500i squashed. With a vengeance.

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All I read today are technical books concerning welding and heavy fabrication as the technology (and cost) is rapidly expanding.

He's feckless for sure (and a bona-fide criminal) but then so are the current majority of senators and congressmen as well.

The principle of representing the electorate is long gone, replaced with greed, corruption and self servant attitudes. There are some good ones, but most are turds today.

I shouldn't have started this comment as it don't belong in this sub forum anyway so I need to digress or a mod will delete it.

We seem to be on the same wavelengths anyway.
Indeed.
If anyone can help me locate the replacement part I need (is it called the casing) I could try to just replace it with an OEM part and call it good. I can’t get a schematic that identifies a part number.

Thanks all
 
Indeed.
If anyone can help me locate the replacement part I need (is it called the casing) I could try to just replace it with an OEM part and call it good. I can’t get a schematic that identifies a part number.

Thanks all
You shoule be able to get your part number on line under parts list for that saw
 
That sounds really exciting, but you lost me at Lathanated Tungsten.

It might be better to lift the saw to the space station and weld it in an oxygen vacuum…but I’d use kryptonite as the gas shield.

Either way, it sounds like you know your stuff…and both ways sound really expensive.

My other thought was to get a new saw casing and have someone rebuild it, if there are even parts available
Doesn't sound to me like he knows his stuff. I have welded on magnesium motorcycle cases. Use AC sure would help with an advanced welder penetrate/clean adjustment and other controls. He left out the part about bake it for an hour first and what temperature to pre heat it to. Cast magnesium can have a bunch of impurities or elements added to make it really dirty. I would think the other guy suggested would be a better source of advice.
 
Just a reminder guys, posts with political content will be deleted or edited out at the discretion of the moderator. Any member that habitually posts political content in any threads other than the Political and Religion forum will have warnings and points awarded to them. Please keep political content out of the chainsaw forum.
 
Go to post #4 and private message that person.

Click on the hyperlinked member in post #3. Do send private message.

It seems in post #22 you are hoping for someone with a used case half or set of cases to contact you in a similar fashion.

I would guess getting the case half free from the saw and shipping it and not losing any pieces in the time the part is out for repair is going to be involved.

You were able to get another tank but want someone to look up the part number for a case half which is kind of puzzling. I don't even know if Stihl recomends replacing cases as a set or will sell one side.
 
I understand that in theory but don’t have that level of skill. Any recommendations on someone who knows the saw can give me a bid?
Or should I just run the saw as is?
I wonder if it would be that bad to use if there were a way to strap it all together just so it would stay in one piece. I have one of these saws, and it is so smooth that you might not even notice that lack of antivibe, especially in the big cuts this saw is made for.

Either that, or go back to the dealer and see if they'll cut you a bit of slack on a replacement and take what is now a parts saw in trade. Or you could part it out and make back most of the cost of a new one. That is likely how I would approach it, because welding whatever weird super light alloy that is, on pieces that thin, well, I know the way I swing saws around when I get a bit tired, I'd be loath to trust a weld that sketchy. Or if it has sentimental value, strip the paint and pack a big wad of JB Weld in there and hope it holds? I'm just throwing out ideas, and hoping you're able to get a good solution together. Also, glad you were able to keep yourself out of the way, because last I checked, JB Weld and Tig or Mig don't work so well on protoplasm.
 
reverse polarity TIG

DCEP?
eek7.gif
Sounds like a good way to vaporize the tungsten in about half a second. I'd use AC, like with aluminum.

Doesn't sound to me like he knows his stuff.

Me neither.
 
Parts are available just not Chinese parts, buy Stihl OEM.

You have to 'submerge' the entire part in Argon before welding in a metal tank and Lathanated Tungsten is the electrode by the way if it's Magnesium. If it's die cast aluminum, you can use straight Tungsten and 100% argon shielding gas. I always use a water cooled torch with superflex hoses. None of that stuff is cheap today from the TIG machine to the water cooled torch to the water cooler itself but we do certified welting here as well as custom machining and CNC plasma cutting and everything today is expensive and getting worse, why small outfits like mine are folding up, cannot afford to stay in business and customer like to take their good old time paying too. Hell, I took 4 increases in steel, aluminum and stainless cost this year not to mention consumables cost. Even my utilities went up and our insurance for the shop and farm jumped 30% as well. Getting harder to eat and keep the shop running and pay my 2 employees. Thank the load, most everything is paid off and what isn't I pay no interest or finance charges on either. In fact, if cannot get deferred interest or finance charges waived, I don't buy it. I keep the older stuff that is paid for unless I can sell the old stuff and at least break even. Just bought a new TIG welder and 2 plasma cutters, one for the CNC plasma table and one for the shop to hand cut stuff. Sold my old Lincoln Square Wave TIG weld pak machine and my HT 89 amp plasma cutter to a guy up town (that has money and wanted them and I gouged him too. I went away and bought 2 new machines a a new refillable 120 Cu.ft. bottle of 100% argon and put 2 grand in my pocket. The Lincoln was old technology and the HT was as well plus the HT consumables have gotten priced out of sight, so they are gone and forgotten about. My new machines are all IGBT inverter machines, no heavy transformers and all 100% digital readout with memory inside and the cost was a lot less too and IGBT machines are much more efficient on energy consumption as well. Things like food and hard goods are only going to get worse.

You're making it sound much more complicated then it really is. You run AC, pure argon just like you would for aluminum. You use more gas flow with a larger cup to get better gas coverage since magnesium oxidizes easy so you need coverage like you're welding stainless. Any tungsten will work, I used to use pure on my sine wave tig or 2% thoriated for light amp. I mostly use 2% Lanthanated on my square wave tig but Ceriated seems to have a little better light amp arc starts.

Here is a case I recently fixed for @Swogg

IMG_5393.JPGIMG_5394.JPGIMG_5402.JPGIMG_5404.JPG
 
You're making it sound much more complicated then it really is. You run AC, pure argon just like you would for aluminum. You use more gas flow with a larger cup to get better gas coverage since magnesium oxidizes easy so you need coverage like you're welding stainless. Any tungsten will work, I used to use pure on my sine wave tig or 2% thoriated for light amp. I mostly use 2% Lanthanated on my square wave tig but Ceriated seems to have a little better light amp arc starts.

Here is a case I recently fixed for @Swogg

View attachment 1154563View attachment 1154564View attachment 1154565View attachment 1154566
That is remarkable work. Do you think the OP's case would weld up strong on those thin pieces of webbing? I know I couldn't do it.

I remember some 056 Mag 2 cases where these bolt holes on the flywheel side were kind of hogged out. I fixed them with JB Weld and a ring of copper tubing in the center, which I thought was pretty clever use of my limited knowledge. I didn't use the saw enough to see if it would hold up over the long term.
 
That sucks sorry to hear it! Modern saws are very lightly built, this video compares old and new 660’s for reference, but the 462 and 500i are both very weak structrually compared to their predecessors:


But then, none are made to take a 30" tree falling on them. jmho :cool: OT
 
That is remarkable work. Do you think the OP's case would weld up strong on those thin pieces of webbing? I know I couldn't do it.

I remember some 056 Mag 2 cases where these bolt holes on the flywheel side were kind of hogged out. I fixed them with JB Weld and a ring of copper tubing in the center, which I thought was pretty clever use of my limited knowledge. I didn't use the saw enough to see if it would hold up over the long term.

Yes, there is nothing stopping you from adding extra weld to strength it up. Besides the center of the weld is going to be stronger than the original cast material, it's the heat effected zone next to the welds that is always the weakest point after. So I often add buttressing with weld.
 

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