Im gonna be "in the saws"

[bcorradi]

Yeah just mow must not be a beer drinker. I didn't even know they sold beer in six packs.

 

[Lakeside53]

JATL - just another texas lightweight

 

[RED-85-Z51]

If I get a bunch of Stihls....can I change my name to "Stihl Pimpin'"

 

[bcorradi]

Don't matter...i'll still remember you by that poulan you have in your avatar.

 

[RED-85-Z51]

Don't matter...i'll still remember you by that poulan you have in your avatar.

It is kinda unique....it's a predominantly STIHL and HUSQVARNA forum...and hear I am backin up Poulan...:jester:

 

[Bill G]

I would love to find a market for push mowers that was above scrap price. They have no value here whatsoever.

Bill

 

[RED-85-Z51]

I would love to find a market for push mowers that was above scrap price. They have no value here whatsoever.

Bill

oh man..HUGE market here.

Where im looking at moving my business, there are 9 subdivisions within 2 miles in both directions, all with at least 300 homes each, one will have over 600 homes in STAGE 1:jawdrop:

All those homes have yards...nice yards. Most of them use push mowers, some use small riders..regardless, a few have a service do it.

My PLAN, is to sell mowers used that I get for cheap or free, THEN get the money i nthe back door by doing the service on them, THEN Ill hire a couple guys after a year or so to actually operate some mowers, doing lawn work and get the business that way.

Id LOVE to get in with some HOA's, and get business that way.

But around here you either have a push mower, or a Small Garden tractor, most people dont have a rider..

Id say 55% have push mowers
40% have riders (and a push mower)
5% have none, and use a service.

It's a rural area, Im on the ground floor around here...no small engine shops for at least 60 square miles.

 

[Hard Knocks]

Must be bad when the FEATHER-WEIGHT TRIMMERS aren't worth the shipping cost:hmm3grin2orange: :hmm3grin2orange: :hmm3grin2orange:

I love to watch the look on a customers face when they walk in the door with one and ask "where do you wan this" and I point to the garbage can. We do it with a chuckle and explain to the customer that we charge $60.00/hour which is not worth it for a $89.00 CDN machine.

Some people leave them for scrap and head for Canadian Tire to buy another one and others walk out with a new Husqvarna.

 

[Hard Knocks]

How much of this stuff finds it's way back to the shop?

Funny how that works isn't it Spike.

 

[RED-85-Z51]

I love to watch the look on a customers face when they walk in the door with one and ask "where do you wan this" and I point to the garbage can. We do it with a chuckle and explain to the customer that we charge $60.00/hour which is not worth it for a $89.00 CDN machine.

Some people leave them for scrap and head for Canadian Tire to buy another one and others walk out with a new Husqvarna.

Just like this guy's Generator.

Chinese built 63cc 2 stroke 1200 watt generator.

Backfired somehow, and blew BOTH crank seals out of their seats. Required a total teardown to get the seats back in, 2 hrs labor @ $50/hr, 100 dollars + 7.5% tax...

I gave him the estimate, and the information that he could get the exact same machine, NEW, from pepboys for 99.95 + Tax...SO he told me to keep the gen, he would get a new one, and a warranty, he appreciated my honesty. I told him I could fix it though, but he had his mind set on a new one.

So I took a couple hours this morning and put the seals back in...runs great. Freebie Generator

I cranked up the Governor from 3600 to 5000, it has more power for starting things now.

Doesnt seem to mind it, I held the throttle itself wide open for 2 minutes, it screamed bloody murder, no problems. It must have been turning 7000 revs.

 

[Lakeside53]

I love to watch the look on a customers face when they walk in the door with one and ask "where do you wan this" and I point to the garbage can. We do it with a chuckle and explain to the customer that we charge $60.00/hour which is not worth it for a $89.00 CDN machine.

Some people leave them for scrap and head for Canadian Tire to buy another one and others walk out with a new Husqvarna.

Yep.. I say (gently) "your dumpster or mine"? Usually it's "mine"...

