The first thing to say is that you don't buy a spool with line on it. Oh no, Ryobi have engineered a great gardening game to play, called, "Wind your own line". You will have to prepare yourself with a reel of strimmer line, available at a garden centre near you, for about £3.99. You can get different thicknesses of line. 2.5mm is the equivalent of a steel hawser and you'll have even more fun winding it, believe me :-) The thinner the line, the easier it is to wind, slightly. Since you have to wind your own line, it's probably best to start with the thickest you'll need and work downwards. Disconect the lower half of the strimmer so you can hold it without having a petrol tank sloshing around with every move you make ;-)
The reel is held on by a red plastic ring. This ring has a screw rattling around inside it. It's a left hand thread, so to un-do it you have to hold the spindle or reel steady and then turn the red ring clockwise. It'll start getting loose and suddenly the spool cover will ping off, because there's a spring mounted between it and the spool it covers. It's possible to hold the spool and cover together and lifting them off the centre spindle as one unit, so if the cover hasn't pinged off yet, do go for the second method.
Lift the spool and cover off the spindle and allow the spring to fully extend, take the cover off. The spool you wind the line onto is actually 2 separate spools 'glued' together. Both sub-spools have a hole drilled into the hub, this is where you push the free end of the strimmer line in.
The idea is, you push the end of the line into one of these holes to anchor it. Then you can start winding the line on. The direction that the line must be wound in, is marked on top of the spool. The line in both spools is wound in the same direction.
You can get this done in the shop, so I'm told. It cost about £4 in Ling's to have the spool wound. I haven't gone for this option yet, but I've come close to it, after the 46th failed attempt to get the strimmer line sorted :-)
If you look at the spool's cover, you'll see two brass eyed holes, opposite each other. When this cover is over the spool, the top spool feeds line out through one of these brass eyed holes, and the bottom spool feeds line out of the other. I don't know if it matters which is which.
To be honest the entire operation is a pain and I wish I'd gone for a different design. I've had endless problems with the line feed mechanism not working, and the overheads in either time or money attached to the 'winding by hand' model, well, yes, shudda gone to spec-savers.
If anyone can tell me exactly how tight the red ring is supposed to be, for normal useage, I'd be much obliged. Too tight and the line won't feed. Too loose and the whole lot can ping off.
whisperycat
May 2009
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