Fiberglass irritation from old trimmer shrouds

[mexicanyella]

Has anyone else ever experienced this? The reinforcing glass fibers from old, faded cooling shrouds gets into your forearm from rubbing against the shroud while cutting? Then you have a red itchy patch on your forearm that takes a few days to go away?

I’ve had this happen with an old Homelite 25cc trimmer I used to have. The top of the shroud was UV-faded sort of a pink/coral color from the original red color. Ran great, bump head worked well and was easy to load...but I had to wear a long-sleeved shirt or just deal with the itchy forearm.

Since then I’ve had two different Weedeater Featherlites show up here and both had faded green shrouds and both itched up my forearm...made worse by the Featherlite’s short ergonomics. More arm-to-shroud contact. Also made worse by the extra heat from the catalytic muffler.

Short of wearing a long-sleeved shirt or a cut-off tube sock on my arm...is there anything I could spray that shroud with that would encapsulate that fiberglass and stick well to the plastic? Some kind of clear coat or spray paint?

I have some 3M foil tape on top of the shroud now but it’s pretty janky and doesn’t adhere for very long.

 

[ironman_gq]

You could also be reacting to the oxidized plastic. You could try to wet sand a layer off of it and spray on a clear coat

 

[MacAttack]

I never heard of fiberglass on any power hand tool like a trimmer...i thought they were just plastic.

Fiberglass would be a nightmare.

 

[mexicanyella]

Well, maybe I’m wrong about the fiberglass. I assumed there was some chopped, non-oriented glass fiber molded in with the plastic for strength...but I am basing that on the appearance of the shroud on that old Homelite I mentioned. In bright sunlight there appeared to be shiny little fiber ends emerging from the faded, oxidized plastic and I assumed that was an outer layer of plastic breaking down and eroding, exposing fibers within.

Either way, I will try a wet-sanding & clear coat experiment. Thanks!

 

[ironman_gq]

If you can find the mold mark on the inside of the cover they usually give yous information on what the part is make of. Either a number or abbreviation for the material and if it's reinforced you'll usually find a GF followed by a number that will stand for glass fiber and the percentage of fiber in the material, or other markings if it's not glass fiber. The quick and dirty test is a razor blade and scratch the material, if it's smooth it's unreinforced, if you feel a little grittiness when you cut it then it likely has glass fiber.

 

[mexicanyella]

Thanks; I will check that when I take the shroud off.

 

[furb]

I don’t think they are fiberglass but if it is you can get some kind of gel coat at a boat shop. I noticed some of the plastic on Stihl trimmers like the clutch housings wear and look like the fibers are at the surface. They are pa6 plastic I believe.

 

[Plowmaster]

Has anyone else ever experienced this? The reinforcing glass fibers from old, faded cooling shrouds gets into your forearm from rubbing against the shroud while cutting? Then you have a red itchy patch on your forearm that takes a few days to go away?

I’ve had this happen with an old Homelite 25cc trimmer I used to have. The top of the shroud was UV-faded sort of a pink/coral color from the original red color. Ran great, bump head worked well and was easy to load...but I had to wear a long-sleeved shirt or just deal with the itchy forearm.

Since then I’ve had two different Weedeater Featherlites show up here and both had faded green shrouds and both itched up my forearm...made worse by the Featherlite’s short ergonomics. More arm-to-shroud contact. Also made worse by the extra heat from the catalytic muffler.

Short of wearing a long-sleeved shirt or a cut-off tube sock on my arm...is there anything I could spray that shroud with that would encapsulate that fiberglass and stick well to the plastic? Some kind of clear coat or spray paint?

I have some 3M foil tape on top of the shroud now but it’s pretty janky and doesn’t adhere for very long.

Had same problem with sun baked stihl trimmer.. mixed polyester resin with hardener and brushed on with paint brush. Problem solved

 

[mexicanyella]

Had same problem with sun baked stihl trimmer.. mixed polyester resin with hardener and brushed on with paint brush. Problem solved

Seems like you might be able to build up a thicker encapsulating layer that way. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[mexicanyella]

The Weed Eater trimmer is on the bench waiting for a new lower shaft housing to come in at the end of this week; it’s a light-gauge painted steel tube and a piece of it cracked off inside the female part of the angle-drive gearbox. I may be the only person in the whole world to actually order a part like that for that model, rather than trash it. My reasoning is that it is indeed light as a feather, and handy for smaller, more careful cutting. And its former owner gave up and trashed it so part of me wants to defy that.

I’m stickin it to the man, here.*

I will report on the success of my shroud-coating experiment once I get it back together.

*I think I have TAS (trimmer acquisition syndrome). Despite saying that buying a new Redmax last summer marked the end of jacking around with trash-picked consumer-grade trimmers, here I am waiting for a Weed Eater part to come in. And I had to stop and grab the two Homelites and a Green Machine someone set out in a pile by the curb a few days ago. The Homelites just need fuel lines. They can be backups to the backup of my backup. That Green Machine though...that thing is like picking up a steam locomotive.