How to clean a chainsaw? The question for owners of these tools is not idle. Gas chainsaws under some brands are not cheap. Yes, the flip side of such high prices is the exceptional reliability of their mechanisms.
But no matter how reliable the mechanism is, if it is not taken care of, not cleaned and not lubricated, it is sure to go out of order. And this statement fully applies to chainsaws.
They work in quite harsh conditions. The gasoline engine is constantly in operation experiencing overload associated with maintaining a specified speed when cutting wood. The chainsaw creates a cloud of wood dust around itself, which inevitably settles not only on the body, but also on the internal nodes of the mechanism.
Our owner’s manual makes it necessary to clean the chainsaw regularly.
- Preparing to Clean the Chainsaw
- How Should Clean a Chainsaw
- How to Clean a Chainsaw Carburetor
- When to Flush The Carburetor
- When Flushing The Carburetor Is No Longer Meaningful
- Useful Tips: The EASIEST Way To Clean A Chainsaw
- How to Clean The Air Filter
- How to Clean a Chainsaw Muffler
- How Do You Clean And Sharpen a Chainsaw
- What Else Should You Look For When Cleaning a Chainsaw?
- How Do I Sharpen My Chainsaw
- Bar Care
Preparing to Clean the Chainsaw
For this reason, make these arrangements before you do any of the cleaning steps below:
- Chainsaws – Drain the fuel tank and remove the spark plug.
- Battery-powered chain saws – Pull out the battery.
- Electric chainsaws – Unplug the power cord.
How Should Clean a Chainsaw
Chainsaws can be cleaned as a whole or individually. In the first case, the chainsaw clean body and all its surfaces are cleaned of wood dust and other dirt adhering to them. It is desirable to perform it regularly, immediately after the completion of the work.
But regular cleaning does not negate the need to clean its most important components and mechanisms, among which the air filter, carburetor, spark plug and muffler are the most vulnerable.
Because of the tough conditions in which chainsaws work, the air filter is essential for them. They keep the engine clean and therefore protect it from damage.
Depending on how dirty the air filter is, it can be cleaned by either blowing it out or washing it in soapy water. For better blowing, you should buy a can of compressed air designed for cleaning the carburetor. You simply blow the air filter from the inside with this can. The jet of compressed air will not only free the filter screen from dust and dirt, but also from the moisture inside the cells.
You should clean your chainsaw filter every time you finish using it. And it does not matter how long you worked with it – even half an hour, even a few hours.
If the air filter is heavily contaminated with any oily substances or dirt, it should be washed in soapy water. Instead of soap, you can take an ordinary dishwashing detergent, for example, the same “Gala”.
Cleaning the carburetor is a more complicated procedure than cleaning the filter. Often the owners remember about the cleaning of this device only when the chainsaw refuses to work: after turning it on, it immediately stalls. This means that the carburetor is contaminated to the point of total impossibility!
To clean the bar, the carburetor is removed from the chainsaw body and disassembled. After disassembly, you will most likely find that the sump is full of debris and the diaphragms are clogged with oily dirt.
If the dirt is not so critical, you can clean the carburetor by blowing it out with compressed air. To clean the bar and membranes from dirty oil, you can use a universal cleaner. In principle, there are many such cleaners in stores now, and therefore their specific name is not so important.
For very heavy soiling, the cleaning procedure is as follows:
- Step 1. With a stiff brush, clean off dust and dirt from the place where the carburetor is installed, including the recess where it is inserted;
- Step 2. If there is an oily film on the surface of the carburetor and chainsaw body, it is removed with a clean, dry rag;
- Step 3. Make sure the membranes are cleaned with universal cleaners;
- Step 4 cleaning. The carburetor is washed in warm soapy water to clean the internal surfaces of oil and dirt.
- Step 5. After performing all these procedures, the carburetor is assembled and installed in its place.
- Cleaning the muffler is also an important procedure that will directly affect how comfortable the chainsaw will be to operate. This mechanism can get soiled by poor-quality machine oil or an improperly tuned carburetor. Because of a very thick soot, the chainsaw may stall or not start at all.
- The way to clean the muffler from the soot will depend on whether it is collapsible or not. In the first case, it is disconnected from the chainsaw and the fouling is scrubbed off with a stiff wire brush and then treated with fine sandpaper.
- If your chainsaw has a non-detachable muffler, it will be a little more difficult to clean the fouling off. On the Internet you will find a lot of tips on how to perform this procedure, from fairly simple, such as treating the muffler with acetone, to very exotic, such as to apply for this purpose fine shot. But we recommend using special cleaners.
How to Clean a Chainsaw Carburetor
Cleaning the chainsaw carburetor should be done according to the following algorithm:
- Step 1. First you need to drain the rest of the fuel from the gas tank. Remove the chain saw and spark plug cover by unscrewing the fasteners. Take out the filter and disassemble the body, removing the nuts and locks if necessary.
