Post by mikethefan54 on May 30, 2022 15:49:13 GMT -5
Unit: Homelite Electric String Trimmer Model No. ST-40 [UT-21511-A]
I may be in the wrong forum but I hope there’s somebody somewhere that’s familiar with legacy Homelite corded electric string trimmers who can help me out. My Model No. ST-40 [UT-21511-A] string trimmer’s ‘string housing’ and ‘retainer’ have been wearing normally but in the process of doing research to replace these worn parts, I’m wondering whether I’ve been wrapping the line properly around the spool all these years.
I’m thinking that I might have been winding the string incorrectly around the spool all these years. I notice that there are four notches equally spaced on the outer circumference of the spool, at N, S, E, and W, which I’ve largely ignored. I always assumed that these were for merely checking the diameter of the new line, as a temporary one-time ‘quick check’ i.e., – “string must fit gauge.” [Which I always dismissed as superfluous as I’ve never used anything other than .065” diameter line.] Instructions stipulate that ‘Line must fit securely within the notch’ but as I’ve mentioned I don’t know whether they mean temporarily to merely verify the line is the correct diameter; or relatively permanently as part of the actual string path during operation.
I assumed that was merely a superfluous diameter check, to be used just prior to winding the string on the spool.
Now I’m wondering whether or not my assumption is correct. Could there be some more significant reason those notches are there, such as somehow guiding the string as it plays out during operation? Specifically, if the slot is simply a size gauge, then why are there four of them? [To me anyway the granularity level is too low for step two of this particular procedure in the instruction manual.] For example, not sure what is meant by “…the end of the string on the ‘wind side’ of the post.” “Line Side’ is relatively self-explanatory; but as for the rest of it…
I’ve gone through a lot of string over the years and I wasn’t about to buy a new preassembled “Spool and String” every time I ran out of string. So I always bought the string separately and wound it myself around the existing spool. Now I realize that I may have been winding it incorrectly. I always stuck the line through one of the two holes on the spindle, pushed it through a few inches toward the center of the spool, tied a granny knot on the end of it and then pulled it back taut and started the wind process.
Then again, maybe I’ve been doing it correctly all these years.
Thank you so much in advance,
Michael B. Hess