Gluing window-screening on the inside-edge of your saw's flywheel-covering? [pics]

***I know it sounds wacky but hear me out I promise it's not trolling/nonsense (though calling it "gluing" may've been a tad click-baitey, am obviously doing a very meticulously-prepped&executed epoxy installation not Elmer's-Glue and hoping for the best ;D )***


Ok so this is in-context of climb-saws/top-handles, my saws & I are covered in chips more-often-than-not and after a miracle-restoration of one of my units I did this 'body mod' to it (can only speculate on specifics as I got saw in-lieu of $25 payment for a climb from a dorkhead "manager of small tree Co" in my area as he was short $$ and presumed it was totaled / beyond-repair, as many would and I feared, but thing's ignition-module was mangled & dangling from spark-plug wire & grounding-wire, presumably smashed-off when the 2 missing flywheel fins got knocked-off..after somehow, to my own surprise, I was able to restore/improve/put-in-service that unit, I considered screening flywheel covers a "duh" move, something I'd intended on doing to my other/smaller climb saw and hadn't gotten to but then....then I went and got a new Echo 355t!! Thing is my baby it's not even a week old (but I'd planned on this unit for ages, just didn't have-need but hey stimulus $$ figured I'd treat myself early!), I've got 2.2hrs run-time on it and on Sun I brought it on a job for some light-work and it (obviously!) was a treat but I just went to start it's 1st clean&sharpen and when I saw the wood-chips just now I thought "You idiot you should've screened that on 1st-round modifications before ever going-out with it"

But I've never had a unit that redlines @14.5k RPM lol... I am very very confident in my "gluing", I'd used generic/basic Loctite 2-part epoxy (3k PSI) for the 1st saw's screening, same epoxy I'd used on its "rubber feeties" (~5x5mm rubber square-strips I epoxy onto bottom of case, so I don't have to worry about being overly gentle putting them down on concrete/asphalt) and they get bar-oil, then brake-cleaner spray fluid, then bar-oil repeatedly for probably 6mo since I did all the work restoring the one w/ the screen. This time I've got a different epoxy though, but it's JB Weld's strongest 2-part plunger-type epoxy (5k PSI, "steel reinforced epoxy"), gonna do an even-more-anal job of prep and meticulous placement/epoxy-thoroughness when applying....still can't stop thinking "you should at least tap a few holes to physically-affix it before epoxying, so if epoxy failed it wouldn't suck-in" but that seems a fools'-errand given the dimensions we're talking here..

My "tanaka tcs33edtp", got w/ no bar/starter-rope/stuck shaft/smashed ignition/recoiler reinstalled upside-down by some idiot/etc, has gone roughly 6mo now after that and has been a treat (just heavy!)

Close-up of a section, as you can see I'm not just 'doing the borders' I'm affixing it entirely, the surface-area to work with here is huge:

And in just going outside to test a new bar&chain setup the other day cutting-up some logs, it was clean but went to:


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So when I went to work on my 355t - for 1st time ever - just now, I cringed when I saw:

the^ large piece ready to go in, then thought how many others surely went through... it's only got 2.2hr run time since purchase 6d ago but almost all of that was breaking-in @home I can't imagine it got more than 20min run-time on Sunday when it went to its 1st(&only) job so far....I'd imagine debris breaking flywheel-fins which then break ignition-modules would be covered since wood-chips are as-expected/normal-use-case but I hope to never need to go back to my dealer (for my 355t, am going back for a coupler for my pole-saw on my next day off/project day )

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Thanks a ton for any thoughts, am gonna clean it up now but won't need to decide on it til tomorrow as I dislike Echo's bright-orange scheme and am gonna take flywheel-cover & clutch-cover (not muff-cover) into an RIT "Dye-More" bath, around 1.25-->1.5 days of room-temp soak with their Sapphire Blue ($5@walmart) gets Echo orange-reds to a cool plum and then deep purple depending how long you leave it, gotta do that before epoxying anyway....and wanna make new dogs, and new muffler-exit-plate (and rubber feeties ;D ) so will probably have it apart next couple days -- although since getting it with its 14" Echo bar&chain, which I immediately swapped w/ my Tanaka's 16" Oregon VersaCut setup, the shorter/better bar&chain has breathed some new life into the tanaka!! (as well as making a new "bar-retention plate" for inside-edge of clutch-cover-casing, the metal plate that holds the chain-tensioner, my OEM one was pretty mangled so a new/stiffer/larger plate there gives far better tensioning-ability than before Next up will be jamming rubber wedges to disable his AV/antivibe mountings, AV is usually too-much but it's insane on this thing it's like jello

 