 

[Lakeside53]

Id say 55% have push mowers

no small engine shops for at least 60 square miles.

These two parts must go together!

 

[Hard Knocks]

Just like this guy's Generator.

Chinese built 63cc 2 stroke 1200 watt generator.

Backfired somehow, and blew BOTH crank seals out of their seats. Required a total teardown to get the seats back in, 2 hrs labor @ $50/hr, 100 dollars + 7.5% tax...

I gave him the estimate, and the information that he could get the exact same machine, NEW, from pepboys for 99.95 + Tax...SO he told me to keep the gen, he would get a new one, and a warranty, he appreciated my honesty. I told him I could fix it though, but he had his mind set on a new one.

So I took a couple hours this morning and put the seals back in...runs great. Freebie Generator

I cranked up the Governor from 3600 to 5000, it has more power for starting things now.

Doesnt seem to mind it, I held the throttle itself wide open for 2 minutes, it screamed bloody murder, no problems. It must have been turning 7000 revs.

This is the problem now with the Chinese equipment on the market. Our labor is far to expensive to even touch these machines compaired to the purchase price. Not to mention the quality of the machines. The minute that you put a wrench to a customers machine you are responsible for the operation of that machine for a reasonable amount of time. If the machine is a cheep POS, who wants to be responsible for guaranteeing trouble free running.

Be careful running a generator over 3600 RPM. Your frequency at 3600RPM is 60HZ and at 5000RPM 83.3HZ. This will kill any electronic device and over speed and burn up electric motors. If you are only running resistive loads such as heaters or light bulbs it is not so bad other than it will burn out bulbs much faster.

 

[Lakeside53]

hard knocks beat me to it!

Make sure you govenor keeps it exactly at 3600rpm when under a moderate (say 300 watts in your case)

 

[RED-85-Z51]

It dives down into the low 4000's under load, my problem was at 3600 no load, when I put something moderate on it, it would dive down under its power curve and take forever ot recover.

I tried various things around the shop on it...

16 speed drill press is too much, it just makes about 1 turn, then bogs the little motor down.

Small pancake compressor is also too much...

1/4hp Drill press was barely too much under a drilling load.

Hand Drills, Circular saws, that was fine, it only has 1 120v plug in...there is a reason for that..lol

That little motor is stout though, Has a full circle crank in it, forged rod, ball bearing mains,

I like my 3hp 4 stroke Coleman pulse power more though, even though it is nearly twice the weight.

 

[Lakeside53]

Junk....


Your hand-held drills etc have UNIVERSAL motors that don't care about frequency. heck, they can work on DC at 120v. Your synchonous motors, like on your drill press and compressor (assumption) care greatly..


You need to fix the govenor...

 

[RED-85-Z51]

Compressor is a little portable model, I would have figured it would have run it.

Drill press is a big boy...1hp motor as I recall, I knew that it would have been a stretch.

My old Black and Decker 1/2" drill made it dive pretty deep, its just a big ol drill.

Governor works, I just cant find a good load to put on it, everything is either too small or too big.

 

[Lakeside53]

For a small generator, use light bulbs - 10 150 watt bulbs... switch them in one to 3 at a time and watch the rpm..

 

[jhellwig]

Yes 3600 rpm or burn up motors. Drills and other things with those style of motors will kinda care at the faster frequency but not much. Motors on everything else will care greatly. If you plugged anything electronic into it it would go poof.

1200 watts in only 10 amps worth or power. You could run your fridge off of it. A half horse motor would push it.

 

[Bill G]

If you use Ohm's law you will see why the generator will not run certain tools. The HP of a electric motor is not really a good measurement as many manuafactures do not state actual HP. Electricity is based on 4 basic measurements (I)amperage (E) Voltage (P) wattage/power, and (R) resistance/ohms. If you use ohm's law you can use 2 of the factors to find the missing one. It is a direct relationship and is easily converted. As jhellwig stated 1200 watts is a very small unit. The common hand held blow dryer is 1500 watt. That should put in into perspective.

On a side note are you still in Hudson FL?


Bill