So, who hasn't done a Tim Taylor and modified a power tool not quite according to Hoyle.

So, i've got property with lots of Blackberry bushes. I bought a new Echo straight shaft trimmer last fall. I found a trimmer head, which I think was actually for one of those walk behind brush cutters, that will accept .155 trimmer string, not that wimpy .080 stuff. This bad boy can plow through 1" or better vines like they are not even there and the good thing is the string lasts for a long time before it breaks. It's easy to change as all you do is cut 12" lengths and the just push it into the trimmer head and it locks in place. Only drawback is this thing would probably now severe limbs as well. I cut some low hanging branches of a wild cherry tree today and wound up getting sprayed big time from the cherries!

I wonder if i've voided my warranty?

Awesome!
"I wonder if i've voided my warranty?"

Who cares!? If it breaks,you can fix it yourself,right? ;)

There's a secondary market for limbs, so even though your warranty is void, you still "get your money back".

Heh... voided big time. Like Monkeyboy says, who cares? There are ALWAYS user serviceable parts inside. ALWAYS.

That's a damn cool mod! That .155 is serious stuff! A hit on the leg with the .08 and denim is likely to result in a laceration that's painful, but something you will get over.

I would put the .155 solidly into danger territory!

For perspective, my favorite yard tool since I was a kid (and I should have NEVER had the thing then), is a really great, hardened steel machete!

A good swing will cut through 2" trees in one stroke! Arms and legs would be no contest. Used it for years, and used to have cutting contests as a kid, just to see what the biggest possible single cut was.

The blade was mild steel, but not all that hardened. Metals class in HS changed that! Turns out, it was a decent alloy and was receptive to some edge hardening.

Spent the better part of a week with light cutting oil, some cloth to soak it and the filings up, filing that edge to a very sharp and well tapered edge while watching KPTV.

The first cut was just golden! Made the work totally worth it. Went and cut a bunch of stuff, just because that blade would really cut! It was shaped with a fat portion on the far end, for a good weight balance too.

Not exactly a power tool, but probably my favorite mod. And every bit as dangerous as the thick trimmer cord, you've got, if not more!

A variation on your mod is to remove the front part of the head shield that has the cutter blade that limits the radius of the cord. When doing light grass, a larger radii, combined with careful selection of the center of gravity on the thing can cut job time in half. Did that a few years ago, when I had to maintain some ditches...

Worked great, but I did wear two pair of jeans! Ended up needing them a time or two as well. Ouch!

On that same property, we had a commercial mower, with a gear down between the blade and the engine. It was belt driven. We modified that for a much higher blade speed, and had to balance it, or vibration was outta control.

The body was thick cast alum, so we went with the higher speed, just making sure there were no people around when using that thing. Effective mow speed was nearly doubled and with a consistent cut.

All that one took was a different set of pulleys and belt.

BTW: Love the lock-grip heads. I don't think there is anything better. Just carry extras in your pocket, and it's just dead simple to put two cutting cords on instead of the usual one that most people end up doing because it's too much hassle to wind it for the two.

(and it does not work half the time anyway)

If I still had that kind of work to do, I would totally do that mod.

I'm sort of chuckling at weedeater mods because I own a Kubota with a Bush Hog! I just drive backwards with the Bush Hog all the way down on the ground, over everything and anything, including the occasional rock. After a few years of this, my property is golf course smooth.

Ya, I gots me a 48" Woods hog myself with the clutch pack mod instead of those darn shear pins that break when you mow over a thick clump of grass! It's not that great for the hard to get at areas like the fence line and along my drive.