Rigging an Electric Leaf Blower Cord, That Almost Caught on Fire and Killed Me

I want to start this instructables by thanking the EPA and our Government for ethanol. Thanks to ethanol my ten year old Echo leaf blower died. I have always thought powdered lawn equipment should have a 2-cycle motor. If it doesn’t smoke it probably doesn’t work very well. I found this Black and Decker leaf blower on the side of the road and picked it up. I plugged it in and it worked, I figured I would use it till I replaced my Echo. The part where you plug it in, was at best was stupid. The plug kept pulling out and then turning off with every step. The second time I used it the thing, it started smoking. I jerked the power cord out and saw the plug was melted.

I decided to fix what a team of engineers couldn’t get right. I took my newly melted extension cord and cut off the good end. I started taking the leaf blower apart and it had way too many screws. I don’t plan on putting that many back in. After what appeared to be two days of removing screws the case split in half.

I cut a 18inch peace off the extension cord and stripped back 3 inches of insulation. I then drilled 3/8in hole in the body of the leaf blower close to the area the plug originally went.  I inserted the cord and tied a knot so it would not pull out. I cut the terminals that were all melted and connected them to the cord I installed.

I installed just enough screws to keep the thing together. I plugged it in and it still worked. Now you can tie a loop in the cord so it won’t unplug every time you take a step. I hope this article helps if you own one of these. I may follow this article with one on “how-to throw away junk electric lawn equipment in the trash and buy good gas powdered equipment”. Please vote in the Jury-Rig contest I still have not won a contest yet.