spudulike

Pulling the flywheel is the easy bit, just lock the piston with a stop, spin off the flywheel nut off anti clockwise. Screw in the puller in to the flywheel with the bolt screwed out a bit and when fully in, screw in the bolt and do it up until the flywheel pops off.

And that is the critical WOT test during a service and perhaps once in a while as a safety test. I test the brake as that is what any good tech would do and even more important on the ported kit. I guess the H&S guys want it done daily but is probably overkill! Holding the revs below typical "in the wood" speed will keep it out of the power-band so will give you a softer test than flat out and bang!

I don't see what the issue is, if the saw is at idle then the brake merely holds the clutch drum in place - bit like putting your car brakes on at standstill:confused1: Sure, the snap action will cause some slight wear but better to do that than take a slip, grab the throttle and bingo, hospital food:thumbdown: I am like Peaff - home firewood but do pull wood out of ditches and the like so if I am positioning myself on uneven ground before I take a cut, the chain brake is on - I am usually by myself so even more important to stay safe!

In manufacturing if a machine is missing its safety guard, an employee is well within their rights to refuse to use it. A forklift driver is also well within their rights to use equipment that their training deems dangerous. Not sure how this one stands but would suspect the decision lays with the experienced climber having the final decision and if there were no politics going on, would expect a court would side with the climbers final decision!

If you can make it out of Dorset, you are always welcome Jon:thumbup: May even get the wife to make you a cuppa:lol:

Because they are fiddly little feckers at the best of times and most struggle with any sort of maintenance:001_rolleyes:

First of all you need to understand your market. How many Arbs will actually go out and buy a top handled saw and how many will buy YOUR one. You need to look at the cost of the saw, how much people are currently paying and which part of the market you aim to hit - probably top end Pro!That is your "Target Price"! However good your saw is, people do have some sort of loyalty to manufacturers that have been around for years! You are competing with the two big chainsaw/Garden equipment companies and also the likes of Dolmar/Makite/Echo and all those cheap Chinese saws. Safety certification, CE marking, materials certification (has to come from countries, suppliers and materials mined in an ethical manner) etc will be a major problem - these test houses charge £££ to test a bit of kit and if it fails....you can do it all over again for £££££ The other companies have a range of kit they offer out, some will make greater margin and will support the company to produce other products needed by the customers but are less economically viable. Then there is the question of spares and agents - most guys will need to be able to get spares easily, how will this be done? Marketing - how are you going to get the message out to others! A nice idea technically but commercially a very difficult one. I wouldn't sink a few hundred thousand in to it of my own ££££, that's for sure!

My speed/power control arrived from China, typically no instructions and nothing coming from the eBay seller but have looked online and others have how to wire it up so will experiment with it next time a chain needs doing. It should cut down on the cutters building up heat and hardening the chain!

I have heard that Stihls are that good that you can run them on neat fuel....

Just checked the IPL, there are three types of exhaust, one has a spark arrestor that unscrews from the exhaust outlet so if your blower has a hexagonal nut around the exhaust outlet - undo it and take the screen out as it may well be blocked and be blowing out around the muffler bolts!

I don't know then, usually oil coming out from the exhaust is too much oil or too rich mix. The exhaust isn't carboned up is it, not sure much else would cause it!

If you are getting oil coming out of the exhaust, it sounds like there is too much in the fuel/oil mix. Two strokes should burn off any oil in the mix used and next to nothing should remain as a fluid to drip out of the exhaust. A blower would be used flat out so even less chance of it building up fuel/oil mix. Is the carb adjusted correctly - too rich and it may do this but also wouldn't rev out well and would smoke!

I would normally take the recoil off and turn the engine in the correct way until it jams and note where the piston stops - is it close or on the top of the cylinder? Now try taking it backward and see where it sticks, is it in the same position - you could mark the piston through the exhaust port and see if it happens at the same position. If this does stop in exactly the same position then it looks like there is something embedded in the top of the piston or in the cylinder - if the piston is well off TDC then it is jamming elsewhere! Interesting fault!

