Bolt on drill start adapter for Stihl MS 440, 660, 880 and 090 chainsaws

[moodnacreek]

I remember seeing a Remington with no rewind, it had a power cord with alligator clips. The operator either packed a battery or never got more than 10 feet from the truck. ;D I am surprised they sold any.

Do you remember the Mc Cullough's with electric start? The add showed a man in a tree starting one. Early to mid '60's.

[sawguy21]

I do but I sure am not big enough to climb a tree with one of those brutes.

[quadrider550]

It's been done before, in some form or fashion, what's different than some of the electric starter conversion kits other have built?

I don't like starting a saw either, but with the higher horsepower units, it's unsafe to not have two hands on them at all times during the starting transient, and when they are running.  Positive physical control of the power head as well as the saw chain is crucial, and holding a 7 hp machine that's designed to cut thing into pieces, quickly, with only one hand, even if on the ground, while starting it using a device that requires my second hand is not something I would do.

However, if the saw was temporarily captured in a stand or holder while started, then it would be safer.  At that point, two hands could be on the starter.  

From an engineering standpoint, an overrunning clutch on a small electric motor is the simple and standard way to do this, and I have started many internal combustion engines with an overrunning clutch on an electric drill or even a two handed electric starter.  

Very similar to the You Tube video except this person used a disengaging fixture instead of a clutch.

https://youtu.be/CwNlhqpVg3I

If the starter system was internal to the saw, such as the Easy Start, then that would be the ideal situation.

Just my thoughts.    

My starter is internal, not direct drive, and only engages one way so there is nothing to go flying when engine starts or try to spin the drill out of your hand and risk injury as the engine speed outruns the starter. I have been starting my MS660 with drill in left hand and right hand on the throttle dead cold with no choke or decompression used. Just hold throttle wide open until it fires (with chain brake on of course) and once started work throttle until RPM is stable. Once warm one quick spin of the drill fires it back up. The only thing is of course you need to bring a drill...but who doesn't have one of those these days. Thanks for your feedback.

The overrunning clutch can be either external or internal.  I had assumed it would external and on the drill, so as not to modify the saw, which is a hit on resale.  However, it still requires an electric drill so is a two piece design.

Two hands on the saw, one hand on the drill, but better if two, and I'm out of hands.

I assume the pull cord is still available and usable, most saws will start one pull when warm, so using a drill to start a warm saw is a no go for me.

Still not sure if this is a State of the Art or Prior Art.  

Do a literature search, and see what comes up.  However, disclosing in public before filing is generally grounds for dismissal.  

I made this for myself as an intellectual challenge for fun but everyone I know that has seen it wants one. I'm deliberately not disclosing any specifics about the design but I can say that my design replaces the stock flywheel cover and the starter clutch is all internal of the cover with a hex drive that sticks out less than 1" from the outside of the cover. From what I've seen out there as far as drill start "adapters" for chainsaws my design is something completely new and like nothing else I've seen available anywhere. It is the only thing that can be said to be "practical" in any meaningful sense of the word. It really makes starting my MS 660 ridiculously easy. What I'm trying to accomplish with this thread is to determine how many people here would be interested in something like this. I chose this site do this because because the people on this site are the people that I would market this to if I decided to mass produce it. 

[btulloh]

I would be interested. Just using it to cold start some saws would be useful to me.  

It sounds like you need to have a different version for each model of chainsaw based on the clutch cover design. How does that affectyour time-to-market for developing and producing the different versions required?  What production process will you use to produce the clutch covers?  

There's a lot that goes in to developing a new product, production, distribution, service and support. I wish you well with the endeavor (and anyone taking the product development journey).

Just a suggestion, but it may be useful to either change this post to the survey-type (if that's possible) or start a new topic as survey post - maybe in the chainsaw area instead of the sawmilling area.


(Correction - it's called a POLL not a survey. Button is right after NewTopic button.)

[quadrider550]

I would be interested. Just using it to cold start some saws would be useful to me.  

It sounds like you need to have a different version for each model of chainsaw based on the clutch cover design. How does that affectyour time-to-market for developing and producing the different versions required?  What production process will you use to produce the clutch covers?  

There's a lot that goes in to developing a new product, production, distribution, service and support. I wish you well with the endeavor (and anyone taking the product development journey).

Just a suggestion, but it may be useful to either change this post to the survey-type (if that's possible) or start a new topic as survey post - maybe in the chainsaw area instead of the sawmilling area.


(Correction - it's called a POLL not a survey. Button is right after NewTopic button.)

You are correct that each adapter would be model specific, but since I'm only interested in making these for the big bore models for Stihl (at first) there's only a few models (MS 440 through 880 and 090) that would have to be made. I already have a working prototype for MS660 and the basic design is easily modified and applied to each additional model. I've already started doing this and when I get further along and have working adapters for all the models and get enough interest I'll look into switching to high production. My background is in 3D CAD design, machining, and manufacturing so I already know how I'll do it but for now there's still work to be done before I'm ready for that. I didn't know this site did polls. Thanks for that, I'll definitely look into it. 

[Parrott]

Wondering where this project got too.  Any prototype photos or videos?