tomlt

I've never before worn out a bar being only a home owner/hobbyist user, but my 3 yr old ms251 bar is starting to look a little "past" it and seems to be wearing the chains more now. Is it reasonable for a bar thats probably done no more than about 10hours cutting time to need replacing? I compare this to my ms180 bar thats probably done more work, yet seems to be a lot less worn. Im running the supplied .325 16" rollomatic bar on this, and most surprisingly it seems to have worn a divet just behind the sprocket nose, and i do switch my bar over when changing chains. Now I am guilty of not deburring the bar very often (maybe only once on this machine) is that likely to have caused it to wear more quickly? Suffice to say I've got my eye on a sugi bar from Rob as a replacement. Cheers, Tom. Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

Hi, yes the mills still available, the guy that was interested never got back in touch. Cheers,Tom. Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

Im advertising this for a good friend.....900mm capacity, 4" blade, its a serious machine. http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pezzolato-HD7-Timber-Queen-Bandsaw-SawMill-/262087400009?nav=SEARCH Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

Bought a pair of these half price recently, absolutely fantastic noise reduction, good sound quality too. Not used them much with the saw, but use them day in day out with the seriously loud planer/thicknesser and router in my workshop. Radio Ear Defenders | Clas Ohlson Regards, Tom.

Keen eye Spud! Yep the top of that piston is rather well pitted, but only really around the very edges, I do wonder if it has been cooked in the past and has weakened the piston structure, the edge of the piston seems "crumbly" if you know what I mean. I've had the flywheel off so I'm confident the keyway is good and the timings as per factory (asuming no ones messed with it previously). I'll keep an eye on things as I run it back in. Cheers, Tom. Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

So Phil the chainsaw has been getting ever more difficult to start, from previous investigation i knew that the piston was a little scored and that the cylinder might be showing some signs of wear. I finally deviced to treat him to a new piston from meteor. Well you can see the old one has been slapping around a bit, what i wasn't expecting was the gudgeon pin to be siezed in the piston, it took a fair amount of persuasion to remove, the piston must have been cocked because it wouldn't move on the end of the con rod, cue new small end bearing to accompany piston. Got him rebuilt tonight and he worked right away, a little easier to pull over and running so much better! Just need to start prepping some logs for winter to run him in gently. I must also say a big thanks to ADW for sourcing me the swed-o-matic clutch cover in the photo, a lick of paint and its a pretty good match! Cheers, Tom. Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

Seconded, Ian's sabrecut green wood blades are great, my 18" workshop bandsaw has one permanently for resawing. Axminster sell the ripper blades st what seems like a decent price, cant say that I've tried one but they look good, theyd be widet, more aggressive and thicker than the tuff saws blades though. Also worth looking at his m42 1" x 2tpi blades, not as course as the 1.1tpi ripper, but should give you 5-10x the life, and the odd nail wont worry it too much. Cheers, Tom.

Hi All, I'm changing the clutch on my 281 XP (earlyish model with metal chain brake handle). I'm come a bit unstuck as the Hyway clutch I ordered from the bay of e, won't screw on more than 1-2threads before locking tight. I've check the dimensions on the crank @ 11.8mm OD and 1.25mm (or 20tpi) as best as I can with Verniers & Micrometer. The clearance hole in the clutch is a little over 10.5mm, but not 11mm (I'm guessing around 10.8mm because this would be a clearance drill for a M12 thread). Does anyone know what the thread is? I'm going to have to get a LH tap to rethread the clutch a little. I've checked old vs. new clutch and the other dimensions, pitch etc. seem to be spot on, I just think the new clutch thread is a little on the tight side and might want easing a little by running a tap through it a few times, any other thoughts? Thanks, Tom.

Ive got a mitox top handle, for 169quid its been great. Ive had it for about 18months and it runs superb, very grunty for a 35cc saw. Theyre imported by one of the best machinery dealers in the uk, so back up is very good! I know a few people running them quite hard and although perhaps more plastic than the pro equivalents they're a step above the other diy offerings. Cheers, Tom.

Thanks ADW, some extensive googling revealed no metal hand guards anywhere so i think im down to buying a complete side cover and brake assembly, i assume the plastic type will drop straight on? Same mounting etc? If not then it might be time to break out the tig welder and fab a new handle, thankfully it does all seem to be steel. Cheers, tom.

