thousand RPM?
Bump Feed
If you’ve ever lightly smacked the bottom of a running trimmer against the ground, you’ve used a bump feed mechanism.
Inside the head is a spool loaded with line and pressed upward by a spring. The line exits through eyelets on the side of the head. Under normal operation, friction and centrifugal force keep the spool from turning freely.
When you bump the bottom of the head against the ground, inertia momentarily compresses the spring and disengages locking tabs or detents. The spool can rotate briefly, paying out a short amount of line. When you release pressure, the spring re-engages the lock.
At least, that’s the theory. In practice, bump heads have to balance several competing requirements. The spool must not unwind accidentally. The line can’t bind. Dirt and grass clippings can’t jam the mechanism. The head must survive repeated impacts with concrete, rocks, and fence posts because users inevitably abuse them.
And then there’s the line itself. Nylon trimmer line is more complicated than it looks. Different diameters, shapes, and stiffnesses affect how well the feed works. Star-shaped line cuts aggressively but tangles more easily. Round line feeds smoothly but cuts less efficiently. Humidity even matters because nylon absorbs water. Anyone who has left old trimmer line in a garage for years has probably discovered brittle line snapping constantly. We’ve heard people suggest you soak the line — especially old line — in water overnight before loading it.
The bump feed mechanism has another subtle trick. Many heads rely on centrifugal force not only to stiffen the line but also to help lock the spool during operation. At speed, the line pulls outward hard enough to increase friction on the spool. When rotation slows, the spool loosens slightly. A simple mechanical solution.
Of course, they don’t always work and when that happens, you might find some troubleshooting advice in the video from [Will Shackleton] below.
Automatic Feed
Of course, someone decided bump feed was too much work and, thus, the automatic feed was born. These heads attempt to sense when the line has become too short and feed more automatically. These systems are common on electric consumer trimmers.
There are several ways to do this, but many use a ratchet-like mechanism tied to motor speed. When the load on the motor changes because the line becomes shorter, the system advances the spool slightly. Some units feed line every time the motor starts. Others use centrifugal clutches or vibration-sensitive mechanisms. Great when it works.
Part of the problem is that the operating environment is terrible. Grass juice, dirt, vibration, heat, and impacts are all happening simultaneously. It is hard enough to make reliable machinery in a clean factory. Designing a precise mechanism that lives inches from flying mud is another matter entirely. That’s why many professionals prefer simple bump heads despite the inconvenience. Simpler systems usually fail less dramatically.
You can see several head styles in the video below.
The Eyelets Matter More Than You Think
One overlooked component is the eyelet where the line exits the head. That little metal or ceramic ring takes an enormous amount of abuse. The line is moving at perhaps 200 miles per hour at the tip, vibrating continuously, and carrying abrasive dirt particles. A plain plastic hole would wear out quickly.
Some trimmers use hardened steel inserts. Others use aluminum oxide ceramics. The better heads often have replaceable eyelets because manufacturers know they are consumable parts.
The angle matters, too. The line should exit smoothly with minimal friction but still maintain enough control to prevent tangling. You probably don’t notice how important the eyelet is, but you’d notice if it were poorly designed.
Why Tangling Happens
Anyone who has reloaded a spool badly knows the pain of internal tangles. The spool effectively stores torsional energy. If the line is wound unevenly or crosses over itself, it can dig into lower layers under centrifugal load. Once that happens, the line jams. Pulling harder only makes it worse.
This is why most spools have directional arrows molded into them. The line must wind in the correct direction, so rotational forces tighten the winding instead of loosening it.
Modern “easy load” heads try to solve this by allowing users to thread the line straight through the head and then twist a knob to wind it automatically. These systems are genuinely better than older designs, although many still become incomprehensible the first time you disassemble one accidentally.
One trick we’ve heard is that if you spray a lubricant like WD-40 into the eyelet before you use the trimmer, it will help the mechanism feed more smoothly. Let us know if you’ve ever tried that and how it works.
Batteries Changed the Game
Cordless electric trimmers have altered feed mechanism design in subtle ways. Gas trimmers typically run at nearly constant speed, which makes centrifugal systems predictable. Battery trimmers vary speed more often due to electronic controls and power-saving logic. That means newer designs increasingly depend on passive mechanical systems rather than RPM-sensitive tricks. Electronic control also allows some high-end trimmers to detect load changes more intelligently.
Ironically, while motors and batteries have become dramatically more sophisticated, the line feed mechanism is still mostly springs, friction surfaces, tabs, and molded plastic. No microcontroller. No electronic sensors. Go figure.
The string trimmer looks like a brute-force tool. But hidden inside that disposable-looking plastic head is a surprisingly nuanced mechanical system balancing centrifugal force, friction, vibration, inertia, wear, and user abuse. Poor [George Ballas]. He took his prototype to toolmakers, who were all uninterested in the invention. He started the Weed Eater company and launched a lucrative product category.
We love finding all the strange tech around us, from shopping carts to gas pumps.
Featured image: “String trimmer” by Hedwig Storch
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