chain so use....newbie

[Huge]

Jesus. And I thought a brush-cutter with circular saw blade was scary.

[Huge]

I look forward to reading your obituary.

[charles]

I have an original Workmate. It was a compniation of alloy and steel. It is solid. The later (cheaper) all steel ones were very flimsy.

[Huge]

+1

[ss]

I also have an original, looks a mess but still works perfectly.

[T i m]

And or woman, our daughter has two (one we bought for her and another she bought for herself for carving). ;-)

She uses one most days at work as she is one of the few people there with all the right 'tickets'.

I bought an electric (chain)saw when it was on offer (B&Q) and she's used it a bit (as she has the training, experience and PPE etc) and whilst it did what we needed (and a bit quieter than a petrol saw) the mains lead is an additional thing / hazard to consider.

Cheers, T i m

p.s. When she was at Arb college I picked up (free) some old power tools for her to strip and possibly fix and use. A few years later she has an interest in such things and tried getting the Stihl leaf-blower going but with no luck. Last night I supervised her stripping it right down and my worst fears came true, some pretty nasty scores down the cylinder, rings trapped in the piston and a very loose big end. It looks like the replacement parts will be half the cost of a new blower but she's happy to go that way as she'll have a (mostly) new blower and have learned a lot from the experience. ;-)

[Bill Wright]

Agreed. I have two fairly modern ones and they are useless for DIY. I just keep them for use as extra tables at party time.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

Also, keep your face to one side so if the chain breaks it won't turn you into Scarface or Blind Jack Without a Nose.

Bill

[newshound]

I have a workmate clone where you can set the two "planks" at 45 degrees, giving you a V slot for the branch to sit in. "Dragging" is an issue but you should be using the spiky bit at your end of the chainbar to stop this happening. Often a good idea to use these spikes as a sort of pivot, and rocking the chain bar downwards to cut. The other big thing to avoid is letting the rounded far end of the chainbar touch whatever you are cutting, this is how they kick back badly.

But don't just listen to my words. My larger chainsaw has quite good written instructions, and there is plenty of stuff on Google / YouTube.

[T i m]

Are you saying you (or one) can't physically start a saw when up a ladder or shouldn't OOI? It's true I have seen the 'groundie' starting (after refueling / oiling) a saw and it being pulled up to the worker in the tree by a rope.

But yes, 'of course' electrics saws have their 'pros', one of which being no con rod (or any reciprocating parts) with bearings to wear out (as we have found in the hand-me-down leaf blower).

Another con would be working all day (any time?) in the rain with an electric saw (I know daughter has worked all day in the rain with the petrol jobbies).

'Horses for courses' ... as with most things etc ... ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Adrian]

The main downside would be either being tethered to a power supply with the risk of cutting through the wire, or the weight and short energy supply of a battery.

Indeed. But, for chainsaws, electrickery seems very much at the hobby/ small garden end of the market.

[Adrian]

They already do.

[Adrian]

And...

Trouble is, five litres of unleaded is an equivalent energy store to a very large battery - about 44kwh - and is much quicker to recharge... On the flip side, a two-smoke is not as efficient at using that energy as an electric motor, sure, but...

[T i m]

Quite ... and why I referenced Stihls cordless offerings. ;-)

Yeah, but I wouldn't say those sorts of things were as big a testament to (commercially) 'useable' cordless tools as say a saw.

;-)

No, as we agreed and just like IC V lektrik cars, lektrik doesn't generally win when compared directly. Now, if you do have an array of solar panels, don't have your own oil well and only need the (limited) runtime (when compared to fuel powered things when you have fuel), then lektrik could well be a (or the only) solution for you.

My plug-in electric car took me to and from work (and home and back lunchtimes) for around a fortnight on a single charge. It also required nearly zero maintenance, was silent and exempt the road tax and MOT. So, for a local / daily runaround it was pretty well ideal (for me and my needs / preferences of course). However, it was no good whatsoever for any journey greater than 20 miles (well, where I didn't also have access to a mains socket and have 8 hours to wait). ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[RJH]

Um - 20 miles, 40 journeys? If you have a mobility issue or carry a load of stuff, yes, of course. But if not, hardly ideal for most I'd have thought!

[T i m]

Yup.

Nope ...

Yup.

It (probably) isn't, but it was all I could afford at the time and there wasn't that big a choice of plug in EVs over 20 years ago.

It was something I'd always hankered after (from a kid and experimenting with mains electric drill powered cycles) and it sorta (like many of our vehicles) 'just came along'.