- Step 2. Remove the fuel mixture hose from its retainer, unscrew the fasteners of the upper carburetor cover. Then remove the top cover and the blue gasket, which is the fuel pump diaphragm. On the left side of the body there are spring brackets, make sure remove them and then the screws. It is desirable to sign the parts and fix schematically the places from which they were removed, so as not to confuse anything at the time of assembly.
- Step 3. We remove the lower cover of the carburetor, unscrew the screw and remove the needle valve and the spring under it. Then with a longitudinal force remove the air damper and its axle.
- Step 4 cleaning. We remove the choke shutter, drive lever and throttle axle.
- Step 5. Lay all the removed carburetor parts on a level surface and inspect for intactness. Make sure parts with a high degree of wear should be replaced with new parts.
- Using a specialized cleaning agent, wash the parts and dry them with a lint-free cloth. The tubes should be blown under pressure with a pump.
- To achieve the maximum effect to clean the carburetor on the chainsaw, you can use a special bath-cleaner, based on the cavitation effect. The bath is filled with diesel fuel, and carburetor parts are immersed in it for a few minutes. At the end make sure we dry the parts with a pump.
- After all items are dried, it is necessary to make sure assemble the carburetor. Usually the detergent completely evaporates in 24 hours. It is better to wait 24 hours after cleaning, because detergent residues on the parts may get into the fuel compartment and emit toxic gases during combustion.
- Another important nuance related to chain saw disassembly is that the needle valve paddle must be installed and adjusted extremely accurately, otherwise the chain saw may not start. To check the correct setting of the paddle, you can use a blade. Putting it on top, see how freely the paddle rotates. If there are no problems, then all is in order – you can continue with the assembly. If there are still problems, the petal must either be pressed or the edge of the petal must be bent.
When to Flush The Carburetor
There is no strict time limit for cleaning the carburetor, bar and chain, so this procedure should be done when you see the first signs. In order not to have to guess what is the cause of certain chainsaw clean malfunctions, you should pay attention to some factors. These factors indicate the need for carburetor flushing work of the tool:
- When there is difficulty starting the engine
- When there are interruptions in the work of the ICE – the revolutions float, the unit does not develop full power, as well as unstable idling is detected
- Sudden deceleration after a hard push of the trigger
- If a chainsaw starts but immediately stops when the engine speed is increased.
- If you see black smoke coming from the muffler.
- If you notice an increase in fuel consumption
- If the adjustment procedure does not produce a satisfactory result in the normalization of the engine operation
- If the engine works in the cold, and when warmed up, it begins to fail
- It is worth noting that it is not recommended to disassemble this mechanism without an appropriate reason. Upon detection of the first signs of failure of the device, it is necessary to immediately intervene, as postponing repair in a long box contributes to the accelerated wear of the engine.
When Flushing The Carburetor Is No Longer Meaningful
If after disassembly some factors are found in the form of corrosion deposits (oxidation of aluminum), as well as the formation of warping in the carburetor channels, the usual flushing will not help here. You can use the procedure of washing in a special ultrasonic bath, but even in this case the chances of restoring the performance do not exceed 50%-60%.
Making a conclusion, it should be noted that the necessity and possibility of cleaning the carburetor can be assessed only after its disassembly. Here it should be noted immediately that the carburetor cleaning procedure can be performed in two ways:
- Automatic – washing is carried out in a special ultrasonic bath. The peculiarities of the procedure are discussed below
- Manual – this method is not always suitable, and it is a cleaning of the channels of the mechanism with the help of a special carburetor cleaner. This method is suitable only in cases where there is no deformation of the carburetor channels. If in the channels began the process of corrosion or warping, then here, depending on the complexity of the process, only washing in an ultrasonic bath can help, but not always.
Buying an ultrasonic bath specifically to flush the carburetor of a chainsaw is simply not rational. That is why in this material we will consider the procedure of the manual method of washing. What is cleaning with an ultrasonic bath, also learn from this material.
It’s interesting! Normal blowing the carburetor with a compressor will not do anything, so do not console yourself with the idea that now blow the channels, and the chainsaw will work like a new one.
Useful Tips: The EASIEST Way To Clean A Chainsaw
How to Clean The Air Filter
Remove the air filter. You should clean your chainsaw filter after every use. The cleaning process itself, depending on how dirty the filter is, can be done in two ways:
- The mechanical method of cleaning, which is a blowdown of the fuel filter.
- For a higher degree of contamination, the filter is rinsed in water.
Important: It is forbidden to wash the filter in aggressive solutions: gasoline, diesel fuel, acetone.
How to Clean a Chainsaw Muffler
Timely steps to clean your chainsaw muffler can seriously extend the life of your tool. There are several reasons for a dirty muffler:
- Long service life,
- Poor oil quality,
- Improper carburetor settings.
