Yep, that's pretty much the way things work. To protect the environment from smog produced by chain saws, carburetors are to be adjusted only by factory authorized experts, or by anyone with an eBay account: I find it hard that the accumulated smog output from small engines would be significant, especially when compared to automobiles, industrial output, and bovine flatulence, but so it is written into the law.
Incidentally, I was just taking a break from chewing up some lumber scrap with my nice new Stihl MS180 chain saw. The only user accessible carburetor adjustment is the idle speed. No problem with a new saw, but if I ever rebuild the carburetor, I'll surely need to adjust the low and high speed screws.
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Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Greetings Jeff, Does your new saw have the wind up starting feature? Several years ago I bought a new Stihl MS180 C that has this feature and the no tools required chain tensioning and bar removal system. I bought the saw manily for the wind up starting because of bad arthritis in both wrists. I love the saw. It still starts easy and changing chains and cleaning the sawdust out is super easy. I think Stihl is now making a larger saw with the same features and I need to go shopping to see. The only problem with the saw was when the oiler stopped working. I called the local Stihl dealer for advice and he said to pour out the bar oil, replace with fuel mix, run the saw without the bar attached until the fuel mix starts coming out, and the dump the fuel and replace with bar oil. His advice was good. Eric
I'm still having a hard time believing it. The web site mentioned in the press release: has disappeared and is being redirected to edmunds.com. I wasn't able to find the actual report. Nothing on the Edmunds site under "research". However, the video is still on YouTube: Seems to be for real, but I still would like to see the numbers and details.
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Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
No. Mine is just the MS180 with no extras: There's also the MS180C-BE which has the Easy2Start and the "Quick Chain Adjust" features: I don't see the MS180C on the product list any more.
Good reason. I kinda wish I had that for a rather dumb reason. The rear handle (the one with the trigger) is too small to fit my steel toe shoes. There's no place to stand on the handle while starting. The right side of the handle has a knuckle guard that will fit my shoe, but that means I have to start it left handed. For now, I put a length of 2x4 through the handle and stand on it when starting, but that's going to get old rather quickly.
So far, I really like the MS180. It's very light and cuts fast. Power is acceptable, but I'm having difficulties learning how to start it properly. Maybe I should read the manual. I wonder if the Ez2Start device can be added to the MS180.
This is my first Stihl saw. My others are a motley assortment of Husquvarna, Homelite, McCullogh, junk, etc. I have about twice as many saws now.
In the "Homeowner" series: Plenty of others in other series. Just look for the C-E suffix.
Yech. I do that a little differently. I have a spare bar oil cap with a hose barb screwed and glued into the middle. I attach a vinyl hose to the barb, with the other end to my air compressor. 30 psi will usually be sufficient to blow out any sawdust and oil mix. That happens if I store the saw for a few month, and the bar oil turns to tar. You might look into trying a different brand of bar oil.
I still have about 1/4 cord of firewood from last year. The problem is that it's all 18" long and my wood burner will only take 16". It's going to be a very noisy and tiring weekend.
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Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
My saw must be the -BE model. It just has 180C printed on the starter cover. I am pretty sure the Ez2Start assembly can be added to your saw. It looks like you just swap the starter cover without the EZ start with the EZ start caover assembly. Starting the saw is kinda strange. You just pull the starter handle slowly and when it has wound up enough it turns the engine over. So it takes a little getting used to. But I love it. Both of my wrists are bone on bone joints now so stuff like starting high compression engines is hard on them. But I also live on 10 wooded acres and need to saw stuff up, like when a tree blows down and blocks the driveway. Eric
The video claims that a Ryobi leaf blower belches pollutants at about
8 times the rate of the automobile. That's serious. I can't verify the method used, but I do know something about garden equipment. Ryobi is near last in terms of quality. I would be a bit less skeptical if they had used name brand equipment for the comparison.
"Regulations for Emissions from Small Equipment & Tools" (EPA)
"National Emissions from Lawn and Garden Equipment"
I've discussed the situation with the local saw shop mechanic. He attends the various factory training seminars where emissions issues are discussed. He claims that if the feds or California enact any of the proposed emission standards, most everything sold (except very small engines) will need to switch to 4 cycle engines to comply. Part of the logic is to make the standards 10x more stringent that required on the assumption that in the field, emissions will increase with the age of the machine. Husqvarna has delayed switching to 4 stroke with their X-Torq engine, which offers a substantial reduction in emissions, but not enough to meet the proposed standards. He also notes that battery powered tools are a slick way around the emissions problems. I've been thinking of converting an AC powered electric chain saw to running on battery power. Yet another projet.
