Chainsaw Friction drive begins maybe

[deacon]

Okay the chainsaw came today. I have it open enough to tell what's what. So this is what it looks like at this point.

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/5185/cs1h.jpg

I got the bar off and chain off I also have replaced the missing spark plug. I haven't been able to start it yet but I'm not surprised.

It's a 33cc poulan 25xx model. At least I think it's 33 cc. I poured a little gas in the tank probably not enough. Then a little in the plug hole probably too much. So now I'm waiting for it to sit a bit. I am going to try again.

Oh yeah I don't know if you can tell or not but the sprocket is NOT on the outside as I hoped. The clutch is. I found that a #25 chain will turn the sprocket but I doubt that it would last long since there are no teeth inside it. Then again it might still be hitting roller part of the chain. I'm going to have to give that some more thought,

I haven't taken the whole case apart yet. I'm hoping I won;t have to in order to make it work. However all options are open now. If anyone knows anything about any of this stuff jump right in. The more involved you are the better the chance I can make this work.

The engine is very light so the gravity or lift clutch would be easy to manage so it may go that way.

 

[deacon]

As I expected the engine needed more than a spark plug. It does have compression, and the pull starter recoils so those are pluses. I took the case apart a little farther and pulled the carb. when I pulled the carb I didn't find any fuel lines, so I drained the tank and switched the carb for one I have that I know works. The one I have is from a 25cc weed eater I had on the bike and it ran. I had to trim the breather cover but it is on there now. From my store of Weed Whackers I found the best looking tank and ran lines to the new improved chainsaw carb to it. It is just too cold, and too late in the afternoon to bother with it now.

Tomorrow I will try to rig a quick throttle on the carb and start it up. If it starts, I have no idea what my next move will be. I can take the clutch off and weld some kind of nut to the clutch nut to use the skate board wheel then rig a lift or I can try to figure a way to use the clutch on the bike. Since the sprocket is behind, it might lend itself to a belt drive. Anybody have any ideas on any of this.

 

[Build-a-beast workshop]

best trick is to just leave them all together, throw some mix gas down directly in the carb, choke it and keep pulling(for ANY small engine that sat) if it dont even fire off theres no spark. but choking it, and throwing the gas in there usually forces any gunk through the carb. i just got an old remington saw running today in about 10 minutes with the method, after it had sat for near 5-6 years. probably more, it wasn't mine to begin with. your saw has a centrifugal clutch, just stick the outside part on the tire...with a clutch bell that big on the tire, should be geared for some speed. i did my throttle system by connecting a cable to the trigger..seemed the easiest.

 

[deacon]

yes but i had no gas going in through the carb. I pulled it a heck of a lot before I took it apart. But please anything you can suggest Im open to it.

 

[Build-a-beast workshop]

checked that it has spark? cleaned the original carb?

 

[bowljoman]

Spoon feed the gas into the carb. It will start popping and should suck the sludge out enough to get fuel flowing. Countless old kerosene smelling carbs have been brought back to life this way.

 

[deacon]

I'll have to try that if this one doesnt work I already have it on so im going to use it tomorrow/. It might have been just the broken fuel lines i couldn't fine until i took the carb off. I still cant find the lines

 

[Build-a-beast workshop]

there, bowljoman uses the same method, but states it more eloquently...i know a man who pays his mortgage using this method, fixes/sells used gas-powered "anythings".because people throw it out when it dont start up here in jersey.

 

[deacon]

same here most things are carby problems. The one I put on has a sqeeze bulb it should work.

 

[deacon]

even if it works I will probably still fix the other one and replace it.

 

[deacon]

I went out in the cold to look at that carby I took off. It has only one line and I can't find it anywhere. I will try to blow it out tomorrow.

 

[deacon]

I should have added that I cleaned the carb from the weedwhacker by putting cleaner in the gas tank and pulling it through the carb till it tried to start, then I poured out the gas with the cleaner in it and used reg gas and it ran great. That how I know the carb I put on is good. Whether it will power the bigger engine remains to be seen.

