GardenKit

I have been told that R5 may have an evening job as a traffic warden in Bath, Jon.

As well as ethanol shield B3C also do 'mechanic in a bottle (MIB)'. TBH this stuff really does seem to work, and quickly too. If you have a poor running machine and suspect a gunked up fuel system, then a shot of 'MIB' in the fuel will often clean it up and get it running well. Often the machine will be fine to use then, but as a technician I tend to use it to provide a quick diagnosis, i.e get it working so that I know its basically sound, then do a proper strip and clean. With regards to your PM45, the IPL's are still on the system, so parts should still be available. Tanaka spares availability is second to none, and the machines just keep going, they are brilliant kit. Just let me know what you want.

Ethanol shield is certainly a good additive, possibly the best, and is the one I would use if I was not an Aspenolic.

I posted a link on the first post of this thread, follow that and you should be able to sign. However, I fear it may be a little too late for this petition to work, and quite frankly it seems that finding 10000 people interested enough to sign is nigh on impossible. There are probably not 10000 people in the UK who use enough Aspen to be bothered about the cost saving. Its a great product, but the customer base is still relatively small.

Minimalistic, but clearly defining your main activity, and distinctive in the layout so after a while it only needs to be seen, not read, to be recognised.

That is really great to read, Rob, you almost certainly won't go back to pump fuel. Aspen is the future,with pump petrol declining in quality as it is.

All of our nationwide deliveries are sent on our behalf direct from the Aspen Warehouse in Wareham, by a specialist licenced carrier of inflammable goods, and are only despatched in multiple of 3 cans. 3 to 51 cans will cost £24 (inc vat) to deliver, pallets of 54 are delivered free. But if I was to send just one can from my shop by carrier, I would think I could send it for a tenner, so about £29 would be a fair price for one can delivered. £38 is just crazy, I doubt that seller actually sells much like that.

The retail price as suggested by Anglo American Oil to their dealers is £15.82 plus vat per 5 litre for Aspen 2. This makes it £18.98 inc vat. To be honest it makes my blood boil when dealers ' mark it up' and sell at higher prices. Also, no dealer can supply at £20 with free delivery if he has any sense in his head, as he will lose money. I know what the stuff costs, and nobody buys it cheaper than me. So, on small orders, over the counter, £15.82 plus vat is fair. Larger orders may attract some discount, depending on the particular dealer.

Glad to hear the op went well Paddy, here's to a speedy recovery. Meanwhile spend the time wisely reading the Aspen thread:biggrin:

Its a good job that I have a considerable arsenal of tools, as yesterdays 346 clutch removal almost beat me. It was by far the tightest I have ever come across. First step, hammer and punch. Short, sharp shock. When you get the knack this usually works. But it did not. Second step, two pin wrench, with short,sharp shock. No go. Third step, remove plug, insert plastic stop, use effort on 2 pin wrench (including a pipe extension. Could not apply the force well enough, the saw kept sliding around. Fourth step. Grind an impact socket and use the knuckle bar. This time applied so much effort I felt the string compressing, was worried about pressure points on piston crown. No go. Fifth step, remove exhaust, insert 6mm piece of rubber about the size of the piston, try the bar again, with a 2ft pipe extension. Began to worry about the 'give point' of the con rod. No go. Sixth and final attempt. 1/2 impact gun with the recently made socket, and the rubber piston stop in place. After around 30 seconds of rattling it gave. Another 30 minutes of my life lost!

Haha, writing the last post prompted me to go and test it, and the flaming thing did indeed come out too easily! Now Loctited in!!

To be quite honest Steve the thought had crossed my mind, and the plan is to try to test the insert before reassembly, If it comes out easily I may will 'belt and braces' it. I always feel a bit guilty dong this though as I like to trust the original design, and have an aversion to using adhesives and sealers where not required.