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Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
snipped-for-privacy@whidbey.com wrote on 9/14/2017 11:48 AM:
How do you tell when the bar lube is blocked? I had a saw and was never sure, so I'd stop it periodically and lube the bar. I only used it once in a blue moon so rather than deal with the hassles I gave it to a friend. Now he doesn't want me to borrow it, lol.
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Rick C
Viewed the eclipse at Wintercrest Farms,
Starting my Stihl(s)... Deep breath, lift the saw to about chest height, then yank up with the left while *dropp ing* the saw with the right, for added speed. Starting with the saw statio nary is harder for me.
About a year ago I bought me a MSA 160c which is a battery powered saw (now superseded I think) and OH! While pricey as hell & small it is competent a nd pleasant to work with. Doesn't stink. Starts as long as there is charge in the pack. No noise unless it is doing work. My most used saw now. It starts with the pull of its trigger :-)
Battery powered is certainly an option. I've got a few mikita battery powered tools. The wife couldn't use the chain saw but wanted to trim up small stuff.. (say a max of ~4" diameter.) I bought her a makita battery powered chain saw*. Now even I use. It's lighter and only runs when your are cutting something. I
George H.
*as a birthday present.. I know I'm a bit of a stinker buying tools for the wife for her birthday, but in my defense she really likes it! And the trails through our woods are well manicured.
There's a problem. I would never fill the oil reservoir because I would never use it enough to empty it and it would leak everywhere the saw sat.
When you cleaned the oiler by filling with gas and dumping it, where did you dump it? That was my other problem, emptying the tank when I was done with it for the year or two...
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Rick C
Viewed the eclipse at Wintercrest Farms,
One pretty good indication is when the saw runs out of fuel and the bar oil tank is still almost full. The saw is designed to use fuel a little faster than bar oil. I imagine all modern chain saws are designed this way. So when the saw runs out of gas both the fuel tank and the bar oil get filled. Another indication of lack of bar oil is that the bar will get hot and you will see sap on the bar starting to brown or even smoke. Eric
The bar oil that was in the tank went back into the bar oil jug. The fuel mix that I dumped was used as fire starter for the pile of small branches and leaves that are too small to stack for firewood. Every time I cut up trees there are lots of small branches to get rid of and they get burned in our fire ring. As do the blackberry and salmon berry canes. We live on 10 wooded acres and have only about 1 acre cleared. But keeping that one acre free of berry canes means lots of canes get burned every year. And I never run out of firewood because it seems like there is always a hemlock or two that blows down or an alder or three that needs to be cut down because the tree(s) has become dangerous. Eric
It won't work. Apparently it also requires a new flywheel and starter assembly. There's no conversion kit available. Here's an article (2 pages) with the details on how it went on a Stihl MS250 saw. Account required to view the PDF's.
Glad it works for you. I'm still in fairly good shape so hopefully that won't be a requirement for me. However, I'm lazy and would probably buy an electric start conversion if there were such a thing. I've often thought a removable ratcheting hand crank start, like in my former Land Rover Series IIa might be easier than a string pull.
I live in an overgrown redwood and douglas fir forest. However, my days of dropping trees are in the distant past. These days it's construction scrap, clearing smaller trees, brush clearing, and trimming oversized firewood. I probably spend more time repairing other people's saws than using my own.
Sigh. I big branch came down in the last storm. While cleaning off the roof today, I noticed it had bashed in the 2x6 T&G roof and split one board. Tomorrow will be dedicated to gluing the mess back together. Yet another normal day in the deep dark forest.
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Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Remove the bar and chain. Chain oil comes out of a hole that mates with a corresponding hole in the bar that only goes half way through the bar (i.e. the hole is only on one side of the bar). Run the saw without the bar, chain, or cover, for about 60 seconds. You should see oil slowly dripping or exiting as a small mist out of the hole in the body. If nothing comes out, it's clogged further upstream or the pump is trashed. Lots of YouTube videos on testing and fixing chainsaw oilers:
More common is that the oil hole in the bar is clogged with a mixture of oil, dirt, and sawdust. This would probably be a good time to clean out the bar groove, dress the bar, remove the sharp edges, flatten any dings, lube the sprocket, etc. No need for the specialized tools. Just a scraper that fits in the groove, hand file, and trisquare. If the lack of oil has caused the bottom of the side plates on the chain to wear and the edges of the bar to mushroom into sharp edges, you may need to have the bar squared and the groove deepened.
Also, it helps to flip over the bar to extend the wear life. Most people don't like the way the saw looks with the manufacturers name inverted on the bar, but that's a small price to pay for extending the life of the bar.
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Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
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