Weed eaters have long been one of those essential tools that I hate. Most of the time you can't get them started and if you finally succeed at that you have to stop them to fix the broken string on the head.
After years of struggling with these machines I bit the bullet and bought a highly recommended Stihl straight shaft trimmer. From the moment I started using it I had trouble with the string feeder. I took it back to the local Taylor's store and they messed with it, but told me they don't take back Stihl equipment, I would have to send it off for warranty work which would take six weeks or something like that. Considering the unit started every time and it was the middle of summer, I declined. Taylor's offered to sell me a new string feeder for half price that they said was easier to use and replace the string on. Having no better option I accepted the compromise.
I continued to have problems with the string breaking inside the head, but the summer ended and I forgot about it. Well I fired up the thing yesterday for the first time this year and the string broke inside the head so many times that I quit using it. Not sure where to go from here. I have used the string heads with nylon blades but wasn't really fond of them. I also used the kind that you use precut string and those wear down pretty quickly.
Does anyone have experience with an aftermarket string head replacement that works well. Maybe you have suggestions on how to make the one I have work properly. You're supposed to be able to push two ends of string into properly aligned holes on the side of the rotating head where it is grabbed onto by an inner hole. Then you turn the bump mechanism by hand and it coils the string inside the head. I think the string is coiling in a way that prevents it from feeding freely through the hole when you bump the head.