Why not a HEAT ALERT WARNING?

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max2cam

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I don't mean to be a trouble-maker or demand the impossible or anything like that, but since I just fried a piston in my Solo 690 milling chainsaw this question has been bugging me.

Why don't chainsaw manufacturers put in a Heat Alert System into their products?

As I understand it, over-heating is a main cause of chainsaw failure, either from an incorrect (lean) carb setting or from an over-lean condition due to unexpected and neferious air leaks.

It would seem to me that a heat sensor placed in a stratigic location within the cylinder (or better yet in the piston), arranged so that a red LED light turns on when operating temperatures reach danger levels would be a very useful chainsaw feature. An auto shutdown device would be even better, but more complex and costly. A simple and obvious red LED would work just as well. Maybe it would blink at you wildly, the message being: "Hey moron, if you don't shut me off PDQ I'm going to melt down or seize up on you! Okay, you asked for it!"

Obviously, there must be some kind of insurmountable technological hurdle that makes such a simple and obviously useful feature such as a Heat Alert System totally impossible. Otherwise you'd think every chainsaw built would have such a critically useful feature. After all, these little 2-stroke engines are running wide open at 12,000-13,000 rpm and aren't lubricated very well to begin with. As far as I know none have a Heat Alert System, at least mine don't. Why not?

Thank you for listening and I'd appreciate hearing your comments. Some of you guys know a lot more than I do.
 
I'm not sure about it being a critically useful feature, given the number of saws out there that don't melt down.

It would be interesting to see how such a plan would work, though. Considering how lean saws are set from the factory, would they have the sensor go off right and left on a like-new, factory-fresh saw? Or would they set the temp point higher, well into the danger zone range?
 
pining pre detnation is good sensor. fuel/air will burn out of time before its compressed because its atmosphere is so hot.

i can remember doing desert races on my kx125 running sandwashes 5th gear pinned for miles and miles and hitn the kill switch keepn here pinned when it started pinging fuel no burn cooled, still burned that thing up countless times and wrecked my brains out at 60mph more than just a few times. won a few races though ;)
 
Good idea but in practice...not good.

I can't believe the cost of the new saws and I would NOT pay a $200 premium detonation/heat sensor cost. For the price/weight/complexity etc it would add to the saw, I can cook it and rebuild a couple of times.
 
I think it would be a good idea also or at least some kind of safety shut off before the saw destroyed itself or caused damage.
 
Don't they all eventually burn up milling? some can just take it longer than others?
 
I cant remember...

Isnt there somekinda sticky thing you can put on and it change color at a certain temp range??? I cant recall what it was.....
I remember cutting in the summer time when it was hot with my dad and his Pro Mcc 55 would get hot and you could hear the gas boil....Now that was hot!!!!!!!
 
I'm not sure about it being a critically useful feature, given the number of saws out there that don't melt down.

It would be interesting to see how such a plan would work, though. Considering how lean saws are set from the factory, would they have the sensor go off right and left on a like-new, factory-fresh saw? Or would they set the temp point higher, well into the danger zone range?

Maybe I'm biased having just overheated and melted a piston without any warning that it was coming.

I'm thinking there must be a range of temperature above safe normal operating temp but before the oil layer vaporizes and the piston melts or whatever exactly happens due to too much heat. So the sensor would operate somewhere in the danger zone, but less than the melt-down zone. An engineer would know what this would be in theory.
 
Maybe I'm biased having just overheated and melted a piston without any warning that it was coming.

I'm thinking there must be a range of temperature above safe normal operating temp but before the oil layer vaporizes and the piston melts or whatever exactly happens due to too much heat. So the sensor would operate somewhere in the danger zone, but less than the melt-down zone. An engineer would know what this would be in theory.

Get a tach and tune the saw correctly, and even a bit fatter than "correctly". Cheaper and more effective than any add on gauge would be.

Mark
 
pining pre detnation is good sensor. fuel/air will burn out of time before its compressed because its atmosphere is so hot.

i can remember doing desert races on my kx125 running sandwashes 5th gear pinned for miles and miles and hitn the kill switch keepn here pinned when it started pinging fuel no burn cooled, still burned that thing up countless times and wrecked my brains out at 60mph more than just a few times. won a few races though ;)

If I understand you correctly, it would make sense to frequently close the throttle while milling to draw cool unburned mixture over the top of the piston, etc. to cool it.

In fact, I used to do that because an old guy told me to. Plus the old Harley-Davidson rider guides of the 1930s-40s said to do it. But milling this year I did not do it. Sort of forgot & in a hurry to finish.

Would it have saved my piston? I can't say, but in future I will go back to that practice.
 
In an automotive sense, I HATE idiot lights, in a situation like this, however, I'd welcime one, great idea!!!:clap:

Thanks. In this case I'd rather HAVE an idiot light than FEEL like an idiot having scorched and galled an expensive piston and maybe a cylinder....
 
Good idea but in practice...not good.

I can't believe the cost of the new saws and I would NOT pay a $200 premium detonation/heat sensor cost. For the price/weight/complexity etc it would add to the saw, I can cook it and rebuild a couple of times.

I don't think it would have to be expensive at all. A heat sensor, wire, and an LED basically. Still, since we ain't got it, there must be some impossible hurdle...maybe.
 
I think it would be a good idea also or at least some kind of safety shut off before the saw destroyed itself or caused damage.

A safety shutoff was my first notion. My little Honda engine on a generator has a low oil shutoff. Why not a heat shutoff on tempermental 2-stroke chainsaw?

But considering cost, maybe an inexpensive LED warning light would work just as well, you'd think.
 
if it was that close to melt down, shutting it off would most likely seal the deal...

I wondered that too. Is the meltdown temp nearly the same as the working temp?

That's hard to believe. There's gotta be a rising hazard range as the metal overheats and losses its integrity or the oil starts to break down. At least enough warning to throw the saw into the snow or into a bucket of water.

There was no indication this was going to happen, so any kind of warning would have helped....
 
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