 

[deacon]

I realized at 4am when I woke up to empty my old man bladder, that all the controls and the lift for the chainsaw engine, would best work as a front wheel drive. It is lightweight enough to work up there as well. I will have to make my plans accordingly but I think that is the way to go.

My engine test bike is a coaster rear wheel so if I lose the front break it wont be any great loss, I can make the emergency break a hand break on the rear wheel. The rear wheel will just have two breaking systems in case the coaster goes out, or if the chain comes off. God knows I have enough old brake parts around to rig that up. It might be cool to have a front wheel drive anyway. It would work a lot easier should I go for a mountain bike later. On a mountain bike the side brakes might make it easy to attach a motor to that silly harp on the front.

Anyway first order of business get your motor running then head out on the highway... One thing at a time.

 

[deacon]

I am soooo stupid sometimes. First of all I wasted all morning on what I thought was a good carby. It never did put gas on he plug so I switched it for one that had only a couple of hours on it but the wrong kind of throttle system. Just to see if it was the carby or something else god only knows what that could have been. So I pull and pull and pull. Finally I pulled the plug and it is wet. Battle one goes to me finally. Then why wouldn't it fire. Check the kill switch and it is turned to off. Even if the second carby had been good it wouldn't have fired. So now I'm waiting for the gas to dissipate so I can give it another try. I'm pretty sure the gas line on the one that came with it was eat up so it wasn't putting gas on he plug either.

I'm just so stupid, try to start it with the kill switch on, dumb dumb dumb. Well what's couple of hours in the cold, in the great scheme of things. Numb fingers be darned. Get warm, dry out the plug, and do it all again.

 

[Build-a-beast workshop]

a grinder/demo saw....friction drive, in one unit. or stick a sprocket where the grinding wheel is.used the method on this one today,but actually had to take the carb off and clean the inner filter. it ran, but needed adjustments, now it just needs the right snap ring for the clutch drum.

 

[cannonball2]

Saw an interesting friction arrangement on Youtube where the engine was mounted with the shaft vertically so the clutch drum drove the tire sidewall. Seemed to work well, just has to be on the proper side or you will be crusing backwards!

 

[deacon]

I had pretty much talked myself out of building a chainsaw bike when the engine came in and was pure crap. It had a plug missing no big deal. Then the plug was dry, so I switch out the carb for one that worked and it had no spark. I also found out along the way that the clutch didn't work at all. So I scrapped it.

I had decided to buy a friction kit. Then after more thinking, I came back to the same conclusion. I just don't trust those little engines. I would love to have that four stroke harbor freight engine but I can't figure out how to get friction drive roller on it. I really don't want to weld to a new engine. I don't mind welding to a used engine but I hate to weld to a new one.

So what I decided to do was to buy a chainsaw on craigs list. I will make it clear that I will only buy it if the chain saw starts and runs. If I buy it running, I figure surely I can keep it running. So that's my next project to find a running chainsaw that wont break the bank.

 

[cannonball2]

If you mounted say a Briggs 3.5hp lawn mower engine above the rear wheel with the clutch drum against the tire side wall(under tension of course), the drum is your friction drive. Might suck in wet weather though. The lawn mower crank size is 7/8". You can easily bush a 1" clutch to fit. Advantage with the clutch is the engine will idle and the take off would be pretty smooth. I see running mowers of the size all the time for $35-40, cheap enough! Would be heavier than the chain saw engine but probably more reliable in the long run. Just a thought.

 

[deacon]

a good one im sure.... If i don't find a chainsaw soon, I may well go that way but most I see around here are five hp way to much for a friction drive I think.

 

[deacon]

I just got an email from a man who has a 42cc craftsman chain saw for sale. I told him I would bring some premix and if I could hear the saw run, I would buy it. I feel like if it runs it will be more reliable than the kit motor. It just looks like it is flimsy. Of course take the case off a chainsaw and it does as well. Anyway that's the plan right now.