Thursday, December 24, 2020

Chainsaw chain brake problem

 One of my sons took my chainsaw to the dead walnut tree at the foot of the drive. A plaintive cry accompanied it home: "The chain won't go."

This not being a problem I have hitherto come across, I was foolish enough to pull the chain brake off the chainsaw while it was still locked. It appears everyone does this, and everyone wonders afterwards how to open the chain brake which, once activated, cannot be addressed other than by supernatural means. Someone posted a solution but not for mine, which is a Husqvarna 141. So I had to address it myself, and since there's nothing much else to do on Christmas Day apart from visit the beach and chat to the builders' wives, fathers, children, and other rellies who also dwell on the beach on 25th Dec, I got on with it.

 First to making a wooden box in which the chain brake assembly could be worked on with adequate force. 


Next to insert erroneously locked chainbrake.


Wooden plug in centre where the clutch goes, and with much leverage force on the locking spring applied by screwdriver, add strips of cardboard to gradually pack out the brake band.

Now, with locking spring compressed as much as possible and the brake band as expanded-back-to-size as possible, pull the feeble grey lever very hard backwards, which is, it seems, what I failed to do in the first place.

And finally screw the cover plate back on to stop the spring flying out.

I've missed out the major steps, which comprised trying to work out what to do and how to do it, the mechanism being far from clear and the assembly being impossible to take apart. And I've also missed the exciting moment where the compressed spring slipped free and flew across the workshop, reminding me of Mr Knight's gentle hint the other day - "If you find yourself wondering whether you need eye protection, then you definitely need eye protection."  And I've further missed the bits where the spring had to be held in place with fingers while putting the cover on, but that's because I don't have a third hand to operate the camera.

Okay, that was my Christmas Day. What about yours?



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