My Core hedge trimmer packed it in maybe 6-7 weeks ago. Well not really "packed it in", just broke the main motor drive shaft, so no movement at the blades. Hedges are starting to look a bit hairy and they ain't gonna trim themselves!
I pulled this apart to see if it was fixable. Thought I would post this because it might be interesting for those who are wondering about electric gear.
I got some locking pliers onto the main motor shaft (what was left of it) and tried pulling the motor out of the alloy housing, was not budging. Then I remembered - when in doubt & dealing with stubborn parts & pieces - give it some heat, mon!
The heat gun did the trick - looked like the bearing in the outer housing was actually stuck in with some kind of adhesive. Heat is always handy - lots of electronic components are secured with different types of adhesives. I guess you could say that when you're working with electric gear you reach for the heat gun instead of the WD-40. I've replaced a few smart phone screens in the past and they were exactly the same as far as use of a heat gun.
This is the blade movement mechanism, not sure if this is the same with petrol trimmers - but I'd guess so:
Now that I've got it this far apart, I've basically given up. Too much messing around without any spare parts being available. I was planning to get a new drive shaft made up at the local engineering shop, but it's a different setup to what I expected - not worth the messing about making up jigs etc. to press out the bearings. Would be different if it was a straight shaft all the same diameter.
So I'm just going to buy the best cordless hedge trimmer available, locally this time (the Core stuff is only available from U.S.A). I really like the Core motor design, pretty disappointed that the motor shaft broke so easily and that it was designed with such a small diameter section - basically had a major weak section designed into it... anyway.
I think I will be able to get a new cordless hedge trimmer that performs better and is easier to use. Spotted a 56V model after some quick Googling, looks interesting... I get the feeling that Core has kind of dropped the ball and lost their edge by not taking advantage with global distribution. When I was looking at their gear back in 2013 there was a clear difference between the construction and build quality of the Core products and other electric products. Now when I look at what's available I see lots of other companies have really caught up - good products with brushless motors, etc., decent to high battery capacity, and fast chargers and large capacity batteries that are priced reasonably.
Just thought I would ask if anyone happens to know much about the different cordless hedge trimmer options out there? The major options on the shortlist so far are:
- Stihl 36V (up to 1hr 20 mins run time, 3.2Ah battery)
- EGO 56V (up to 1 hour run time, 2Ah battery)
- Bosch 36V (up to 50 mins, 1.3Ah battery)
- Victa 40V (up to 2hrs run time, 4Ah battery)
I like the idea of Stihl because they have some great options - mainly a whopping big backpack battery that could probably be swapped between different pieces of equipment and used all day long without worrying about running out of power. Also the longest blade length of the lot at 62cm.
I'm leaning towards the EGO at the moment - 5 year tool warranty, 610mm blade and 26mm cut capacity - pretty good! And the option to upgrade to a 6Ah battery - important because it doesn't make sense to buy a cheap tool that uses small capacity batteries, then you've gotta spend a packet on multiple batteries just to see you through a day.
The Bosch I don't know much about at all, but I had a Bosch corded blower vac in the past and it was rock solid reliable until I ran the vac over something I shouldn't have and the motor started smoking... It's on the shortlist because they make solid equipment, but I'm also thinking about possibly adding a line trimmer or blower etc. that uses the same battery system and I think Bosch falls down there.
Victa - another one I don't know much about. But it seems to have decent specs, although a brushed (not brushless) motor. They are also the only one with a cordless blower vac, but it has a pretty short run time & it looks like they only offer the 4Ah battery, nothing larger.
There's a couple of ways to think about it when choosing electric equipment - just get the one single piece of equipment that best suits your needs now, OR think about what equipment you might buy in the future and make the choice based on the battery system you want to use (much cheaper/easier to have the majority or all equipment that uses the same batteries & chargers).
Anyway I'll update with info as it comes. I'll probably go and look at the EGO gear first, I think the fact that it's sold at Trade Tools says a lot as well!
And if anyone has thoughts to add, please do!
Cheers