371 Build for TN GTG Build Off

[srcarr52]

Warning... This is a pictorial story. So for those of you on dial-up... I'm sorry.

I was actually building this saw before the TN Build Off was planned. I've been slowly collecting parts and starting on the porting some 8 months ago but a few disasters struck along the way or I got side tracked. All in all the stars aligned a couple weeks before the GTG and I was able to finish it in time.

Disaster number one you may have all heard me complain about earlier but it was the destruction of my Foredom 55 handpiece and it's back up. With now three demolished 55's and not enough parts to even fix one I decided to break down and call CC Specialties. Needless to say... one week of debating what to do and 3 days of waiting for the new handpiece and I was back in business.

At the same time I order a carbide from CC. I'll have to say that thing is sharp. Really sharp! Mix it with the toughness of the 182MC handpiece and... you guessed it... it's way easy to go too far.

That would work out great if I wanted a nitrous port but this is supposed to be a work saw. Que Mr. Tig Welder. And no making fun of my welds! It's hard to keep a stable arc in such a small place with an ancient sine wave tig.

Might as well weld the other side so I can get the nice flat entrance into the cylinder I was looking for.

To be continued...

 

[srcarr52]

Squish band.

Next I set out to true the squish band. I found that this stock 371 cylinder had a 0.015" step in the squish band. I measured a few more cylinders I have around and it seems to hold true to all of this model. Cheap manufacturing?

Here is the mandrel I made to true the squish band. I think I have mtngun to thank for the idea as he posted his mandrel in one of his build threads.

Squish Before

Squish After

Now using a live center for pressure against the sandpaper I turned the base. I ended up taking off 0.025" to make the squish the proper 0.020" without a gasket.

 

[srcarr52]

With all that done I had 145lbs of compression hot when I sent it off but I only had 1 tank though it. I'll test it again when it gets home. Hopefully it climbed more. If not I'll be making a pop up on the next one.

Here is a picture of the outside transfers after I profiled the welds and bead blasted it. You wouldn't know they are raised unless you knew to look for it.

Finally here is a picture of it wearing a 34" bar on my second test day. Note there is a ported 288 in the box screaming "LET ME OUT!" I don't think it's going to get the use that it once saw anymore.

I've shown the best pictures but for those of you who want to see all the them you can see the album here.
371 Build pictures by srcarr52 - Photobucket

 

[Chris J.]

I'm looking forward to seeing how your build progressed.

Some 'sharing' rep has been sent your way .

 

[srcarr52]

Results

If you haven't been following the TN GTG Build Off Thread here were the results.

Average time per log Oak, size 18.5" (Log Sizes ranged from 15" to 22" )

Builder Owner

#1 Treeslinger 11.338 Cowroy
#2 TreeMonkey 11.408
#3 Komatsuvara 11.783
#4 Simonizer 11. 916 r2"ed
#5 BSnelling 11.936 Nmurph
#6 Tlandrum 12.098
#7 Mdavelee 12.318 Wendell
#8 Eric Copsey 12.498 Hillbilly22
#9 Mdavelee 12.596
#10 BSnelling 12.849
#11SrCarr52 13.298
#12STUMP HUSKY 13.312 Hedgerow
#13Eric Copsey 13.447
#14TLandrum 13.851 Chris J
#15 STUMPIESTER 13.913 Firefighter
#16 lOGGING22 14.930
#17 Stumpy 15.053
#18 Subhunter 16.114
#19 BarneyRB 16.573
#20 Mweba 22.502 Little Possum

Here is a video of a cut. YouTube - ‪19. srcarr52‬‏
You can look through cowroy64's other video for the other horses in the race.

 

[mdavlee]

Nice looking work. I might have to invest in some better tools soon.

 

[srcarr52]

Nice looking work. I might have to invest in some better tools soon.

Having the right tools makes a big difference. When I was younger I worked in a machine shop building engines. I welded a lot of cracks up in aluminum cylinder heads and even reconstructed oil galleys in blocks that had thrown rods. I got used to having the right tools or the tools to make exactly what I needed. Now that I can afford it I'm building my person tool collection.

 

[mdavlee]

I keep putting off buying a foredom and the cc handpiece for buying saws to use it on. I guess I should just break down and get that stuff instead of more saws.

 

[srcarr52]

I keep putting off buying a foredom and the cc handpiece for buying saws to use it on. I guess I should just break down and get that stuff instead of more saws.

If you didn't live so far away I would let you borrow them. I've almost pulled the trigger a few times on used motors on ebay just so I don't have to change the handpiece as much. Also having multiple of the regular handpieces is a time saver.

 

[komatsuvarna]

Maybe Im missing something, but what goes on the end of the mandrel to ''square up'' the squish band?

 

[tlandrum]

ugh,sandpaper lol

 

[komatsuvarna]

ugh,sandpaper lol

Doh, yeah I see it now.

 

[srcarr52]

When I get a mill someday I would like to put a carbide insert in the end of the mandrel instead of using sandpaper. But for now this works well.

 

[mdavlee]

I guess if I'm going to keep working on these saws I should get a foredom and cc handpiece. They do seem like the ticket to work on these cylinders.

 

[Arrowhead]

Nice work.

 

[srcarr52]

I guess if I'm going to keep working on these saws I should get a foredom and cc handpiece. They do seem like the ticket to work on these cylinders.

Yeah the CC handpiece makes short work of everything. Plus the regular handpieces and a foot pedal make normal work very easy.

But like I said in the porting thread. There is a place for the Foredom 55 handpiece.

• Yes the bits are hard to find. I end up buying 3/32" shaft burs and cutting the RA latch part in the shaft.
• If you run a bigger bur on it and snag it you can say goodbye to the u-joint inside the handpiece.
• But the contra angle gets you into places that you never thought you could with minimal bur chatter. The straight 90's have a terrible chatter problem.

My CC 182MC handpiece did just get me out of a major bind on my boat a couple of days ago.
I broke a bolt off on the water intake neck on the transom plate behind the engine due to the particularly great engineering of the Mecruiser Bravo outdrive. With only 3" between the transom plate and the engine there was no way to drill the bolt or weld a nut to it without pullling the engine. So I used my CC handpiece and a 1/8 carbide ball bur to cut through the bolt. Then I used a straight shank to grind the rest of the bolt out till I could run a tap and peel the threads out.

Oh, while I worked at the machine shop as a kid I was the broken bolt extractor extraordinaire. Probably 10-20 bolts on various crap a week.

 

[Stumpys Customs]

Thanks fer the thread. Nice to see how other builders do it. Also see the tools they use. I'm still workin with a dremel that I got back when I was a kid. so far does a good enough job I guess. I'll eventually step it up .

Lots of strong saws in the buildoff. I'm proud to just be a part of it.

 

[parrisw]

Nice clean looking work. Dare I ask how much was that hand piece? I've always wanted one. I get by with my dental grinder with a contra end.

 

[srcarr52]

Nice clean looking work. Dare I ask how much was that hand piece? I've always wanted one. I get by with my dental grinder with a contra end.

You can look it up on the CC Specialties website. But I'll warn you its hard to look through the site and not find many things you'll want to buy.
ccspecialtytool.com | Porting Tools Pay Off

 

[parrisw]

You can look it up on the CC Specialties website. But I'll warn you its hard to look through the site and not find many things you'll want to buy.
ccspecialtytool.com | Porting Tools Pay Off

Nice thanks. Which one did you get, the small hand piece?