To check the condition of the muffler, you must remove it and look inside. If you need to remove the muffler on your chainsaw, you must remove the muffler mount, the muffler, the muffler plate, and the deflector.
If you find soot inside the muffler, this problem is solved in two ways:
- Mechanical method (cleaning is carried out with brushes, sandpaper and special tools). This way is possible if the muffler is dismantled.
- In the case of a non-disassembled muffler, special detergents are used, in which the muffler is soaked for several hours.
How Do You Clean And Sharpen a Chainsaw
Check the cleaning the chain tension before each long run. It should be neither too tight nor too loose.
- Before each time you cut wood, check the amount of chain oil and whether the chain is lubricated at all. Sometimes sawdust can clog the oil supply. If there is lubrication, this can be easily checked.
- Start the saw.
- Turn it on at a high RPM.
- Bring the end of the guide bar a few centimeters closer to, for example, the piece of wood you are going to cut.
When bar groove cleaner is properly applied, oil particles will “drip” off the end of the saw. If the work piece is dry after a few seconds, that’s not a good sign. You should check that the oil channels are not clogged with sawdust, that there is oil in the tank and that the oil feed adjustment is set correctly (you should check this according to the instruction manual).
Please note! Proper chain brake lubrication is one of the most important things without which your saw will not work well (an unlubricated cleaning the chain will overheat and wear out very quickly).
You must also be careful not to catch nails, stones or even the ground with the chain (e.g. when cutting scattered branches in the garden). Just one hit on a nail or stone is a reason to sharpen the chain. The ground causes the chain to dull and slowly destroy the guide bar.
It is better to give the chain brake to someone who is good at it for sharpening. The cost of the service is small. And, besides, if you even want to sharpen the chain yourself, it is a waste of time. After all, you will not have it sharpened as well as a specialist who has already sharpened kilometers of such chains. Of course you can try electric chainsaw sharpener, it can help you in this task.
A well-maintained saw – with a well-tuned engine, sharpened chain, even a cheap one, as they say – “cuts itself”. Even if it will not be a professional chainsaw, it will still help you do such hard work.
What Else Should You Look For When Cleaning a Chainsaw?
Remove dust from the cylinder windows, combustion chamber, piston grooves, rings and piston bottom every 25 hours of operation. Clean the guide bar grooves – you can use a small screwdriver for this and a wire for the oil holes.
If you notice that the tool’s performance has decreased, the muffler or fan disk may be clogged, clean it. From time to time, we recommend turning the guide bar and checking the sprocket and clutch. Open corroded areas should be lubricated with oil. If you plan to put the tool in storage for a long time, we advise you to mothball it.
How Do I Sharpen My Chainsaw
Sequence of actions:
- Fix the chainsaw securely. To do this, place it on a flat surface or table. You can also use a log, or a tree stump. The main thing is that the surface is flat and stable. This promotes ease of follow-through, safety, and getting the right angles.
- Pull the chain on the rail so that it does not sag or dangle.
- Engage the brake and clamp the rail using a vice or a special clamp. Buying a clamp will be especially important for those who are going to saw wood in the woods. The light weight makes it easy to carry, and the sharp ends go easily into the wood.
- Check the resource mark. If the top cutting surface of the tooth and the mark on it are aligned, then the saw headset needs to be replaced.
- Select and mark the primary link with a marker. It should preferably be in the middle. Some manufacturers already have it marked in a different color. Husqvarna, for example, colors it gold.
- The sharpening is done in the “away from you” direction, parallel to the special marking. The number of strokes and the force of the strokes should be the same in each case.
- The sharpening should be carried out at an angle of 90° to the guide. The file should be rotated slightly during sharpening for even wear.
- The teeth are ground at an angle of 30°. A holder and a template will help you maintain this angle. They are marked with the direction of movement, which greatly facilitates the process and improves the result.
- Use a gauge and a flat file to correct the height of the limiter.
- Repeat the adjustment for the next links, remembering to engage the brake to avoid injury.
- After you have corrected one side, turn the saw 180° and sharpen the other.
- The top blade and the angle formed by it is the main one.
Bar Care
Every few hours of operation, you need to move the bar 180° so that both sides are producing about the same amount.
The bar sprocket must also be lubricated every time you fill the tank so that it lasts long and normally, for which almost all stores sell special syringes to lubricate the sprocket.
It is very common to hear the advice that if a “dented groove” has formed on the guide rails, you should smooth it out with a file, but if the bar is from a normal manufacturer, then a “file fix” will not do the trick. Moreover, if the perfect right angle between the file and the bar is not maintained, the “corrected” bar will last even less, because during operation the chain will wobble in the runners and break them even more.
We also advise you to read the information carefully and find out how to store chainsaw.
The purchase of the first saw is usually followed by the purchase of the second one. When I realized that I am getting too interested in this topic, I started working as a salesman in this store. I learned a lot of new information every day.
That is how my first and only Blog about saws - Sawcentre.org got created.
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