Bob The Dog

I wish that's all I'd done !!

It does look, upon closer inspection, that it's a complete crankcase replacement. No easy fix by the looks!

I was thinking about having some extra 'spud work' at the same time. It's a great saw, and I don't really want to bin it, so would be good if it's repairable at a sensible price.

I wasn't going to bother cutting up the few logs I had lying around this morning, but in the end I decided to, and wished I hadn't. Had a log kick back off the saw horse, hit the front of the saw, and punched a 2"X1" hole straight through the crankcase, leaving all the bar oil to pour all over my boots! I've messaged spud, to see what he can do. Hopefully a picture is attached.

The 365 xt is a great saw. Just don't bother using the decomp button. You'll miss the initial 'fire' on choke, and they're easy to flood then. Ground off the transfer cover fins on mine and its made quite a difference.

Talking of rubber flaps - has anyone replaced theirs yet? Mine have all but broken off and disappeared now, with the odd straggler hanging on. They don't seem particularly rugged, unless I'm too heavy handed!

Done it several times with mine too! My mate was messing with it, and had pressed the red button to stop it, instead of turning the key. Couldn't start it for ages, then realised the error! Easily done!

F R Jones also do the Stein pole saw blades and other accessories. Cheaper than Jameson, and I think they are compatible too. I've been using the Stein poles, saw, loppers etc for some time now, and they're well made and sharp as a razor.

First time I used spikes, had a load of sawdust inside my trousers, and it rubbed my shins red roar. Never had it since thankfully! Been on aluminium Gecko's for just over a year and they're great. Been in them all day, and no probs at all. I like the idea of the carbons, but I'd ruin them, just with the little bit of walking around I do whilst out of the tree.

I remove my clutch on the 540 with a hammer and screwdriver. On the outer face of the clutch are two slots. Put the slotted screwdriver into a slot and shock it off in a clockwise direction with the hammer, having rotated it to max compression. A couple of good firm knocks and off it'll come. Not sure if others do the same, but that was the way it was taught on cs 30, and it's worked fine for me ever since. Remember - it's a left hand thread!

Runs sweet as a nut, and holds steady throttle. Like it did originally. Must be a carb / fuelling issue.

The engine on my greenmech chipper was doing the same thing. That's a B&S, and turned out it was a blocked jet in the carb. Full strip, ultrasonic clean and rebuild sorted both the hunting and backfiring. Tho if it's new, I can't imagine the card jets should be blocked?

Can't argue with that - although whenever I've bought stone etc in bags, it's just been a 'builders bag of stone please', rather than a m3 bag.

It's husky all the way for me I'm afraid! I've run a 550xp for nearly 3 years and it's been great. I've also played with a mates 555 and that's got loads of grunt, just felt a little heavier. I'm just a husky fan - as has been said before, loads of other good makes too. Mate has just bought an echo. Not sure which model, but lightweight and goes very well, for less money than H or S.

I've given this some thought, and the only reason I could come up with is - logs are odd shapes, and therefore, once in a bag, there are actually a lot of gaps within. And so if you were to chip the same amount of wood, pour the chip into the bag, it'd probably only half or three quarters fill the M3 bag. And so you're not actually selling a m3 of firewood. I hope that makes sense. Can't see any other reason why they would come up with this idea. Perhaps it should be sold as a m3 bag of firewood, rather than a m3 of firewood? All a load of nonsense really!

Hopefully I've attached a picture with the angles that could be printed and sent along with your blades. Saturn did exactly what I asked, so I'm sure you'll get the same helpful service.

Hi spoons. Did a bit of digging with GM a while ago re the blades. The guy I spoke to reckoned you could grind them all the way back until the bolt heads became exposed, so loads of life left in them by that reckoning! The anvil has a lot of adjustment, so should be ok. I sent mine off to Saturn knives again recently, as my original GM blades weren't ground correctly. I specified 27 degrees on the front, and 10 degrees on the back angle over 4mm. They're in the machine and chipping well, with a clearance of 0.5mm between the anvil. I also had a set of new rotatech blades from Saturn, same angles, and they're awesome, but not cheap at nearly £200 a pair! Some companies will just grind the back angle, which leaves the front angle too short, and the edge of the blade doesn't come into contact with the wood first, hence the knocking of wood around and lack of self feed. Some grinders data states 15 degrees for back angle, but it's 10 according to GM.

