A Nice Sunday...But Not Exactly Sublime - In The Weed-Eater World Of Things ~ OR: How To MacGyver The Handle To Finish The Job ~ Original Photos and Semi-Short Fix-it Discussion ~

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Just A 'Wee Bit' Of Weeds and Grass To "Eat"

_{Last Year's Springtime Picture: After a LOT of rain. We often let the grass grow long in winter, then 'hay' it come early summer, cutting either paths to walk in, or mow it all weekly. Totally mood dependent.}

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I couldn't post this on Sunday, as it was just not all that Sublime. There was a weed-wacker involved, and it had problems, which is enough to UN-sublime any day of the week. (Plus I'm slower than the proverbial wintertime molasses getting these posts done).

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It was a bonny lovely Sunday today, and what better way to spend the day, than chop down some overgrown grass and weeds in the yard. I'm afraid many corners have progressed from 'yard' back to 'hay' once again, and something had to be done about it. Pronto. And it's not due to hard-core laziness, though that CAN play a part, now and then.

But this time, there was a REASON for a cutting delay. The John Deere riding mower went gunny-bags a week or two ago, and I'm working on fixing that piece of machinery in small steps. Still waiting for the mailman to deliver some much-needed parts. But I remain UN-daunted, and look at all of this as a silver-sheen'd cloud right about now. Another Fix-it Post in it's ownself, once I'm done. Now if only those pesky parts would get here, (and that would actually become a REAL word, 25 or so back.)

All this long grass left me deep in the whattado's. So, when the mower is down, it's time to pull out the Big Guns. And chop down the grass the old fashioned way. Using the Stihl FS-130 weed eater, with the special blackberry-mincing blade. Works great on heavy grass, as well as mondo blackberry bushes. Plus, there's nothing like 'mowing' a whole acre of ground with a 13 inch mower-deck now and then, for some much-needed exercise. All I can say is a rousing, yardwork Yee Haa.

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What The Weed-eater Looks Like On A Normal Day

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What The Weed Eater Looked Like After An Hour Or Two Of Heavy Grass Work Today

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I was whacking away on the three foot tall grass, and suddenly, the left side of the bicycle handlebar of the machine (that's what it's officially called), came off in my hand. The aluminum tubing had sheared off at the clamp bracket, as you can see in the picture above.

With thick, tall grass, you have to use an old-fashioned 'scything' motion, to move the heavy grass off and away from the next cut. It is a ton of work, and is obviously hard on the handle. After a couple of years of this intense grass 'action', the aluminum tubing gave up the ghost, as my Grandfather was wont to say.

Large sigh, and an even more pleasant-quiet in the back yard. I'm sure the neighbors were happy with the new-found peace when things broke down. But I wasn't. NOW what to do? This being a Sunday, the official Stihl parts store was closed up tight for the weekend.

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MacGyver's Got Nothing On THIS Backyard Fix-it Guy

I needed to put the handle back together, to finish the job. But there was no way the aluminum tubing would hold up in the clamp if it was now in two pieces. So...I needed a way to 'splice' the broken handle together, and put it back into the clamp. The answer? A good old-fashioned dowel rod.

I keep bins of these variable-diameter, finely milled sticks in different sizes for jobs like this, and for other classic art projects. Such as the yearly Mr. Potatohead--S.P.C.A.C.T., Steampunk Machine. An example: Mr. P. Post (Sort Of): High Pressure Fracking To Extract SpuddThane

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Onward-To The Project At Hand

Oak Dowel Rod 'Blank'-Before Making It Into A Tubing Splicer

This dowel was the closest in size, but too large diameter-wise, to fit in the tubing. Which meant I needed to 'machine whittle' it down to fit inside the handle. If I had a lathe to craft the job, that would work better, as the dowel would then be more uniform in diameter, once reduced. But I don't have my Circa 1915 wood lathe I bought at an estate sale working yet. Plus, I don't really know what I'm doing in that department anyway. So, the next best thing? A bench-top belt sander.

