spudulike

The aluminium needs removing with chemical - it etches it off. The remaining oxidised aluminium can be removed by using 150 wet and dry. Do not rub heavily in localised areas as it will produce cavities that will make compression drop and cause blow-by. Once this is done, heavily oil the bore and you can use a two or three legged stone hone but just go lightly and back off the spring adjustment. You wont remove all scores that are a little deep but you never will and it doesn't hurt compression too much from my experience. One did a MS260 and it looked boderline - over 1.5 years on it and very high compression. Just hone to break the surface and allow the new piston to bed in fast. I am not knocking the soft hone - it will work better on open transfers better but the earlier hone you mentioned, will work if used carefully - proof is out there!

Nice:thumbup: just depends on how the 560XP goes!

You sure you didn't launch it out of a tree:sneaky2: I know your history:lol:

I have noticed, my Niece with first class honours degree thought Worzel Gummidge tried to blow up the Houses of Parliment - think she meant Guy Fawkes:001_rolleyes:

Times have changed, back when I was job hunting, a university degree wasn't the be all and end all. Grafting long hours and putting away a dollop of cash was possible and then making sure you got best return was what it was about. Heck, back in my 20s, we had a 9% interest rate! Now you can't fry burgers without having a degree:001_rolleyes:

Thanks Chris, a pleasure and thanks for the good rep:thumbup:

That looks fine, the outside black and sooty with good colour on the electrode. If that was lean, it would be bleached white, if it was overheating it would go graphite grey with atomised alumininum coating. Relax:thumbup:

Forget cash ISAs, they are for old people as they are very low risk and with low risk, you get low returns. ISAs are great investments, they started as PEPS in Maggies day and then changed. They were a way of getting normal bods to invest in UK companies and support the home markets. They have relaxed the ISA criteria and you can now invest in a number of funds in different countries. Investing a lump in UK companies - large to mid in times of difficulty, small to mid in growing markets is a good first step. I have seen 20-30% in a year before, don't expect this every year but once in a while, typically after a few years of flat growth, the markets soar and that is where you make the money. Just google the best performing ISA - Isa fund tips: best UK growth funds - Telegraph Gives you a flavour - it is a waiting game and should be viewed as a 10 year + investment and not a dip in and out type scheme. The only issue is that we have had a couple years of fantastic growth in the UK and US stock markets, let the markets drop and then buy or do a regular drip feed...or both! Oh yes - the gains are tax free.....did I mention that:sneaky2:

Ethanol is hygroscopic, it absorbs water and this may have an effect on aluminium or aluminium based alloys. Having said that, there would need to be 10% + ethanol content to have much of an effect on the carb. Aspen doesn't contain ethanol so will not cause issues. Having said that, I have only ever changed two carbs in my time and they were on high mileage old model saws. I often think new carb fitment is a sign of a lazy tech who can't be bothered to get to the bottom of the issue and a new carb is an easy option. I will get a bit of flack for that statement but hey ho - I just save the cost of a new carb by taking out the H & L screws and getting some cleaner down them and if this doesn't sort them, a clean in the Ultrasonic cleaner - all part of a full service and isn't THAT time consuming. On saws with accelerator pumps, I fit new pumps, a little tricky but cheaper than a new carb! On a carb a year old - my gut feeling is that a clean will sort it!

You turn the adjusters clockwise (in) to LEAN the mix. If you can't turn the screw anti clockwise it will be due to the limit caps that are fitted. These caps ensure that you can't over lean or over rich the carb. If you need to turn the mix out any further, you need to find how to stop the limit caps stopping the adjustment. I can't remember how these saws limit the H screw - the MS201 needs a pin drilling and removing although you can sometimes get adjustment using a small allen key. Most later carbs have palstic limit caps that can be removed or clipped back. A 6mm hole shouldn't make too much difference TBH!

That pic looks familiar:sneaky2: The plug looks OK, perhaps a tad lean but no badly so. You could try giving the H screw a 1/8 turn counter clockwise just in case!

This is a 009 If this is large in your books - I would like to see a small saw:001_rolleyes:

It is typical of German engineering to take a basic design and make it too complicated where it will fail for a multitude of reasons. World War two, the Russians came up with the T34. it would run on anything, had an engine you could fix with one spanner and was as strong as a ton of reinforced concrete. The Germans got a bit pissed off with their shells bouncing off the T34s so captured one and set about designing it better. The Russians used their women and children to manufacture the T34 in somewhere called Tankograd and even moved the factory over a weekend when the Germans got a bit close. The Germans came up with the Tiger Tank. Vastly superior but the issue was that they were much slower to manufacture and very unreliable due to their complexity...sound familiar???

Ask Gardenkit, he is a dealer for their machines and will give you and honest unbiased view on Mitox!

They seem to go a bit better than most, no idea why:sneaky2:

Going from a 40cc homeowner saw to a 70cc pro aw would be a big weight increase. You will find a 50-60cc pro saw will have a huge increase in power and cut speed on a 15-18" bar and be more manageable. Personally I rarely use anything over 60cc for my firewood and that is anything up to 2' diameter!