My boys primary school doesn't have a mini bus. So they just hire one from a local company, as and when it's needed. The bus size varies according to how many little darlings are going out on the trip, so all bases covered for far less money. No servicing, insurances etc, and professional PCV drivers to look after the kids, not someone driving a large vehicle who isn't very good at it! I'm sure the school could find a much better use for a few hundred quid if you wanted to raise some money for them Jon.

You're probably right cdo! I just worry that there'll be a poor set up and zero, and whatever is being aimed at will be missed, or worse, badly injured and has a slow death. Destruction of animals needs to be quick and clean, and that'll never happen if the set up and variables aren't all properly considered.

Rock machinery venom 22t was £1500 as a self build, or £1600 built with fluids. Worth the £100 in my book.

Commando - yeah, the adjustments are made on the scope to bring the cross hairs to the point where the bullets are hitting the target, and then settings can be obtained for distances greater or lesser than the zero range. Bullets do fly in an arc horizontally when fired from a weapon with a rifled barrel. It's called spin drift. The bullet rotates and causes it to bend it's course, a bit like a curved football shot. Granted, it probably won't affect things hugely, but over distance, it can make the difference. Again, I would never trust a laser sight for accuracy of shot. There really is only one way to guarantee consistent shot placement, and unfortunately that will cost you a few quid! Cleaning regimes will also affect shot placement, as pressure within the barrel will be affected. Wet days, dry days, air pressure - it all has a bearing.

Ok, 5 rounds is a bit of a luxury, But it is better and more accurate than 3. Generally, as long as the rounds are tightly grouped, the mpi should be your zero point. Ideally, all 5 rounds would be touching each other, or very close, but that's really difficult on an outdoor shoot. The laser, as I said before, no matter how expensive or good it is, it cannot be trusted for proper zero, and the longer the range, the more inaccurate it becomes. The laser is dead straight - bullets aren't. They fly on an arc, both horizontally and veritaclly. They have a culminating point, which can change given the elevation of the muzzle. Any videos of tracer fire on YouTube will demo this. 3 round groups is a cheaper option. And the .223 round isn't the biggest, and can be affected by wind in all directions. So many variables. I presume the weapon is for hunting, so in order to effect a clean kill, and prevent suffering, it's gotta be zero'd accurately. Oh - always use the same ammo for hunting as you have for the zero. This can also make a big difference.

Laser bore sights are only any good as a rough guide for initial set up. To zero a weapon properly, you need to be firing in groups of 5 rounds and taking the mean point of impact as zero. You can disregard the odd flyer. The conditions need to be still, as zeroing in wind is impossible. You can then account for windage afterwards. The range over which you are firing should also be level. If you are using a metric scope, zero at 100m. If an imperial scope, then zero at 100 yards. And if you have mildots, you can then use those for your point of aim without having to adjust the drums. Depending how accurate you want to be will determine how much effort you put into setting up. The laser bore sight only has to be slightly out of line in the chamber to be several cm's out at the point of aim end.

It's a great machine, and excellent build quality. Had mine just over a year now and very pleased with it. Done all sorts, from Knotty softwoods to very large ash rounds which have been sitting for a year, and nothing can stop it. Very helpful staff on the end of the phone, and the £100 build up fee is worth it. The only issue is the 4 way splitter. If you let it go all the way back, it can cause damage to the machine (bending a couple of bits of metal), so you have to stop the ram short on its return. But otherwise, it's bloody brilliant. I haven't done any road towing as it goes in the trailer.

I've had loads of success with the Spring / scissor type traps which crush the little buggers to death. Make sure you don't handle the traps with bare hands, as moles have a terrific sense of smell, and won't go anywhere near them. I always use an old pair of muddy gloves and it seems to work for me. Once the trap is in, cover the hole with some soil, to prevent ingress of light. Always nice to catch the little buggers, but there'll soon be another one to take over!