What's on your bench today?

[KWarb17]

You should see the pile of empty dettol bottles, let alone her face when she saw the empty shelves in the kitchen....Clean saw though🤷‍♂️😆

[Darkslider]

Another mildly interesting find on my project CS-350TES: took the recoil starter off to give it a clean inside and found the black earth lead from the coil broken, about 60mm of wire missing. News to me as the saw started, runs and stops ok without it, which begs the question what does it do or is there some redundancy built in as it's a kill switch system? 🤔

Edited February 6, 2021 by Darkslider

[Darkslider]

14 hours ago, Darkslider said:

Another mildly interesting find on my project CS-350TES: took the recoil starter off to give it a clean inside and found the black earth lead from the coil broken, about 30mm of wire missing. News to me as the saw started, runs and stops ok without it, which begs the question what does it do or is there some redundancy built in as it's a kill switch system? 🤔

A Google search turns up:

 

'It is there to ensure that the coil and engine/sparkplug have the same ground reference value.

Plastic saw frames need this

 

It will find the ground thru the other wire but a short direct route is the best way'

 

If anyone else is interested. Going to remake the connection anyhow.

 

[spudulike]

That's what I like, solving your own issues...all good, it is the earth😉

[Darkslider]

3 hours ago, spudulike said:

That's what I like, solving your own issues...all good, it is the earth😉

Also an example of why taking them apart to clean them periodically is worthwhile, the screw holding the other remaining earth lead terminal was loose by a few turns as well, I'm guessing I'd have had running/switching issues if I'd left it much longer.

[Darkslider]

Bits arrived for the elderly eBay Echo so got it back together.

 

Original fault was a bash to the exhaust which opened up the casing on the sprocket side, this melted various plastic covers, meaning the chain tension adjuster and the brake band gradually fell out and broke up. By the state of it the saw was used in anger right up till the last minute before it was chucked on eBay 😅 found a few other things to fix on it while I was poking round but seems to be running well and working now, though after a parts bill of nearly £100 I'm pretty sure I'm in negative equity with it now 🙄

 

Single sided chain brake handle is quite flexy too, needs to be pulled close to the pivot to lock otherwise the handle just bends and doesn't do anything. Not sure if this is just how they are but I'm not spending any more money on it so I'll have to get used to it!

 

 

[Darkslider]

On 20/02/2021 at 19:41, Darkslider said:

Bits arrived for the elderly eBay Echo so got it back together.

 

Original fault was a bash to the exhaust which opened up the casing on the sprocket side, this melted various plastic covers, meaning the chain tension adjuster and the brake band gradually fell out and broke up. By the state of it the saw was used in anger right up till the last minute before it was chucked on eBay 😅 found a few other things to fix on it while I was poking round but seems to be running well and working now, though after a parts bill of nearly £100 I'm pretty sure I'm in negative equity with it now 🙄

 

Single sided chain brake handle is quite flexy too, needs to be pulled close to the pivot to lock otherwise the handle just bends and doesn't do anything. Not sure if this is just how they are but I'm not spending any more money on it so I'll have to get used to it!

 

 

Bumping this as I did half an hour on the log pile today, and I can't get on with the chain brake its far too stiff to release. You need to operate it right next to the pivot and put loads of effort in, or hook your fingers underneath the handle and lift it up and back. If you just try to operate it like any other saw the handle flexes and contacts the top handle before overcoming the spring pressure.

 

Everything definitely assembled 100% correctly as per the diagram, and the excessive force is only needed to overcome the spring there's no other binding or resistance anywhere.

 

I experimented by removing the small nylon spacer (circled blue on the pic, no. 54 on the parts diag.) and it feels perfect with it out, the brake clicks on and off nicely with similar effort levels to other saws I'm used to, and the spring still has enough power to stop the chain at full throttle no probs.

 

Only problem is I've now got metal on metal contact between the spring seat and the brake band which I'm not happy about. Any ideas what to do about this? The spacer is a full 5mm thick so should I try and shave it down a bit? Or should I try replacing the spring in case it's been replaced with one the right dimensions but too heavy? The chain brake assembly was all in bits when I got it so this could be possible.

 

There's no way these saws are meant to have a chain brake so stiff, nobody would have bought them if so! It'd be nearly impossible to use up a tree that's for sure.

 

Any ideas what's happened or best way to sort would be appreciated, never hurts to get multiple opinions when tinkering with safety systems IMO 👍

 

 

[Stubby]

3 hours ago, Darkslider said:

Bumping this as I did half an hour on the log pile today, and I can't get on with the chain brake its far too stiff to release. You need to operate it right next to the pivot and put loads of effort in, or hook your fingers underneath the handle and lift it up and back. If you just try to operate it like any other saw the handle flexes and contacts the top handle before overcoming the spring pressure.

 

Everything definitely assembled 100% correctly as per the diagram, and the excessive force is only needed to overcome the spring there's no other binding or resistance anywhere.

 

I experimented by removing the small nylon spacer (circled blue on the pic, no. 54 on the parts diag.) and it feels perfect with it out, the brake clicks on and off nicely with similar effort levels to other saws I'm used to, and the spring still has enough power to stop the chain at full throttle no probs.

 

Only problem is I've now got metal on metal contact between the spring seat and the brake band which I'm not happy about. Any ideas what to do about this? The spacer is a full 5mm thick so should I try and shave it down a bit? Or should I try replacing the spring in case it's been replaced with one the right dimensions but too heavy? The chain brake assembly was all in bits when I got it so this could be possible.

 

There's no way these saws are meant to have a chain brake so stiff, nobody would have bought them if so! It'd be nearly impossible to use up a tree that's for sure.

 

Any ideas what's happened or best way to sort would be appreciated, never hurts to get multiple opinions when tinkering with safety systems IMO 👍

 

 

I never have this problem with any saws that I have as I never use the chain brake . 🙂

[tree_beard]

I'd probably grind a coil off the end of the tension spring and go from there... I'd definitely want to leave a few mill of nylon between the two springs

[spudulike]

The saw has been designed as it is so you must be missing something and wouldn't recommend grinding springs etc. There is a bloke on this site by the name of "Echo". Not sure if it is bravado or he actually works for the company. Perhaps he can assist.

Other than that, you need to compare another machine that works with yours and look for differences. I don't get enough in to know but I can say that the manufacturer didn't make it that way. 

Was the spring the correct one? If it was to long in its compressed state, that would do it.....I know grinding off.......it is a safety device....get it wrong and the 2 mins of bleed out up a tree don't sound good!