What's on your bench today?

[pleasant]

I also had a Makita in, the customer had just fitted a new chain but it would not go round. Bet you all think 'yeh, chain break on, duh!' but this time it was not.

 

The operator had for some reason carried on screwing the bar adjuster screw in, even after tightening the bar nuts. This forced the screw to break out of its retaining lugs and tap its way through the end of the slot to end up tight against the drum.

 

Forgot to picture the repair, but it was made by inserting a B&S flywheel key in the casing to replace the broken plastic lug which sits in the groove of the screw, looks like a good'un and loads cheaper than half a saw body.

 

Sounds like you did the owner a favour by repairing it. I would just mention thought, that a repair like that which involves "modifying" from the original spec of something as potentially dangerous as a chainsaw (and the adjuster) may compromise your liability insurance should it fail and cause injury.

 

One of my competitors had a situation a few years ago whereby they repaired a machine by "repairing it in a non original way to save the saw" and it failed causing albeit a minor injury. The HSE inspected the saw and noticed this "modification" and the operator said who it had been done by and my competitor ended up with a court case and hefty fine.

 

Because of this we don't waver from modifying (bodging or whatever else you want to call it) anything to cover our backsides. In your example with the adjuster we would have reported to the customer what had happened and quoted him for a repair using a new crankcase half so it was as original when finished. Expensive, but at least we know we are in the clear should something happen in the future.

[GardenKit]

Sounds like you did the owner a favour by repairing it. I would just mention thought, that a repair like that which involves "modifying" from the original spec of something as potentially dangerous as a chainsaw (and the adjuster) may compromise your liability insurance should it fail and cause injury.

 

One of my competitors had a situation a few years ago whereby they repaired a machine by "repairing it in a non original way to save the saw" and it failed causing albeit a minor injury. The HSE inspected the saw and noticed this "modification" and the operator said who it had been done by and my competitor ended up with a court case and hefty fine.

 

Because of this we don't waver from modifying (bodging or whatever else you want to call it) anything to cover our backsides. In your example with the adjuster we would have reported to the customer what had happened and quoted him for a repair using a new crankcase half so it was as original when finished. Expensive, but at least we know we are in the clear should something happen in the future.

Lets just hope my aluminium key is tougher than the crappy plastic lug that was there before then. The world has gone mad.

 

I know exactly what you are saying, and do follow the same principles 90% of the time, but I do make exceptions from time to time when absolutely confident of my engineering skills. To adhere totally to your ideals would result in lost business and lost customers for no good reason.

 

Can you be sure that your re-lined Hayter BBC is adequate for the purpose? would it be better to keep it original and only fit genuine new?

Edited March 24, 2012 by GardenKit

[Rich2484]

Took the Landy head off today, no gasket left between cylinders burnt out. Also got a crack in head and block, same place on both. Joy what a good day.

[pleasant]

Lets just hope my aluminium key is tougher than the crappy plastic lug that was there before then. The world has gone mad.

 

I know exactly what you are saying, and do follow the same principles 90% of the time, but I do make exceptions from time to time when absolutely confident of my engineering skills. To adhere totally to your ideals would result in lost business and lost customers for no good reason.

 

Can you be sure that your re-lined Hayter BBC is adequate for the purpose? would it be better to keep it original and only fit genuine new?

 

To be honest anything associated with my name above the door is strictly adhered to in terms of quality of repair and traceability and accountability. Yes- I would prefer to lose some jobs if the customer doesn't want to pay to have the job done properly (not saying you don't do a job properly, but you know what I mean) by replacing rather than attempting some sort of ad-hoc repair. If I fit a new part in keeping with the manufacturers recommendations and it fails and causes injury I then have a paper trail of accountability and someone else to blame.

[pleasant]

...and I don't sell second-hand machines for similar reasons. So my nicely repaired Harrier BBC will be sold at auction, so no worries there.

[pleasant]

Busy day so far today.

 

Sun out and nice and warm, so the weekend warriors are out in force!

 

So far today 42 pairs of shears for sharpening, 15 chains for sharpening. 22 mowers for full service and 13 to get going (just stale fuel, so a charge of £40 each to flush through)

 

17 new mowers sold and ready to be PdI'd when the workshop opens on Monday.

 

Three week turnaround now for service/repair work.

 

Sadly it also brings out its fair share of idiots. Heaving showroom and everyone running around like headless chickens. Bloke comes in and plonks a well used Honda blade down and asks whether we can sharpen or supply a new one. Said I would have to order a new one but could arrange for it to sharpened. "that's great, can you do it while I wait" yeah- right, like I'm doing nothing else on the busiest day of the year so far and I'm just waiting for something to do! Told him if he was prepared to wait 7 days then tha'ts fine otherwise leave it with me and I would call him next week.

Edited March 24, 2012 by pleasant

[JAMIE1]

8 week turnaround on service and 6 weeks in the grinding shop, why peolpe leave it so late is beyond me, 4 lads doing nothing but service mowers 9 hours a day solid. Two weeks ago we were struggling for things to do.

[geoff]

Picked up my 200t from Spud after he modded it gently for me,I could do with giving the chain a brush over with the file,but it deffo holds its revs better in the cut,heres a short vid,the first saw is my standard 200 (with a new chain),the second the ported one.

The vid does not do it justice,its got more go in the mid range for sure.

 

Thanks Spud:thumbup1:

 

 

MVI_0001 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[spudulike]

Picked up my 200t from Spud after he modded it gently for me,I could do with giving the chain a brush over with the file,but it deffo holds its revs better in the cut,heres a short vid,the first saw is my standard 200 (with a new chain),the second the ported one.

The vid does not do it justice,its got more go in the mid range for sure.

 

Thanks Spud:thumbup1:

 

 

MVI_0001 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

Glad you are happy, I think if you hit something like 10" oak, you will really see some big differences in the two saws, the ported & muffler modded one will pull stronger in big cuts when the standard saws will slow or bog. Sounds pretty good now:thumbup:

 

Thanks for the good rep and let me know how it goes after a few weeks of running

[Chris Sheppard]

Got my old Husky 181 put back together this afternoon and it runs - not ran it for long but sounds pretty good so far.

 

Next on the list is a 42 special I bought cheap off ebay - supposedly a good runner but his idea and mine obviously differ

 

Didn't pay a lot for it so kept it anyway. whipped barrel off - not good, but think I might have found the cause How someone managed to not realise they only half had the gasket in place I'll never know.

 

Bottom end feels pretty gritty too - will get rest of it to bits at some point and see if crank is OK.