Breaking in a new saw?

[treesmith]

I'll give you an example, I've had two new 200ts of my own, the first one I hung in a tree for a tank at idle and then a tank at half throttle as advised by some self appointed chainsaw ex spurt. The second a few years later I ran flat out in wood from the get go.

Anyone want to guess which one was never quite as good as it should have been?

 

[bikemike]

I have my own beliefs of new new break inn. I give it a bit of warm up time and let it load up a bit, I don't piss rev a new engine. I run more oil in the mix. I also run a Lil fat for a bit to keep Temps cooler. After a bit it's balls to the walls

 

[treesmith]

Every stihl tech I've seen has no qualms about holding a new saw at flat out WOT, one high level instructor did it in front of me with a used 880

 

[bikemike]

But I'm that guy that breaks inn a top handle in 12 to 14 inch wood. My saw runs great cuts strong and nice and clean looking,,,,inside the saw

 

[7sleeper]

How I do it?
I start the saw and put on my helmet, adjust my hearing protection and put on my gloves and then cut. After the cutting I put my saw on the ground, take off my hearing protection, helmet and gloves and shut it off. That is in my eyes mostely adaquate "warm up / cool down time". Further I prefer for the first filling smaller wood (~10-20inch), but none the less I go WOT through it. After that I go for full length bar wood. If I don't have any at hand, I just noodle through some smaller trunks to give the saw some "work out" time. BTW this is "noodling"



and the noodles are the best firestarter that I can think of. Just make sure to dry them spread out on a sunny day. When dry I just stuff them then into garbage bags for storage.

7

 

[bikemike]

How I do it?
I start the saw and put on my helmet, adjust my hearing protection and put on my gloves and then cut. After the cutting I put my saw on the ground, take off my helmet and gloves and shut it off. That is in my eyes mostely adaquate "warm up / cool down time". Further I prefer for the first filling smaller wood (~10-20inch), but none the less I go WOT through it. After that I go for full length bar wood. If I don't have any at hand, I just noodle through some smaller trunks to give the saw some "work out" time. BTW this is "noodling"


and the noodles are the best firestarter that I can think of. Just make sure to dry them spread out on a sunny day. When dry I just stuff them then into garbage bags for storage.

7

I'm with you on warm up cool down period. Cold piss revin isn't nice on internals.

 

[bikemike]

breaking inn the echo 3 winters ago

 

[Gugi47]

Everybody have their own way to do things.
None of them are bad. But you have to make your own way. Like I do.
I read all the posts and then pick out the ones they sound good.
I add this much here:
New engine. Take the spark plug out and drop 5-6 drops of synthetic oil in. with the plug out pull the starting 10-15 time so the oil get in the grooves (piston-ring)
Reinstal the plug, turn ON and let to warm up. After that start cutting. First tank of gas I do 30 to 1 and 10-15 sec. WOT.
Good luck and enjoy you new toy.

 

[bikemike]

Everybody have their own way to do things.
None of them are bad. But you have to make your own way. Like I do.
I read all the posts and then pick out the ones they sound good.
I add this much here:
New engine. Take the spark plug out and drop 5-6 drops of synthetic oil in. with the plug out pull the starting 10-15 time so the oil get in the grooves (piston-ring)
Reinstal the plug, turn ON and let to warm up. After that start cutting. First tank of gas I do 30 to 1 and 10-15 sec. WOT.
Good luck and enjoy you new toy.

Yeah I like heavier mix ratio. Won't use full synthetic on break inn. But I do like these new oils today

 

[Full Chisel]

The warm up procedure is good advice. I always let my saws idle for a full minute or so, then piss rev until the heavy burble at WOT starts to fade, then put it in a cut. You don't want rapid temp changes on a cold engine...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I have my own beliefs of new new break inn. I give it a bit of warm up time and let it load up a bit, I don't piss rev a new engine. I run more oil in the mix. I also run a Lil fat for a bit to keep Temps cooler. After a bit it's balls to the walls

not too many procedures other than what I have stated would be how I would do it, but this post here, imo... is also a sound way to start off a new saw's new life... I like it.

