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CORE cordless power tools space age motor design


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Has anyone used any of the CORE based OPE? The company that developed the motor technology is from Montana. They were acquired by MTD who has released an impressive looking line of cordless OPE for their Troy Bilt and Cub Cadet brands.


Check the video below.
 

 

The mower looks crazy cool..
 

 

 

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1 hour ago, DR99 said:

That is an interesting motor and hope Ego never sees this video Barnaby does marketing for them now :) Addendum that is a nice looking promo lady

 

Who knows? That video might have landed him the Ego job, lol. I liked his reviews with the ToolSelect channel though. He appears to be a natural at what he does.

 

I'd bet they didn't have a problem drawing a crowd to the booth that day. The back of the shirt is clever too.

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4 hours ago, kornomaniac said:

Interesting motor design. Need to look into this :)

 

Yep. Pretty incredible that they can get 7000 RPM out of such a compact motor design. Really cool innovation. I'm anxious to get mine in house and try it out.

 

They claim this motor produces 25% more torque than a 25cc 2 stroke engine!

 

I had read a bit about the CORE technology before - it stands for Conductor Optimized Rotary Energy. Something about opposable magnets separated by a printed circular circuit board leveraging the lorentz force right hand rule. Beyond my brain how such a seemingly simple system can generate so much power.

 

However, I suppose due to the fact that the company is so small and has no marketing budget when compared to the major players in the cordless OPE market, their stuff doesn't get reviewed much or show up in many discussions of the leading products in this category, so I left it at that - a really cool motor design.

 

When I saw their OPE line come up on the Woot sale, for half price of what they cost on Amazon, it became pretty much a no brainer decision to give it a shot.

 

I still need a brush cutter solution, but I may be able to get my old Ryobi 31cc running just for that for now. I'm hoping that Ego finally brings their handlebar brushcutter/trimmer to the US market soon - or at least a brushcutter head option for their 15" brushless string trimmer. That would be my choice due to their superior battery technology and speed charging system and general affordability.

 

But who knows, if the CORE trimmer lives up to what I'm seeing in demos, I may just not need another trimmer for a while. And I can finally tame the beast that is my back yard.

 

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One of the local Lowes stores just got their first shipment of the Troy-Bilt TB4200 "Powered By Core" 40v string trimmers in stock and I stopped by today to have a closer look. I took some pics if anyone is interested in seeing a bit more of this motor design.

 

First pic shows the TB4200 alongside a DeWalt 40v and a Kobalt 80v unit. These Kobalt units kinda seem like odd ducks to me for some reason. The Kobalt 80v unit scored dead last out of 11 cordless string trimmers in the ProTool Reviews "Best Battery Powered String Trimmer Roundup > http://www.protoolreviews.com/tools/outdoor-equipment/best-battery-powered-string-trimmer-shootout/21505/

 

First pic below, the Troy-Bilt TB4200 40v is in the center. Note the length is comparable to the DeWalt 40v which is about an inch longer.

 

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From the pic above, you can see the red line cartridge head on the TB4200 is really large. The top half is just a spacer ring that covers the gap between the motor and the cartridge (I'm guessing to prevent weed wrap that would occur if the gap was not covered).

 

In the pics below, I've removed the cartridge and the spacer...

 

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The pic below shows the spacer cartridge. This is the part that attaches to the motor shaft. The motor shaft has a notched section that this fits onto that allows it to spin without touching the motor mount plate.


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This pic shows the other side of the cartridge spacer. The little washer goes between the plastic and the shaft. It doesn't appear to fit very well and is warped.


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The pic below shows the line cartridge itself. It holds about 20 feet of .095 trimmer line.


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Closeup of the cartridge screw hole


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Some observations I made while checking out the TB4200...

 

Its pretty heavy. About the heaviest machine there, gas or electric. I think its specified at 14.6 pounds with battery and it definitely feels it. In comparison, a nearby display unit Husqvarna 322l 2 cycle felt like a feather.

 

The power head cuts in a counter-clockwise direction as one might expect from a higher end straight shaft trimmer. Oddly, the Ego units spin clockwise. Not sure what that's about.

 

Despite the weight, the trimmer does feel balanced, but you would definitely need a strap or harness for extended use. Its a beast. The handle is not quick release. There is a single bolt that connects it to the shaft. I'd prefer to see more quick release handles for when multiple people are working. For example, my son and I both share our trimmer and we have different settings we prefer. A quick release, similar to the 15" Ego brushless units that are sold outside the US would be ideal.

 

The electronics look pretty cool. It has a high/lo speed indicator and a battery status indicator on the trigger handle and there's also a multi-stage power meter LED indicator on the back of the battery. Everything looks polished and futuristic. They just need to find a way to get the weight down. It will be interesting to see the unit in actual field use. Maybe we'll start seeing demos soon.

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2 hours ago, Scott B said:

One of the local Lowes stores just got their first shipment of the Troy-Bilt TB4200 "Powered By Core" 40v string trimmers in stock and I stopped by today to have a closer look. I took some pics if anyone is interested in seeing a bit more of this motor design.

 

First pic shows the TB4200 alongside a DeWalt 40v and a Kobalt 80v unit. These Kobalt units kinda seem like odd ducks to me for some reason. The Kobalt 80v unit scored dead last out of 11 cordless string trimmers in the ProTool Reviews "Best Battery Powered String Trimmer Roundup > http://www.protoolreviews.com/tools/outdoor-equipment/best-battery-powered-string-trimmer-shootout/21505/

 

First pic below, the Troy-Bilt TB4200 40v is in the center. Note the length is comparable to the DeWalt 40v which is about an inch longer.

 

 

 

This pic shows the other side of the cartridge spacer. The little washer goes between the plastic and the shaft. It doesn't appear to fit very well and is warped.


13509120_1128931160503074_79524201293668

 

The pic below shows the line cartridge itself. It holds about 20 feet of .095 trimmer line.


 

 

Closeup of the cartridge screw hole


 

Very interesting, thanks for taking the time to do a little digging and hands on investigation. I have a TroyBuilt 4 stroke string trimmer that makes my hands tingle when I'm through trimming the cemetery I maintain... don't think that's a good sign

..

As far as that "warped" washer... it's supposed to be like that, it give a little tension on either side of the two items it is sandwiched between. 

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That makes more sense now. As I recall now, the bumps in the washer were nearly perfectly symmetrical. Its interesting to see the differences between this trimmer and the one I just received that it was spawned from (the CorePower PowerLok 18v version). I'm about to post some pics of my unboxing and some closeups of the motor and head design. Definitely looks similar but minor differences in favor of the TroyBilt over the original.

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