spudulike

Hi Alec No - sorry it wasn't, yours was in reasonable condition compared to the other chain! Yours fell in to the poor hook and one side of the chain wearing the cutters out and the other side remaining sharp - all down to a bar with too much chain roll and over sharpening on one side of the chain. You should find the bar is now in good fettle and the chain is as sharp as the day it came out of the factory. Think this discussion is like one on religion, almost impossible to prove one way or the other and to be honest - the end result is down to the skills of the technician rather than the method used. Let me know how you get on with your chain and bar, and the 66 Magnum once it is back with you:thumbup:

If you heat steel and quench it, it goes from soft to hard, if you heat hard steel and let it cool slowly it goes soft, try heating a spring and quenching it - it will probably shatter if you compress it! The terms to read up on are hardening and annealing! I have just spent ages on a 26" full chisel that someone had run on a badly worn bar - all the cutter tips were buggered - had to take about 1.5mm off each cutter - it took a while on a grinder and think I would have still been sharpening if I had been using a file. Not saying it can't be done but not a 5 minute job - not by me anyway - how badly damaged is "badly damaged"? Mine was a real mess!

I have no doubt that you can sharpen your chains to a great standard giving an edge that will last a long time. I can sharpen my chains by hand and like you, know what is important in sharpening chains. I am not stating that a grinder is the ONLY way to sharpen a chain correctly, I am not saying that hand sharpening isn't a good way to sharpen, both have their own positives and negatives. I have seen chains sharpened by hand and badly - usually the cutter angles are too steep, not enough hook, varying angles and cutterlength and the rakers too high or low - home owner saws are generaly the worse! I have seen chains ground badly with grinders and know that many will overheat the cutter by letting their disk glaze over and then use too much pressure to overheat the cutter until it glows orange leaving a bad burr on the top and side of the cutter. The heat will take out the hardness of the cutter and make it go blunt quicker plus turning it blue. I personally find that a well maintained chain needs no more than a light file to get it back to a sharp condition but when someone has destroyed the tip of the cutters on a 26" full chisel chain and 1mm of cutter needs to come off then a well maintained grinder used by someone who knows what they are doing is quicker and easier and gives a near factory sharp finish. Semi chisel low profile chains on a 14" bar are a different can of worms to a 26" full chisel. So for the record - I don't talk bollocks and both sharpening methods are valid when done by people that understand the technicalities of sharpening chains.

My Missus is still looking for another client, she does the books for a local haulier and a camper van hire specialist but could do with one more customer. She runs Sage and Microsoft Office, sorting out invoicing, cash in/out and end of year returns, paperwork etc If you are using and accountant, you may be spending more than necessary on your accounts as a bookkeeper will do the same job and prepare your accounts for the end of year return for checking by an accountant. She used to do a sole payrole for 600 people so you will get no mistakes on your accounting from her....and I can service your saw whilst you wait:thumbup: PM me if you want to discuss rates etc - local businesses within 15 - 20 miles of Baldock would be best from experience.

Bit rare IMO - good for parts exchange if you run an MS200T but rare, rare,rare! Worth a look if you can get hold of one though!

Probably been done on a grinder, that way all cutter lengths, angles and hook are maintained and he probably then matched the raker depth gauge height to the cutters - getting all this right is a bit of an art....even with a grinder. It is best to use a grinder every 2nd - 4th sharpen as it pulls the chain back in to balanced condition.

If you want a ripper then look no further than the Husqvarna 346XP 50cc Silverside.

£200 = Stihl 026 in reasonable condition - good ground saw £250 = Husqvarna 346 (45cc) £300 = hUSQVARNA 346 (50CC) SILVERSIDE! There are others - Husqvarna 350, 345, Stihl 024 but may be a little less desirable. If you are going to climb, a top handle MS200T or less costly 020T Stihl but don't even think about using one unless you have received training!

I got them a year ago - only had a few pairs - I snapped mine up pretty quick. Guess I was lucky for a change!

If you havent paid yet - do a deal not through ebay and paypal, ebay charge 10%, paypal 4%.....knock 14% off your bid and pay cash - he gets what he wants and you save 14% Done this a couple of times - most experienced ebayers know it makes sense

I think smart people know their limitations where dumb people dont! I thought he was going to send it through the house! I also think smart people think about what they are doing and all the things that could happen or go wrong and dumb people worry about that after they have hurt themselves!