I also cut WOT, then back of throttle to mid rpm range or so, gives the hot, hard working piston a chance to add in some add'l oil while not under such a high load. giving the engine a bit of a 'breather'... takes some of the heat off the piston, lets skirts oil up some... as after all that 'break' is 3-5 seconds and at event speeds of WOT and 225 cycles per second... 3-5 seconds is, well... imo... a welcome relief for the engine. but that is just me. but I see these hot, ported saw vids scream thru a 24" limb/trunk WOT and then do the up cut right after that cut, then another... and on....

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

How I do it?
I start the saw and put on my helmet, adjust my hearing protection and put on my gloves and then cut. After the cutting I put my saw on the ground, take off my hearing protection, helmet and gloves and shut it off. That is in my eyes mostely adaquate "warm up / cool down time". Further I prefer for the first filling smaller wood (~10-20inch), but none the less I go WOT through it. After that I go for full length bar wood. If I don't have any at hand, I just noodle through some smaller trunks to give the saw some "work out" time. BTW this is "noodling"



and the noodles are the best firestarter that I can think of. Just make sure to dry them spread out on a sunny day. When dry I just stuff them then into garbage bags for storage.

7

> and the noodles are the best fire starter that I can think of.

good tip! I will remember it. I have some noodling coming up with some new oak I 'skid roaded' in other day.... here are 2 other good fire starting tips I have found to work very well, too:

- I recycle my used cooking oils from kitchen into med sized model airplane fuel squirt bottle, add in some gasoline 80 oil 20 gasoline or some charcoal starter fluid... set up fire, paper, kindling, twigs, starter stix... squirt in some of my 'home brew' fire starter and usually use wooden matches... and nail the liteoff perfectly every time. the oil brings in a fast hot flame and heat... i have mostly used it outdoors for campfires in Brutus. indoor lites so well with cedar kindling... but as to the oil mix, imo: bullet-proof!

- only because I have so many... all the time... never catch up, only maintain... I will grab a handful of pine needles and lay it in on top... they burn real hot and help draw the lower level starter fire up and add some fast, ferocious heat...

 

[Shagbark]

Under manufacturer's warranty or rebuilt used saw, I usually give it a little more mix oil for a couple of tanks. I don't baby it in any other than cleaning it once in a while. Used saws- tune to my mix ratio and she'll go or blow.

 

[The Famous Grouse]

Hi everybody. Greatly appreciate all the advice. I knew going in that there's going to be some variation in recommendations.

I've long been in the habit of letting engines come up to operating temp before working them hard. I do this on everything, airplanes, boats, tractors, chainsaws...

I specifically did NOT want a saw that had been assembled and test run by the dealer. I asked for and got one in a sealed box. I didn't want to take a chance on some 16 year old shop boy messing up the new saw and then having me get home and discover what happened and then get blamed for it. I've had an issue with this before where a shop boy assembled a lawn mower and then forgot to add oil to it before he started it. He then didn't want to own up to his mistake so he just put it out on the showroom floor and guess who bought it?

I'm going to run the new saw on about 40:1 to get a little extra lube. I saw no harm in adding a little oil to the cylinder, so I shot some fogging oil in there just to lube her up and make sure she wasn't going to get started dry.

Then I'll warm her up and start cutting. I'll be ready to tweak things like the H/L and the idle, those always seem to need adjusting.

Another thing to mention. I didn't think about the bloody carb adjustment screws and how the friggin EPA forced all the makers to make these non-user-friendly. Luckily, my Husky 445 uses the same tool as the one I had to hunt down to adjust my Husky trimmer bought about 7 years ago. So I got lucky there, but just pointing out that the day of being able to tweak your own carb with a flat bladed screwdriver are over. I'm sure the EPA saved us from untold levels of global calamity by making this much needed change.

I'm looking forward to getting the new saw down/dirty soon.