Got one myself, nice little saw:thumbup:o

If you go through my "what's on your bench" thread, you will find many a discussion on salvaging cylinders and the best pistons to use. I always try to save the cylinder and have around a 98% success rate. The piston is best to be Meteor as they have near OEM manufacturing with Caber rings as used by many OEM engine manufacturers. Make sure the piston goes in the right way round, the arrow on the piston crown points toward the exhaust port. The bore can be lightly honed and it helps break the glaze and beds the piston on faster. Don't go too mad as you will wear the plating off the bore and font use a hone to take the transfer off, use chemicals such as acid of strong alkaline solution.

I think the 135 is a bit of a step down from a MS250, I think a 445 or similar would be a better option.

I don't knock the sentiment but we aren't talking about starting up a business but we are talking about taking the earnings from that business or line of work and maximising the growth on those earnings. Most guys on here will work hard for their money and we are talking about the best way they can take spare cash and make it grow in to something worthwhile. There are many ways to invest - houses, shares, antiques, classic cars, wine.........just depends what floats your boat and what sort of growth you want from your investment. Shares in funds are actually a share in the companies the fund has invested in. If those companies do well and increase in value, so do your shares, if the company issues dividends - rewards for investing in the company, the dividend pays for more shares so you then get an increase in the value of the share and a greater number of shares. I find that not too many people have any sort of understanding of investment - I am no expert but know that sensible investment works! By the way - I am not having a go, just putting my point of view across and hope it may help!

From a techies point of view. 1) The screw in type can break their thumb tabs although it isn't too often. The type where you use a slot head screw driver can wear through or wear the slot in the cap. The O rings can start to leak and have had one or two of the larger ones where the threads have worn and the cap is almost impossible to undo. 2) Flippy caps - generally good but can leak but a new O ring and clean up usually cures this. They have a clutch type mechanism where the cap initially locks in to place and then compresses the O ring so it squeezes against the fuel hole. The main issue here is that if the clutch mechanism slips, the cap top doesn't rotate to the position the flippy bit doesn't lock down and THAT is a pain in the posterior. I have had to ease the tank and cap to get this to work properly - usually on MS200Ts! What do I like the best - Flippy caps I guess although they get more crap in them and more chance of chip to fall in the tank but they ARE a tooless solution where the Husky screw style ones can be hard to remove easily.

The hardest part is pulling a decent initial investment together and then having the discipline to keep adding to it regularly and having the balls to leave it where it is when the markets plunge!

It may be possible to push a pin in to both bits of HT wire and then use heat shrink around the join. You can get some that glues as well as shrinks or use a smear of superglue or some other glue that will bond plastics/rubber. Test it by sticking your tongue on it:sneaky2: Nooooo don't, it will kill you - a damp finger perhaps when running but it will damn well hurt if it is leaking - you could slide a length of large fuel line over the repair after applying superglue to the area to join. that would probably be my favourite method!

One of the saws up for repair over the weekend - a trusty Husqvarna 394XP that had seized slightly - I say slightly as it had enough compression to stop me pulling it over fast enough for a decent compression check. The bore has been cleaned of Aluminium transfer, lightly honed and the exhaust port cleaned of carbon and the bevel enhanced - don't want the rings catching. New Meteor piston fitted....what else:thumbup: Pressure and vac tests - failed with a huge leak. Checked the decomp valve, lapped it in with grinding paste but that was fine, crank seal on the clutch side was OK - sometimes smaller leaks can get masked by the larger one so will retest after I have replaced.....THE MANIFOLD - it was cracked and almost impossible to see unless against the light or with pressure behind it and bubbly fluid all over it - that is why I do these tests - to STOP failure of the new parts!!! The clutch was also shagged with the drum and clutch shoes destroyed. THis saw has been used for milling and its drivetrain shows that:thumbdown: Genuine parts on order, aftermarket option offered but we decided that it may be a rash decision - a larger bill than I had expected but all cleared prior to purchase and repair - just the way I work and will be a good saw once done.

They say a good investment fund will double over five years so: - invest £10K Year 5 - £20K Year 10 - £40K Year 15 - £80K Year 20 - £160K Year 25 - £320K Year 30 - £640K Year 35 - £1,280,000 You can't take ANY fund and expect it to grow, you can't take ANY house and expect it to perform like London or the Home Counties. A bit of luck is needed, you really need to invest as young as possible and that isn't always easy. All investment needs a strong stomach to stick out the rough with the smooth and reinvestment of gains is a must for best performance. I read an article about a guy that made a million pounds from investing in PEPs/ISAs by putting the maximum amount in each year, I forget what the maths were but the end result was far in excess of what you thought could be possible from the sum of investment. Read this for info He's made £1m from investment Isas ? and, he says, you can too | Money | The Guardian An interesting thread:thumbup: They should teach this stuff at school!