Do you use your petrol tools in the rain?

[Mark_Skyland]

I've never had an issue with a petrol machine using them in the rain, the finish of the cut on hedge might be a different story though. As already mentioned make sure you spray the cutter bar with wd40, silicone spray or the manufactures recommend lubricant as the blades can rust and stick. I would also store the machine with the blade pointing down so no water runs down the blades and into the gearbox.

 

Oh, and grease the gearbox more often, more often than most people do, which is usually a few weeks after they start making a clunking noise!

 

 

[Trailoftears]

One issue with using hedgetrimmers in the rain/on a wet hedge is that the blades will 'run on' after releasing the throttle trigger due to the rain lubrication which is potentially dangerous.Its often a good idea to temporarily tighten up the blade fixing bolts to stop the run on for safety's sake.With stihl models,they are internally spaced so cant be done.

[pleasant]

Not sure if I agree with what you are suggesting there. Certain makes and models of hedge cutter purposely have a brake lever to prevent blade movement during starting and being transported from one area to another with the engine running. Echo have, Stihl do. The popular HS45 has for example. There is no mechanical 'brake' on hedge cutter blades unlike a mower, so you will always get a degree of 'run on' once the throttle has been released and the drive from the clutch has been removed through lack of RPM. Artificially tightening the blade clamping bolts to increase friction to stop movement, will cause unnecessary load on the clutch and engine to over come this extra resistance. Your blades should always move freely with little resistance.....if they don't over run when cutting in the dry, then that is normally because of varnish and crud build up between the blade surfaces. If you really really want to reduce (not stop) the length of over run time if it is an issue for you then check the quantity and quality of grease in the gearbox...or apply the blade brake (if you have one)

 

From Page 5 of the Stihl HS45 operators manual:

'Note that the cutting blades continue to
run for a short period after you let go of
the throttle trigger – flywheel effect'

 

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by pleasant

[Trailoftears]

Yep,I did include stihl as a make with no real issue.But I've seen hedgetrimmers (correctly adjusted re: blade set+idle) for normal/dry conditions suddenly constantly run their blades when wet at a dangerous speed when constantly running in  wet conditions.Obviously extremely dangerous.All my kawasaki branded machines will/would certainly do it regularly in wet run state.