Got mine off the bay - ex army surplus but exactly the same as the normal item but with a sewn in supplier label, brand new...............£32:thumbup: A good deal methinks!!

I have tried a few parts of Mister Solutions but not tried their cylinders - if you want, give Andy a bell and ask him if he has had any returned - he is a good guy and always gives me a bit of discount if I turn up at his door. The aluminium can be removed using chemicals - I would only recommend light rubbing with fine emery paper to take out the last remenants - 300 grit is about right. I have heard about people using a light hone on cylinders but don't go about it like these cylinders have cast liners, they are aluminium with a few microns of chrome or nikasil plating on them and damage to this, especially above the exhaust port is fatal!

I would clean the cap - am assuming it is the flippy ones, try a good soak in hot water and detergent and also check the rubber seal and the filler hole surround on the tank where it mates with the cap. This should sort any cap leak but this wouldn't drain the tank as it would only leak until the oil was lower than the filler cap??? New non OEM caps are available at Mister Solutions online shop.

It is unlikely that there will be any "crap" in the crankcase, this can be cleared out by rotating some paper towel in front of the crank lobe - if the piston or rings have parts missing then ensure these are found before reassembling but it is unlikely. Depending on how bad it is you may be able to salvage the cylinder but will need to know what you are doing. The non OEM cylinders will not be as good as the Mahle originals but should be OK as long as you don't expect 20 years out of them. OEM ones will generally not make an economic repair unless on a top end big saw. Ebay is full of saws like this, 9 times out of 10, I can salvage the cylinder but the odd one is a bugger and the plating is damaged and means a new cylinder - usually when a great chunk of piston has been removed rather than a light smear. Had a MS170 just like your 026 - hope you didn't buy it as a runner!

Nah - just don't put oil in it - that will fix it:thumbup: It is a simple job for non simple people, for simple people it is like splitting the atom:confused1:

My general rule of thumb is that the bar should be 1/3 of the cc of the saw - more applicable to groundsaws though - 60cc = 20" etc. 12" & 14" is normal on a MS200T, it will cut well with both - save the 16" for the rear handle model

Couple of areas where it can come from, the compression fit between the pipe that comes out of the tank or more likely, a split rubber fitting that the oil pump plugs in to. Reasonably easy job to fit a new one....as long as you are happy taking off the clutch etc. Can take a look if you like but isn't a major job!

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You probably have one of two faults - Dirt in the carb pumping section gauze filter or a split inlet carb boot. Set the L screw to 1 turn out, if it still does it then try up to 1.5 turns but any more and you have one of these faults. Matty - you can run those carbs up to me and I will fix em if you like:thumbup:

A saw with a correctly set carb that revs to around 1/2 - 3/4 revs at idle generally has an air leak and a bad one, it is strange that it comes and goes. An air leaks symptoms are very similar to the saw running out of fuel. The saw starts ideling very fast! A dodgy coil will either fail or will break down at high revs either stopping the saw or making it cut out and splutter at high revs. The symptoms you have don't sound like coil faults to me. Check the rubber boot for splits and then the carb for dirt. It is worth checking the fuel filter is sited at the bottom of the fuel tank - it may be pulling in a bit of air? If you get stuck - sent it over - Parcels2go - £6.50 and I will pressure check it etc - if it has a bad air leak, there is a possibility it will seize so go carefully.

The breather is a stubby pipe sticking out of the top of the fuel tank with a screw insert in it - found in the air box. Some old saws had breathers in fuel caps but is very unusual now, most are pipes running out of the tank. If you can't sort it, I do a fair bit of service work in my spare time. This may sound like tinkering but I have facilities to pressure check, tach tune, compression check and do total rebuilds!

I work naked - never been without work:thumbup: Just foolin..........there again - "The Naked Gardener":thumbup1:

12 pulls is a bit excessive, generally a machine that has been run the same day or a day earlier will take 1 - 5 pulls, 1 is unusual but some kit will do it. Things to check - carb fast idle start mechanism is working ok, coil to flywheel gap is not too large, impulse pipes are clear of dirt and gaskets/pipes are good, fuel filters are good, tank breathers are clear, needle arm in thecarb is set correctly, gauze filter in the carb pump is clear of crud. I have a carb checking procedure I follow and it usually fixes 95% of problems and have yet to find a carb that actually needed a new kit on it.