Thursday, November 29, 2012

Rings



My knowledge of chainsaw anatomy got a little deeper today. First the saw experienced a relapse in the arterial department. It died in mid cut in the same way it did once before. I explored and found the pulse pipe had deteriorated again, this time beyond saving, so I tried a bit of the gas hose from an old TIG torch. That worked for a while, but it was not up to the high temperatures and began to leak as it grew loose. I then remembered I had saved the hoses from a bike we dismantled as part of the tidying and attached one of them. Again the beast revived, but once again succumbed. This time I met firm resistance trying to pull the starter rope, but there was still some movement back and forth for the engine when I took the guide off and removed the bar. I dug deeper and had a poke in through the spark plug hole with a magnet, found shavings and then a tiny fragment of steel. Got the exhaust off and looked into the cylinder to find a section of piston that looked nasty. Had the cylinder off and found that the piston rings had both split to bits.
Found the number for a local repair place on the web and was told the saw was too old for them to source parts, went on eBay and I have now ordered an overhaul set that should bring the thing back to life. I guess I should be thankful that it was the saw that gave in and not my various jippy joints. I suppose I could give up and buy a new saw, but it does seem a waste. If the current modest outlay doesn't succeed in reviving the thing I will have to admit defeat and buy a new one.
I got the larger of the two logs sawn up into five planks usable as bench tops, but the last, number six, left like the keel of a ship on the cutting blocks was not really wide enough. I can get on and shape the five I have while I wait for parts and the yard is clear enough to drop in more firewood for chopping. So not too tragic a result. While the saw was running it did seem like a fairly good system.
As darkness fell, so did the rain.