Hi Dan, Yes he did, arrived at my local post office with 24" bar and chain in place, wrapped in a couple of layers of cardboard and a couple of bin liners, i was gobsmacked theyd accept something saw shaped 3ft long and about 10kg! Im pretty pleased for 130quid all in, my 181 cost me nearly double that a few months ago.

This nearly ended up on your bench spud after 2days of pulling my arm out trying to get her to start and run (now realise how easy my 188hybrid is to start with a decomp!) It still might get sent down your way for a bit of fine tuning and porting work at some point if you're game spud?. Anyway I got "phil" running today, despite a sore arm. I can now rebuild the recoil in about 2mins having snapped the rope 4 times in the last two days. Today i toddled off to the local mower place, grabbed a few metres of new rope and a new plug just for good measure. Having yesterday removed the piston and cylinder to check for anything untoward having failed to start/run for more than a few seconds i think i finally found root cause, the spade terminal on the coil next to the carb was loose to the point it must have been making partial contact but any vibration must have caused a bad connection. A tweak with some pliers and some contact cleaner later and we're in business! Yipee phil lives! Spent a bit of time dialling it in with the 18" bar off the other saw and it seems to go quite well. Just need to find some decent wood to give it a work out. Here it is after a thorough clean up and a touch of vht paint on the black bits. Lastly i just need to find a replacement brake handle (brake works fine) or a new complete cover, anyone know if the newer plastic lever type will fit? Plenty on ebay for about 30quid.

Phils on my bench today, first chainsaw I've had that came with a name. Having bought a husky 181 and fitted the 54mm piston, I love that saw, so there was a 281 needing some tlc on ebay I thought why not! So it arrived today, looking a bit sorry for itself, no recoil (but I had a spare from the 181) broken chain brake handle (but working) and just really filthy. 2 cans of brake cleaner later she was looking pretty good. Had the muffler off and piston is worn, but not too bad so will see how she runs. Measured compression at 170psi so not too shabby. Replaced the exhaust gasket with a spare as it was missing. Had the carb off and gave it a good clean and soaking in carb cleaner. She fires ok, but wont stay running for very long and the idle seems reall high, so I've either got some serious dialling in to do or shes leaking somewhere, I suppose I should invest in some pressure test kit to makesure its not crank seals that are shot. Would appreciate some help on dialling in the initial settings for the carb. Cheers, Tom.

Barrie and ADW huge thanks for the advice, I disconnected the coil as you said, but that didnt make a difference, set the magneto air gap and gave in/under a thorough clean to boot, gap moved from about 2thou to 10thou, but still no joy, so it was back to something Barrie suggested above. With the aid of my beautiful assistant (aka the wife) I had a good play around with the choke setting, using my hand at about 6 inches from the muffler output running as it was the gases were hot (unbearably for more than a few seconds), slowly choking it up to just the point before it started coughing, the exhaust gases cooled off significantly, it ran there just like it used to for 10mins quite happily, definitely pointing to an overly lean mix. So carbs come off, had another thoroughly good soaking in carb cleaner and hey presto she seems to be back to normal (ish). Ive just mowed the 2/3acre in an hour with it and it seems to be running pretty well, although I do keep getting the odd whiff of hot engine, but that might just be alll the carb cleaner and brake cleaner burning off. So im planning to strip her down now, replace head gasket, replace rocker gasket and redo the valve clearances (if needed) and give her an oil change. Im wondering if a carb service kit would be a good idea, but frankly nothing in there looked worn or perished. Cheers again guys, great forum! Tom. P.s. I think you might have another aspen convert here soon!

