Tachometer for tuning saws?

gvd

Hello people,
I am keen to obtain a tachometer to tune my saws. Can anyone suggest a brand and/or source for one? I am thinking of a digital style. Cheers

Done it

Welcome to Tree World.

Where is Samford?

gvd

Thank you for the welcome. Samford is to the west of Brisbane.

Done it

When Amickssuperstore was advertising here, they had a good one:

DTI Tech-Tach. DTI tt-20k. About $90.

newguy18

I can't say what a good one is,i've always tuned by ear.Although i tuned a saw once and took it to the stihl dealer and it was set perfectly to factory tuning specs,by earshot.

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old schooler

MrDiesel

i tried a SenDEC STS-5000 which i got from a hobby shop in Melbourne. About $100 and i think $8 express delivery as i was to eager to have a play.

Zenoah Accessories

The decision maker was the fact that its epoxy coated. I should get it in a day or two so ill let everyone know how it goes

davewarr

Try the DTI Tech-Tach. DTI tt-20k.

It will display to 20,000rpm and will do all spark plug engines. It works off spark plug wire,and can be used wireless or clamp-on. It updates fast and holds max rpm.

It really helps with American saws that have to run so lean because of EPA restrictions, or if you are trying to build a race saw.

Either search for TinyTach.com or DTI tt-20k for their home site, currently they re $85 US

I don't work for them I just like their tach

Dave

newguy18

Are you a mechanic,or just a saw builder?

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davewarr

Neither

I have been working on my own saws for so long that I have tried a lot different things.

Retired from power ling pruning

Now making extra money

MrDiesel

Received my little SenDEC STS-5000 today which gave me a valid excuse to knock off early. It ended up being $112 delivered from Melbourne to Sydney over night. Before i start sorry about picture quality it was taken from a mobile phone.

Out of the box the first thing i noticed was it was turned on. There is no off switch . As the tacho is epoxy coated i guess, when the battery goes flat, i bust it open or throw it out. Wish i knew that before i brought it

Out of the box its ready for use on a single cylinder air cooled motor. If its electronic ignition you need to change a setting which isn't hard.

I played around on an echo blower, a husky 575 with WOJO mojo, and a stihl 192 and saw a couple of interesting things:
1- The little clamp is not worth two knobs of billy goat s**t. As the engine vibrates the clamp moves up and down and the readings fluctuate by as much as 500 rpm at full throttle.
2- The pickup wire is NOT permanently attached so if its gets buggered is easy to replace. I do like that idea
3- The more times you wrap the pickup wire (tightly) around the ignition lead the more stable the reading is. I cut the clamp off within 5 minutes of testing it
4- On both saws when they are full speed and the throttle is released the engine backs off to idle in about 5-10 seconds but it actually takes a further 15-20 seconds to settle at the tuned idle speed. The echo blower took about 8 seconds.
5- Whenever i made an adjustment to the idle speed i noticed that if i gave the throttle a bit the idle speed always settled a little higher by about 100-200 rpm. I couldn't hear the difference in engine speed. (Maybe my ears are buggered)
5- At high speed i tuned to manufacturers spec. When i relaeased the gas and reapplied it it never reached the same rpm. It was always just a little low. I have always started tuning low and tuned up to speed rather than tune down. Soooo it seems that many adjustments are needed to get it spot on ie it took a minimum of 8 cycles to get tuned to the point where i was happy.

For those out there who tune their saws with a tacho i was thinking of putting together a spreadsheet of saw with their idle speed and high speed settings along with the year of manufacture. If you have any details of various saws i would appreciate if you could PM me. When i get enough info to be of any use to people ill make a post on the forum or ask Ekka to post it. (BTW i have most Husky specs which im currently collating)

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gvd

Thank you for your replies - it is appreciated that you make the effort to answer my question - cheers

sharkey

The factory tach is an Opamma.

sharkey

Sorry, I should have looked up the spelling before I posted this. The also make most of the trimmer gear heads and alot of the ignitions.

Manufacturing items>engine tachometer Manufacturing items engine tachometer

Jeff Darby

Mr Diesel,
All the factory settings are in the manual supplied with your saw or blower. the first thing that gets thrown away usually..LOL

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