Sounds like something has gone in to the cylinder and is now stopping it turning over, the most likely thing is a bit of debris stuck on the outer part of the piston and stuck in the squishband area. It is possible to tap the piston against the obstruction LIGHTLY, lower the pistonand look at the crown through the spark plug hole and exhaust port for the witness mark. The other possible issue is that you have used overly long bolts in the exhaust and they have pushed in to the cylinder deforming it - this would be REALLY bad:thumbdown: The obstruction may just be carbon of bits of gasket etc - I have seen carbon stop a saw pulling over cleanly. Best thing to do is find the issue and clear it - make sure it is JUST sticking at TDC top dead centre and try turning the saw back the other way and see where it sticks when turned backwards!

It is a standard test that should be done at service, I always do this to make sure the band isn't snapped and the mechanism shuts the saw down immediately. You also do other checks on the mechanism and band during service - The device should be regularly tested, perhaps from lower speed than flat out when in use but your training will tell you what is acceptable!

I need to reassemble it with the gasket in place, measure the squish and then decide what material to remove from the cylinder base and piston outer crown. I am pretty sure the aftermarket piston will be the same dims as the OEM part give or take half a thou but fitting and checking it will sort that out. Just a case of reassembling the saw and measuring again after the work is done - Martin has a fine end result..................second time round.........sorry Martin:001_rolleyes:

Sealall is about the best stuff I have found to be petrol resistant. Many epoxies are supposed to be but in reality are not!

Combustion needs fuel, compression and spark. Test the spark by taking it out, placing it in the cap, earthing it on the cylinder away from the plug hole and pulling the saw over fast. Check the plug is wet after trying to start it. If it is wet, chances are you have flooded it. Take he plug out, turn the saw upside down so the plug hole is pointing downward and pull over the saw fast a few times - if flooded, you should get fuel running/spattering out. Dry the plug - a gas hob is good or plumbers lamp, replace the plug and pull it over fast with no choke and the fast idle on but no decomp. If it doesn't fire, try it with the choke on but only 2-3 pulls on full choke! Report back with what you find:thumbup:

The saw body has arrived by the way, just so you know! Yes, spoke to Fred about the lump of wood, tested a ported 372Xtorq on it and left Pauls yard full of sawdust:lol:

They are closing them down Andy, seems we don't need to read now:001_rolleyes:

It may be safer for you if you did, worth doing that and circlips as well, they are the weak points. It does look good, Martin has provisionally booked it in for next Saturday for the lathe work and then......we shall see. It is a learning curve, if the autotune handles this, it will take just about anything! That Beech is bloody massive, around 5' at the largest part, will be attacking it with the old army 181SE as that is really going now I have done the fuel pipe, re-ported it and blanked the regulator off! Time will tell on this one - it has taken quite a while!

Had another go at the 560XP with the carbide burrs over the weekend, anyone reading this - I DON'T KNOW IF IT WILL WORK YET! Until we prove the autotune has enough give in its parameters we don't know what will happen when we hit the wood with it. The muffler has had both the inlet and outlet significantly opened up. The cover over the outlet has now been brazed shut and there really is no need to split the can open to do this. The muffler inlet has been opened to the size of the exhaust port. The uppers have been re-profiled to get the flow to the back of the cylinder, the exhaust port has been widened significantly and the lower edge re-shaped as the straightness was worrying me. The inlet has had little change but have increased inlet duration by porting the piston skirt a little. You can see the damage the stainless stuffer cover did to one of the upper transfers in the first transfer picture. Fortunately, I have managed to smooth it so the piston won't catch and it is away from the compression zone! I have blended the inlet manifold in to the inlet port a little and all that is left is the pop up piston and also working on the cylinder skirt by the transfers.

Very true, caught me out the first time:blushing:

Just to clarify what ADW has correctly said, the saw is a clam type saw and ring clamps are pointless due to the design of the cylinder base. The clamps are usually used on flat bottomed od skirted cylinders and are a way of easing the rings in to the cylinder. On clam cylinders, the ring ends are alligned with the pins as best as possible, the cylinder entrance is oiled and pushed on to the piston until the rings/piston is in the bore. A small bit of rotation of the cylinder may help but you are talking +-10 deg otherwise the ring ends may catch! Go easy and never ram the thing as the rings are brittle and may break!