Grouse

 

[svk]

You guys aren't making this complicated enough...

Ok so just gas and go? There’s really no danger of scuffing for lack of lube on cylinder walls?

Grouse

During assembly an engine does get assembly lube applied to all critical moving parts so things don't get damaged upon initial startup. 2 cycle mix is lubricating whatever it touches from the minute it touches it. I'd start it up, let it idle for a short time to warm up the engine and then get to cutting like you normally do. Like the other guys said you want to seat the rings because it you don't it will never run as strong as it should.

I think the companies who recommend that their 2 strokes be babied for X number of hours/miles/tankfuls are probably doing that as a CYA so the owner/user can baby it at first to familiarize themselves with the product for safety reasons rather than any real reason to protect the motor.

PS Love the username.

 

[svk]

Hi everybody. Greatly appreciate all the advice. I knew going in that there's going to be some variation in recommendations.

I've long been in the habit of letting engines come up to operating temp before working them hard. I do this on everything, airplanes, boats, tractors, chainsaws...

I specifically did NOT want a saw that had been assembled and test run by the dealer. I asked for and got one in a sealed box. I didn't want to take a chance on some 16 year old shop boy messing up the new saw and then having me get home and discover what happened and then get blamed for it. I've had an issue with this before where a shop boy assembled a lawn mower and then forgot to add oil to it before he started it. He then didn't want to own up to his mistake so he just put it out on the showroom floor and guess who bought it?

I'm going to run the new saw on about 40:1 to get a little extra lube. I saw no harm in adding a little oil to the cylinder, so I shot some fogging oil in there just to lube her up and make sure she wasn't going to get started dry.

Then I'll warm her up and start cutting. I'll be ready to tweak things like the H/L and the idle, those always seem to need adjusting.

Another thing to mention. I didn't think about the bloody carb adjustment screws and how the friggin EPA forced all the makers to make these non-user-friendly. Luckily, my Husky 445 uses the same tool as the one I had to hunt down to adjust my Husky trimmer bought about 7 years ago. So I got lucky there, but just pointing out that the day of being able to tweak your own carb with a flat bladed screwdriver are over. I'm sure the EPA saved us from untold levels of global calamity by making this much needed change.

I'm looking forward to getting the new saw down/dirty soon.

Grouse

My Husky 450 was tuned perfectly from the factory. I know some other brands/models are notoriously rich or lean to accomplish one objective or another. Give it a little bit and then see if tuning is even necessary.

 

[chadihman]

Let it warm up by blipping the trottle a bunch of times then run it loaded hard for 20 seconds or so then let it cool. Repeat a bunch of times. Loading an engine is nessesary for propper ring to cylinder break in. A loaded engine has more pressure on the piston. The pressure pushes the rings harder against the cylinder wall. Reving a new engine is bad! This could cause the rings to glase over and prevent them from ever properly seating. Load it don't rev it!!!

 

[farmer steve]

from my 036 STIHL Manual. and that's a fact Jack.

 

[Cody]

I think the companies who recommend that their 2 strokes be babied for X number of hours/miles/tankfuls are probably doing that as a CYA so the owner/user can baby it at first to familiarize themselves with the product for safety reasons rather than any real reason to protect the motor.

I've always thought that myself. When I bought my ZX-10R I was told to keep it under 4000 rpm for the first 500 miles, and under 6000 until 1000 miles or something like that. I would see it as a newbie getting use to it or something of that sort, it ended up seeing 150 mph it's first day.

 

[svk]

I've always thought that myself. When I bought my ZX-10R I was told to keep it under 4000 rpm for the first 500 miles, and under 6000 until 1000 miles or something like that. I would see it as a newbie getting use to it or something of that sort, it ended up seeing 150 mph it's first day.

I had a 95 Indy XLT brand new. I ran that thing up and down the side of the county road until lakes were safe and babied it for 500 miles. Even though it was a 600 CC it wasnt as fast as a lot of the older 580 XLT's. I always wondered if that break in hurt me.