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Sanding Down The Dowel To Fit The Broken Tubing

The secret is to turn the wood in your hands while you sand it down on the belt. Not an exact science, but works pretty well if you focus and keep the dowel moving. (You can turn a very LARGE piece of wood into a sawdust pile very quickly on a belt sander).

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Sanded Dowel Fit Shoved Into The Broken End Of Handle

A little elbow grease, ample cussing and whoofing and banging, and vwaalaah...It Fits!

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Cutting The Dowel Down To Fit Into The Other Side Of Handle

Measure 6 times, cut once, and hope you don't have to add more wood later, I always say. It's quite easy to make a too-long piece of wood shorter, but adding more to make it longer after a missed-measurement is a craft yet to be discovered. Particularly a bummer after spending a lot time sanding. But the dowel was the right length after the cut. Sometimes these things just luck out into plan.

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Sanding The OTHER End

Had to make the dowel fit within the right side of the handle as well. Some more sanding on this end, and vwaalaah². With a bit more of that 'fine finessing' we discussed earlier, it should all go together well.

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I Like It When A Good (Handle) Plan Comes Together

The two sides of the broken handle are now connected with our dowel. The theory is to clamp them tightly with the handle clamp, so the aluminum tightens onto the dowel, and then hope they stay in place. Later I may drill and pin each side, but there is little room inside the clamp. Plus, like the Wind Mariah, the grass is calling out for me to get going and finish this grass job.

The dowel should add strength to the aluminum tubing at the edges of the clamp as well, and keep the tubing from collapsing in the clamp and breaking off again. That's my theory anyway, and I'm sticking with it.

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The Final Step

The two sides pieced together in the bottom of the clamp, waiting to be finished up and clamped back together.

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Back In Business

The clamp seems to hold the handle quite tightly, and it doesn't move in the clamp. Time for a heavy-grass test run...

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It Works!!! Yup, Back In Business Again

The handle seemed to hold up well in the heavy grass. I did not do any really aggressive 'scything action', but my handle-fix worked well. I was able to finish up what I started, before knocking off for the Sunday evening thoughtful's. I figure no-one wants to hear a noisy weed eater after about 6:30 on a Sunday evening, during dinner, and prepping for tomorrow's way- too-early-to-work (no matter WHAT time), mundane Monday.

I WILL do further testing in the next couple of days. No doubt I will have to buy a new handle soon, to the ridiculous tune of $60.00. Because there is NO way this will hold up under the heavy grass-duress for hours and hours and hours of work. Of that I am quite sure.

Also, I'm thinking of going to a local, alternative bike-manufacturing shop, to see if they can fashion me a handle out of heavier, 'last-much-longer' steel. But the cost of bending it into shape will more than likely be nutso-crazy prohibitive. As my Mother used to say, "we soon shall see". (Try saying THAT five times, really fast.)

Final Thoughts On My Sublime Sunday ~ Weed-Eater Handle Fix-It Job

I'm impressed with how well this quick-fix worked, to finish up the cutting job at hand. I may try to epoxy the wood into the tube, as well as pin it with a nail on both sides. The pin should help with rotation, but I can't imagine the epoxy would hold well onto smooth, shiny aluminum for very long. Once again, we'll follow good old Mom's advice.

I'll try to keep you all posted on the riveting progress of this project, since I KNOW you're all on the edge of your chairs right about now. "Remain sublime, remain sublime".

~ Finto ~

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Thanks for stopping in and viewing the Sublime Sunday DIY project of the week. If you have any thoughts about other Fix-it jobs you've done, Sunday weed eating, heavy grass management, making excess noise on a weekend and when to 'knock off', or anything else this post reminds you of, please feel free to comment away in the spaces below. I'd love to hear from you.

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Please UPVOTE, COMMENT and FOLLOW if you enjoy my works.

And go to @ddschteinn -- There's a whole lot more...

_{Posted: 06/04/2018 @ 15:00}

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Excerpts From Late-Night Conversations With A Mechanical Cat

Fact Number 73