There are times I wish I had not posted some comments, and this was one such post:blushing: Although helicoils have always worked for me, on this occasion the damaged hole had no thread left, and seemed to be angled somehow. The result is that the chaser did not follow and the new thread was incomplete in places so the helicoil wire did not fit well. Epic fail. So after some research and good advice from Spud, I sourced these oversized carbon steel inserts. The first step in the ludicrously simple fitting process is to enlarge the hole to the correct size to take the tap. I achieved this with 2 adjustable reamers, working slowly out. Next stage is to tap the hole, keeping the tap square, then simply screw in the insert using a plug as a driver. The insert is pre-loaded with a thread lock chemical. Then just let it cure and reassemble. Simples. These oversize inserts are only for these rare jobs, normally a helicoil or solid insert will suffice. I have decided to now go along the solid insert route rather than the coils and have ordered up a set. I will post up a pic when it arrives.

The long term costs are immense if used only once with a dodgy coil.

Even you can't tell just by looking Steve, might be difficult to start. Best to test first.

Technically, as the Aspen fuel is chemically pure, it will last indefinitely. The can that it is in however, is only guaranteed to last 3-5 years!

If any of you are thinking of trying Aspen, or already use it, then make sure you enter this years Arbtalk Christmas raffle. We are donating a prize of six 5 litre cans as one prize, to be delivered anywhere in mainland UK. The winner will be able to choose either 6 red cans, 6 blue cans or 3 of each. This prize has a value of nearly £140. Get your tickets as soon as they go on sale!

You can change between fuels with no problem at all on a new/newish saw, but, be warned, once you have used it for a while on Aspen you will probably not like it on smelly petrol.

Yes, the benefits are truly tremendous. The lack of carbon build up means that the flow of exhaust gases are not impeded by either a restriction in the exhaust, or by frictional losses across the internal surfaces of the upper cylinder. Piston rings do not 'gum' up, so they keep doing their job properly, maintaining compression. Cooling is not reduced by the insulation effect of the carbon. Wear is considerably reduced from the absence of abrasive deposits. The absence of deposits keeps the oil clean on 4 stroke engines, reducing wear. Engine life is massively extended. Win, win situation.

Classic! We are missing speaking to you as often now you are using the 200l drums Paul, hope its going well for you.

Hi Richard. Firstly identify whether the engine is dying, or being killed. i.e, is the load killing the engine because something is not rotating properly. Best way to check is remove the side cover and make sure everything spins freely. If all of that is fine then the problem is 99% certain to be carburettor, most likely contaminated. Be careful removing the bowl and try not to damage or stretch the bowl seal, not easy to find a replacement. Clean the carb thoroughly and you should be OK. Stale petrol is one of the favourite causes of contamination, followed by water and 'phase separation' which results from stale fuel and water combined. Good luck. Barrie

You will get 3 or 4 coats out of that tin James, more than enough!

I dont repair anything like this unless I know its a strong repair and even if it fails there will be no safety issues. In this case its stronger than the original so no problems. Its surprising where the time goes though, easy to get costing a repair like that so wrong, I thought I could do that one in about 30 minutes but in reality it was closer to 90 minutes by the time i had done all the rubbers too. Obviously if I did another tomorrow it would be quicker. Sometimes I wish I had not bothered, like with a spark plug helicoil repair that went wrong today. The original thread was so stripped out that the tap would not bite the full amount. Result is that a new pot is needed. Still, its the first helicoil fail that I have had, so must not grumble I suppose, although the customer might! To be honest, a Big-Sert might do the job, but the cost of buying a kit for one job just is not viable, and there is so little metal in these heads I am cautious of putting too big a bit of steel in anyway because of heat absorption and expansion rates.

I had a two year old Tanaka LR hedge trimmer in today for its first 2year warranty service. It is owned by a local large house who employ a full time, live in, gardener/handyman. It gets a fair bit of use, not as much as a Pro user, but more than the average domestic owner. The blades were certainly in need of sharpen, so its seen a bit of use. Its been on Aspen from new. See how clean this stuff burns. (I did not need to take the exhaust off, but was keen to have a look) And, no, the piston is not scored, its just very shiny and reflected the light!

An MS 280 with the lower front AV rubber dropped out due to worn out side casing. (Don't leave them running on the road guys, this is what happens) So a bit of fabricating was in order, and a few new rubbers. All good now.