Oh and re "restricting air-flow"... I removed my spark-arrester (am in FL) so net-net a screen still leaves less "throughput resistance" than OEM/stock... *But*, FWIW, I'll eventually be carving/grinding holes/slots/etc in the plastic housing around the air-filter assembly, I've done this on all my saws I have holes which I then "fortify" with mesh first and filter-paper second, so the air-filters/air-intakes have access to more, cleaner air than the hotter/dirtier spew they get shot-in by the flywheel's discharge, which on this saw - with it's "g-force" air-cleaning-system (ie centrifugal force pushes-particulates to edge & they're dispelled, a feature still verrrry useful for the sub-1mm particles going past my screen! Though to be honest I'm uncertain where, exactly, they're supposedly dispelled, not like there's a flywheel-exhaust there's only a tube to the air-filter-housing giving it dirty/hot/slightly-pressurized air, which is why I love screening its input to 1mm & adding large filtered openings for the air-filter so it's never restricted due to air, honestly I see this as kinda "hand-in-hand" with muff-modding ie opening up everything after the block's exhaust-outlet to be at-least the circumference of that outlet, no 'choke points' as it were....still awaiting confirmation on whether back-pressure has any use in these engines, posted to stackxchange yesterday so should have answers soon, the muff on this 355t is insane it is 100.0% EMPTY just a hollow box with an entry-port mating to the block, and a single exit-port on the muffler's front that's wide-open except for a "restricter plate" which holds the spark-arrester and has a very small louvered opening, like they've literally made it simple-as-possible to "turn-up" the specs on this saw!! Verrrrry unexpected considering the 330t muffler I'd removed a couple weeks ago had a giant honeycomb right at the entry, thing was jammed-up, have never seen a 100%-open can like the 355t am dying to do the muff I'm just uncertain Re keeping any back-pressure, and also uncertain whether a 2-stroke can suck-in particulates via the block's exhaust-outlet-port, ie if you put a unit w/o a muffler on a pile of sand, would sand get-into that cylinder via the exhaust-port or is there 100.0% always-positive pressure coming from that port? Keep picturing a piston going up&down and an always-on (100.0%) exhaust-pressure, instead 'taking in' only via its throat and expelling-only via exhaust & impulse line..

Again thanks for any help/thoughts on pitfalls I may be approaching with my "screened flywheel-covers" approach, my 355t is a long-time dream and I wouldn't go buy a 2nd if I broke this it's "an extra saw" no matter how I look at it, a failed screen of this sort would certainly mangle the flywheel & possibly destroy the machine, but so far as I can tell a reallllly proper prep (scuff-sand like 100g at first then a quick roughing with like 60 grit, clean & isopropyl) & then the second it dries I start laying section-by-section, spreading epoxy onto the inside-case-edge's plastic and placing-down a section of screen onto (working piece-by-piece from the singular, overall filter- it's not multiple, separate pieces it is 1 or 2 pieces depending on layout of inside-edge of that casing) After fully placing it & 24hr cure, I go-over again with same epoxy to 'overlay' the screen, sandwiching' it in epoxy, am gonna make some test-to-failue samples but testing-by-hand shows incredible strength and that was w/ regular Loctite 3k PSI epoxy, the Echo 355t will get JB Weld's "steel reinforced" which is almost 2X as strong...if anyone knows about glues/epoxies/resins/etc I'd be eager to know, just getting-into "playing with Bondo" and epoxies and honestly I look at the 5k PSI "steel reinforce" and wonder "Is it higher raw/tensile #, but also far more brittle?" because then a "more flexible" 3k PSI would be better on a hot, vibrating machine! Gah now I'm not going to be able to do this til I learn Re epoxies.....will get it in the RIT dye today so I can epoxy tomorrow once I've learned more, dammit I got the "steel reinforce" explicitly for "use w/ my 355t" and now I'm realizing I didn't even think "flexible v tensile strengths", am gonna crack the steel-reinforced stuff now so I can get some cured asap so I can see how brittle/ductile it may be! Hell the 3k PSI Loctite holds the big rubber feet on my 2 "daily driver" climb saws and I'm always 'rough on it' intentionally trying to feel-out the epoxy and it's held despite the oils, solvents & physical abuse!

 

The only thing I would be concerned about is if / when you screen material gets clogged with chips is that you get reduced cooling to the engine. The engine needs all the air it can get to keep in proper operating temps.

 

Interesting idea for sure. Welcome to FHC!

 

As Steve says, I'd worry about chips filling cubby holes and reducing air flow. Seeing a noodle hanging out of the recoil has never bothered me one bit.

 

Look into the flow dynamics of just the screen then add in chips, it is quite interesting how much a screen will impede air flow.

 

I agree with Steve 100%.

No need to reinvent the wheel. So much success as manufactured, I'd leave as is. After every use, compressed air will keep things clean. Another issue I see, if you are clogging with wood powder, which appears on the one pic you posted, the chain isn't sharpened properly.

 

A friend of mine just mathed out an exhaust screen, his calculations came out to 30% blockage. Not quite the 40% we all strive for but...