From Gasoline and AC Cords to DC Battery Power

-


 In grade school, I helped my grandmother mow her small yard in Galesburg, IL. She had a corded electric reel lawn mower, a brilliant piece of kit. Quiet, simple to operate, and cut the grass very neatly. The rest of the lawn work was done by hand, trimming, edging, etc.

Now that I am a grandfather, I want a different kind of simplicity and help from my outdoor power tools. For decades I have been using gasoline-powered lawnmowers. I have used corded string trimmers, hedge trimmers, and leaf blowers. A few years ago, I got a Stihl gas blower, and chain saw. I also purchased a battery-powered string trimmer. I have been roto-tilling my garden with a 50-year-old gas tiller that needs a new engine and using a hand-me-down AC-powered cultivator.

This system requires keeping two kinds of gasoline, two types of oil, multiple extension cords, and battery chargers. It is too much!

Over the last few weeks, I have been burning up my Internet bandwidth by studying outdoor power equipment. I have read quite a few good stories and some bad ones. I have been watching the changing corporate winds and some ensuing drama. I have skimmed many reviews. Bad individual reviews, some with an ax to grind and some with another sweepstake to enter! The professional reviews seem to follow a different pattern of click-bait, forced brevity, and ad-infused noise! I have a growing dissatisfaction with consumer review sites and organizations that seem to paint a gloss over everything and try to create a magic numeric table of goodness. I do not think you can see behind the curtain!

Here is the plan...

I maintain two average suburban yards next to mine and my in-laws. I am converting my summer lawn and garden routine to all battery power. I picked a horse to ride on, and that is Ryobi. I choose what I am calling #LifeOn40Volts. Over the next few months, I will report how the Ryobi gear holds up and works for me. I will tell the story as it happens. The first episodes are under construction as I write this.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Engraving Slate using the xTool D1 10w Laser

-
Image
 I used one slate to run two different power tests on a test tile.  One on each side.   From a tile burn Grid This one really helped me understand the range of marks we can make on a slate.  The following is the grid out of LightBurn and it was not as much help: There is quite a range of marking you can do.  I feel that it will allow some interesting effects.  I only needed one "tone for the project I am doing."   I did one test slate at 2000mm/min and 40% power for my 10W laser.  The design did not look right, so I changed the design slightly, and here is the finished project. Finished Slate Coaster Added Logo on the bottom I changed the speed to 1800mm/min and 40% power for the final project.  It slightly deepened the engrave.  The slate's top took about 16 minutes, and the bottom logo took 2 minutes. The setup is straightforward.  In Lightburn, I created two concentric square boxes on one layer that I do not burn.  These are for reference and alignment.  One is at 100m
Read more

Introducing the First Fourth Generation LED Laser Engraver: Roly Automation Lasermatic10

-
Image
What constitutes a Fourth Generation machine? Everything is included in the box! Industrial mechanical construction with little or no assembly required.   Improved safety with a full enclosure that does not let the raw laser light out.  Full cable management. Maintain  the small spot size for more precision Interior lighting to help with setup and observing the system in operation. Built-in camera for use with Lightburn. Exhaust fan built into the machine  Rotary system included Well-documented setup and operating instruction in the native language of the country being delivered to. Technical support directly from the manufacturer. Additional Thoughts There may need to be more than the small exhaust fans in these machines to overcome the stack effect in a house when trying to exhaust from a basement location. A powered Z-axis system for autofocus would be interesting. A little air from a variable air assist keeps the laser lens clean when engraving.  I manually manage the engraving and
Read more

ProverXL 4030 in the Garage!

-
Image
 I am planning to use the CNC to carve a lot of MDF.  The dust in the basement shop was too hard to control, so I built a workbench and put it on a machine cart to move it where I want in the garage. Here is an overview video:
Read more