How Does
How Does an Electric Hair Clipper Work?
Motorized Scissors
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Electric hair clippers are hand-held tools that feature blades similar to scissors in the fact that they slide across other blades in order to cut hair, only it happens faster thanks to the machine being motorized. Beard trimmers function in the same way except they are much smaller, with more precise cutting edges. The power is provided in one of two ways: either by household current or by battery.
Motor and Cutting Blades
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The motor moves the cutting blade from side to side across the stationary blade creating the perfect cross-movement pattern to cut hair efficiently. This is accomplished using a tiny piston-like device within the motor that causes the blades to move not only from side to side but also slightly up and down. This helps the clipper to cut even the toughest hair without pulling on the hair shaft.
Self-Sharpening Blades
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The cutting blades, by design, should always remain sharp, due to the fact that they continuously scrape across each other; metal sharpens metal. Of course, clippers do need to be cleaned regularly in order to keep hair clippings and dust out of the mechanisms so they don't get gummed up. With proper maintenance, electric hair clippers should last a very long time and work well without sharpening.
eHow Article: How Does an Electric Hair Clipper Work?