Hi Barrie, I was hoping you'd reply with your wealth of knowledge on these matters. Let me answer each question in turn... How are you testing compression?[/i] I used a brand new compression test gauge from screwfix, it's a max pressure type gauge screwed into the spark plug hole (as I believe most are). I simply gave it Wide-open Throttle and cranked it over for a couple of seconds before reading the max off the gauge. If its running lean you will have a very light grey/white plug so thats worth a check, but if it is lean running thats the problem you should be able to smooth out the engine with the choke partly on, this could help to diagnose. I checked the plug and the colour seemed fine, but I've only run it for short periods (2-3mins) through fear of cooking it. I'll check the new plug again tonight. Running lean could get the engine hot, but in reality if there is fuel starvation there won't be much power so not much heat build up. Exhausts do get very hot very quickly so yours may not be over hot and you may be reading too much into it. Quite possibly, but the whole engine seems to running a lot hotter than it ever has before, I'm worried about cooking it so don't want to run it for extended periods. It's giving that characteristic "realy hot" smell (if you know what I mean) and the exhaust "tinks" away after just a few seconds of running. These engines are prone to head gasket failure. It usually manifests as burning oil though, and as you have had the head off you should know if the gasket was OK, I guess you did fit a new one? Surprisingly the gasket was in really good condition, I was expecting to see some blow-by but no signs of it. I've got a new gasket on order, but for the purposes of diagnosis I put it back on with the same gasket (carefully) and toruqed her down per spec. Theres no signs of leakage coming out around the gasket, or any signs of oil making it into the combustion chamber past the gasket. Carbs are not too expensive, but you need to be sure thats the trouble before fitting a new one. Yep, I'm not sure how much more I can diagnose from the Carb, as a diesel engine guy, my knowledge on carbs is limited to pulling it to bits and giving everything a good clean with carb cleaner. There doesn't really seem to be much to these Nikki Carbs unless I'm missing something. I'll try what you suggest above with the choke and see if that makes things better when running. Make sure the fuel tank is breathing OK, try it with the cap removed. Also check the fuel flow through the primary fuel hose twixt tank and filter, just in case its partially blocked. It could be that it runs OK on the first full float bowl which does not then fill fast enough to keep it running. Should have mentioned I tried running with the tank cap off, have had the fuel pipe at the Carb off (loads of fuel flow) and replaced the inline filter so I think thats all good. She fires straight away so I'm not seeing fuel starvation type issues from cold or anything. Might be just worth checking the timing (flywheel key) and the magneto to flywheel gap. Should have mentioned I checked this also, the flywheel key is intact and flywheel in good working order. The magneto is very tight to the flywheel I'd guess a few thou at most, but it's caked in light dust and doesn't look like it's moved since I've had it. Everything's tight on it, the only issue I've noticed is a bit of a crack in the lacquer where the HT lead joins the magneto. Could you tell me what the proper magneto gap should be? Many Thanks, Tom.

Hi Guys, I'm new to Arbtalk, but have been a long time lurker. I'm a chainsaw fanatic normally, but dabble in other things and used to work on Ag Machinery, these days I work in the construction sector. Anyway, last week my Hayter Heritage 13/30 (Briggs 210000 OHV) ride-on started playing up whilst mowing, coughing/spluttering when under load, I immediately knew something wasn't right so stopped mowing and put her in the shed. Now then I've replaced and checked a lot including:- Deck rebuilt with new Jackshaft as the bearings in the old one were showing some signs of wear (but not dead yet), but that didn't cure anything (much to my wallets annoyance). Further investigation showed that the mower was getting really hot, really quick even from stone cold, as little as 10s running the exhaust is >100 deg C. This would normally indicate lean running I thought, so off comes all the filters, cleaned/replaced (Air, Fuel) - not better, so new spark plug - still no better and finally all new fuel (perhaps not the most logical of orders). Anyway after all this it's still the same. Starts and runs fine for 1-2mins until it's really rather warm and then starts to splutter (at which point I've been turning her off to prevent cooking it). It also won't idle at low idle setting which is something it always used to be fine at, it'll idle for maybe 5seconds before dieing. So back to diagnosing this, after all the above I'm starting to suspect the carb is causing it to run lean, so Nikki carb comes off, stripped, checked and given a liberal soaking in carb cleaner, nothing obvious amiss, reassembled and mower fires up right away, but 30s later its starting to miss and getting toasty again. So lastly I'm thinking it must be a valve issue, so check the engine compression in case we have some stuck/leaking valves, compression = 130psi!!!! Quite a bit higher than I was expecting, but more is usually better. So next valve clearances are adjusted per spec (.005" and .007" accordingly) , still no better. Right, so off comes the head and I'm greeted with 10 years to relatively sooty black carbon build up (not too surprising really), so now it's all been cleaned (head, piston & valves) and all back together...fired it up and still the same! GRRRR! I'm at a total loss now beyond trying to find a complete new carb (which seems very expensive), doing a further engine strip incase it's a Camshaft issue (hard to believe given it starts so well) or taking it to the local mower centre and paying £32/hr for them to sort it which I'm a little loathed to do on something I should be able to fix myself being an engineer! Would appreciate anything obvious I might have overlooked. Thanks very much, Tom. PS. This forum is awesome, Gardenkit and Spuds threads have helped me rebuild several saws saved from the scrap pile!