Wack-Off 5065™ E-trimmer

[mauimart]

I detest weed wacking to begin with so when the bloody 2-strokes won't start all hope is lost and I just let the weeds grow. So with a few RC bits laying around and some time over the weekend I came up with this. It's got a 5065 - 270kV outrunner, 6S2P 5000mAh bricks, and a One Hung Low $25 ESC driving an old McCulloch gas trimmer. An adapter plate and a $9 coupler (8mm to 12mm) off ebay and we are back in business. The batteries are old and abused but I can still get 30 to 45 minutes of light duty trimming done. I imagine a fresh pack would do significantly better and probably cause the motor and/or controller to overheat. This thing is so much better than the gas version. If I come across another solid chassis I may fit it with the rewound C8085 I have on the bench. Chainsaw and leaf blower will be next.

 

[mauimart]

Video:

[youtube]fpP7jX2kgBI[/youtube]

 

[1000w]

Nice work!
I'm definitely going to do something similar, thanks for letting us know where to find those couplers.
Has that motor got enough grunt? It appears to cut well. I was imagining using a turnigy 80-100, perhaps a little over the top?
Cheers.

 

[dogman dan]

Nicely done, and bound to last longer than the cheap B&D 24v trimmers Iv'e been using. Professionally used once a week on the equivilant of about 10 normal yards, I wear one out each year.

But man o man, does it ever beat breaking out the big heavy gas trimmer. We get about 15 min run time from a 24v B&D nicad pack. One trimmer died because I lipooed it, and ran it for 3 hrs non stop one day. Fried the motor bearing. So now we stick to the 15 min run time packs, and let the trimmer cool a few min while we go get another nicad pack.

 

[Kin]

You should trademark that name

 

[mauimart]

Nice work!
I'm definitely going to do something similar, thanks for letting us know where to find those couplers.
Has that motor got enough grunt? It appears to cut well. I was imagining using a turnigy 80-100, perhaps a little over the top?
Cheers.

The 80-100 would definitely be a bit over-kill, unless you want to fell a tree. The little 5065 does well for light-duty trimming and will take care of the occasional big stuff when you spool it up. It also allows you to use the small sensorless ESC's which keeps the weight to a minimum.

You should trademark that name

Done

 

[ohzee]

Nice work sure sounds a lot better then my gas one.

 

[spinningmagnets]

"RC electric brush cutter"
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=22874

Link is the 80-100 adaptation (130-kV) running on 8S A123 (LiFePO4? = 25V?)...I really liked that one because it was a very powerful and versatile power-pack, that could be swapped to a variety of head-units, in order for one motor/ESC/battery/trigger to make a variety of mobile tools.

 

[nechaus]

iv got the 80-100 turnigy 160rpm per volt for lawn mowing, have ordered a Fatboy controller about a week ago...
300 amp peak for my lawn mower, Maybe the thing will fly,,, but i am only using line trimmer string for the lawn mower blades so its not such a pig

I also have a small rotor max running max 2000 watts on a line timmer/weedwacker.


The line trimmer is absolutely insane for cutting any height of grass, I just blew a 80 amp controller doing it so i had to get a 200 amp one which seems to still sometimes cut out.
On my lawn mower build, i also blew a controller, so i ordered a fat boy...

 

[nechaus]

I use the line trimmer on just 5s, on 10s the thing kicks so friken hard under wot, creates a huge fan feel and is so loud,
5s is perfect and kicks the ass off the ryobi 18 volts and 36volt cordless line trimmers...

They are using cheap brushed johnson motors last time i opened them up, 18 volt ryobi only does like 50 watts max, so i think my line trimmer is more than 20 times more powerful continuously

there beefy batteries are like 2.5 ah @ 18volts, i did a few capacity tests, and you generally get a few 100 mah less..


If you need lawn mower or line timmer, def make it urself with hk stuff

 

[Sancho's Horse]

Nice.

Too late for me. I thought I was being smart buying an electric mower for $150 usd last year. Probably not a terrible investment, but I balked when they wanted $40 for essentially a wire and three anderson powerpoles.

I know better now. There will be no going back for me.

 

[Kepler]

"electric string trimmer"
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=31115

"RC electric brush cutter"
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=22874

You forgot to include mine Spinner. I'm shattered. :lol:

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28517&hilit=weed

Been going for a year now and gets used about once a fortnight. Also has a blower attachment. I can do the back and front yards on a single 5800mah 6S pack.

 

[t3sla]

props!

Just encase them LiPo's.
$10 says you drop in sometime within the distant future after a few hours of garden labour

 

[HumboldtRc]

In this link, you can see a video of my weed-wacker in action.

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=28676

 

[spinningmagnets]

Kepler, somehow I missed your original post! It looks like this thread is now the new RC string trimmer index...

 

[spinningmagnets]

Last summer, I had good luck with this. Its a hassle to pull the string stubs out and put new "V" shaped string sections in, but...I can never get the stock "bump feed" mechanism to not end up tangled, so...this is the lesser of the two evils. If you want to try the theory out before buying this unit with the little swivel-mounts, just gut the bump-feed head on your weed-wacker and then drill some holes in the perimeter, then try it out.

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=10946282&cagpspn=pla