But as I said, it did take me to and from work (often with 'stuff') for a couple of weeks on a charge and that was the point. FWIW I sometimes walked to work or took the company car (when I knew I would be going out on site for the company). Having the electric car available meant that if I did get called out I didn't have to walk home to get the company car to then drive it back in to load up with kit.

I also mostly used it in the summer both because there was no heater (one benefit of inefficiency in IC engines) but also because it was a soft top ... and the batteries weren't as efficient in the cold.

I still have it but it's not on the road right now. Assuming it hasn't rotted away (it's outside under a cover), it would only take a new set of batteries to 'get it going' again. That's quite an expensive 'only' of course but a definite example of another benefit of electric over IC. In fact when I first got it I was soon reminded it didn't have any points, plugs, air filter, oil filter, exhaust, belts, water / antifreeze ... and a quick check of the lights, tyres, brakes and a drop of distilled water in the batteries was all it needed. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

p.s. Whilst stripping this Stihl leaf-blower with our daughter it reminded me I bought a little 2/ 12V generator (from someone here if I remember correctly?) that seemed like a handy thing to have but has yet to be used in anger. The idea that if caught out with a car with a flat battery away from mains charging ... and no other car / battery to jump start it from ... or camping sufficiently far away from anyone that I could charge a leisure battery with something that wasn't quiet and smoked quite a bit, it would be invaluable. I think it might need some new crank seals so might become another learning opportunity for our daughter. ;-)

[Tim Watts]

What make and model, out of interest?

Because if you say Tesla Model S, I am going green with envy.

[T i m]

I wish! Nothing so exotic I'm afraid, in fact about as far from a Tesla as you can get. ;-(

It's one of these:

Some history:

Except, whilst mine is the same underneath it's actually one of these:

I did consider buying one of the std / saloon models when the last of them was auctioned off but the windscreens were broken on many of them and they were going to cost a lot to have some made ... and with no guarantees how many would come out for all those who paid in. ;-(

So, the 'moke' version was less of a risk that way as it has a flat screen.

I got friendly with the guy who supported them for the Electricity Council and he helped me with a 'modified' contactor setup.

In use it's weird. The first thing that often throws any new passengers it that turning on the ignition key does nothing (apparent).

The second thing is that it pulls away with no (apparent / audible) warning.

The third thing is when you stop for the first time it is again, silent (no engine ticking over), they look at you like you have stilled it.

The fourth thing is when they nearly fall out when you do a 'U-turn' in even a narrow side road. ;-)

The motor stator and rotor windings can be connected either series or parallel (I think) and the 8 x 6V 'monoblock' batteries are permanently wired in series-pairs giving 4 x 12V. When pulling away, a cam on the accelerator switches the motor windings one way (parallel?) and all 4 x 12V in parallel. Pressing the accelerator a bit more re-wires the motor the other way round (making it go faster on the same 12V). Then the motor is switched back as the batteries are switched into 2 x 24V configuration, then the motor wiring, motor wiring back and 48V and to the final motor wiring step. In use and as long as you allowed the thing to accelerate smoothly the 'steps' were hardly noticeable. Bang it straight into 48V and it would accelerate pretty fast (considering) but at the expense of some range.

On the flat at flat out (30mph) it was pulling just under 200A.

I'd like to get it back on the road, even if only to sell but I'd like some of the younger family members that have never seen it have a ride in it first. ;-)

I think the story on the moke version was that they had some unfinished saloon chassis in Greece and someone had the idea to just finish them off with some flat panels. Apparently only 5 or so were made that way so it makes mine pretty rare (FWIW etc).

Cheers, T i m

p.s. The previous owner of mine believed it had been used to drive the Queen Mother down one of the piers on the IOW. He wrote to Buck House on the matter but the reply could neither confirm nor deny the use. Apparently the Moke had been on the IOW at the time and there was a flag mount sized hole on the n/s/f wing. It was suggested it was used because it was a) quiet and b) narrow enough to fit though some bollards. Nice story, even if not provable. ;-)

[Tim Watts]

Wow - that is unique!

So no 0-60 in 3.2 secs ;-)

That was how EMU trains work (well, before electronic control).

There were 2 controls for motive power:

One lever selected in order or speed roughly:

Shunt Series Parallel Weak-field

and the other controlled delivered power via a series of resistors.

I wonder how it would be if you "upgraded" it to LiIon batteries!

[Huge]

The last 10 years (approx) of I/C cars I've owned, I didn't need to know it had points, plugs, air filter, oil filter, exhaust, belts, water / antifreeze, etc. Indeed, I rarely open the bonnet between services. A quick check of the lights, tyres, brakes and a drop of distilled water in the battery was all it needed

Sound familiar?