I've been playing with engines of all types and sizes for at least 25 years, so I freely admit to not spending too much time reading my chainsaw User Manual. I also admit to willful abuse of all my tools. It's not that I don't take care of tools, but IMO, if a tool can't withstand use at extremes, it's no use to me.
Intentional, informed abuse is one thing, but abuse by ignorance is something I now need to admit:
I haven't had any big chainsaw work recently so although I knew it wasn't running anywhere near it's best, I hadn't taken time to investigate, I had adjusted the carb but it hadn't helped.
The recent thread about reading sparkplugs got me thinking, so I finally got around to taking proper look. I opened the cover, looked in and thought "what's that plastic box on top of the carrb?" Surely it couldn't be an air filter, because I'd read in the manual that this saw used the centrifugal force of the flywheel blades to clean the air... right? Somehow I'd got the idea that this saw didn't have an air filter, an idea that was quickly correcting itself as I unscrewed the box and examined it. The valleys formed by the pleats were completely filled with sawdust, it wasn't even obvious that this was a pleated filter. Five years, regular use, and this filter had never been looked at! In all honesty, it's a credit to the designers that this saw ran at all. I cleaned out the filter, reset the high jet, and wow!
Don't try this at home. Apologies to all saw lovers.
TE
Intentional, informed abuse is one thing, but abuse by ignorance is something I now need to admit:
I haven't had any big chainsaw work recently so although I knew it wasn't running anywhere near it's best, I hadn't taken time to investigate, I had adjusted the carb but it hadn't helped.
The recent thread about reading sparkplugs got me thinking, so I finally got around to taking proper look. I opened the cover, looked in and thought "what's that plastic box on top of the carrb?" Surely it couldn't be an air filter, because I'd read in the manual that this saw used the centrifugal force of the flywheel blades to clean the air... right? Somehow I'd got the idea that this saw didn't have an air filter, an idea that was quickly correcting itself as I unscrewed the box and examined it. The valleys formed by the pleats were completely filled with sawdust, it wasn't even obvious that this was a pleated filter. Five years, regular use, and this filter had never been looked at! In all honesty, it's a credit to the designers that this saw ran at all. I cleaned out the filter, reset the high jet, and wow!
Don't try this at home. Apologies to all saw lovers.
TE