Better Saw to Replace Echo CS590?

[Paul Bunions]

Now I just need someone to tell me why I don't show up as a supporting member. l may ask for my three dollars back.

 

[Paul Bunions]

Any fool with spare time and a camera....... ignore youtube university of learning- entertainment only you mean?

I have no idea whether she knows anything. I thought she had to know more than I did. She seems to have a successful shop. Her Youtube handle is Chickanic.

I've learned a ton from Youtube. Lots of machining and welding stuff. Very good source for solutions to odd problems, like how to install a new glove box in a certain model of car or how to fix a certain type of "green" toilet that routinely fails.

I don't have a lot of alternatives. I'm from a white-collar family, so I grew up surrounded by people who were helpless with tools. I can't just go and ask my uncle or one of my dad's friends how to fix a saw. My high school didn't have a single vocational class. A friend of mine wanted to work on cars, so he had to get my school's administration to sign a letter saying they offered no shop courses. He took it to a public high school, and they had to let him in.

 

[cookies]

I have no idea whether she knows anything. I thought she had to know more than I did. She seems to have a successful shop. Her Youtube handle is Chickanic.

I've learned a ton from Youtube. Lots of machining and welding stuff. Very good source for solutions to odd problems, like how to install a new glove box in a certain model of car or how to fix a certain type of "green" toilet that routinely fails.

I don't have a lot of alternatives. I'm from a white-collar family, so I grew up surrounded by people who were helpless with tools. I can't just go and ask my uncle or one of my dad's friends how to fix a saw. My high school didn't have a single vocational class. A friend of mine wanted to work on cars, so he had to get my school's administration to sign a letter saying they offered no shop courses. He took it to a public high school, and they had to let him in.

Where are you at in florida, if your near I'd help you with repairs

 

[Paul Bunions]

Really nice of you to offer. Thanks. I'm not in the Panhandle, though.

 

[Exophysical]

Really nice of you to offer. Thanks. I'm not in the Panhandle, though.

Maybe somebody more familiar with the specific model in question could chime in, but heres a few basic steps I take with any small engine that wont run.

-Pull the plug, clean it off with a shop towel if its wet, blow on it or give it a shot of compressed air, maybe leave it off a bit and let the cylinder air out as well.

-Figure out how to get the restrictor caps off of the carb adjustment screws, GENTLY screw them in as far as they go and bring them back out to the reccomended initial setting. If you cant track down the initial setting try 1 to 1.25 turns out.

-Make sure the air filter is clean

-Open the fuel cap to make sure you dont have any negative pressure in the tank.

-Try starting it, use the choke sparingly, if it even pops take the choke off. Might result in a couple extra tugs but you wont flood it. You could also use a spray bottle full of mixed gas to try directly priming the air intake. If it wont stay running, assuming the idle speed was previously set correctly I would try leaning out the low jet.

Keep in mind, this should get you running, but you will need to further tune the carb jets before putting it to work. If it doesnt work then you might have a problem.

 

[OM617YOTA]

Now I just need someone to tell me why I don't show up as a supporting member. l may ask for my three dollars back.

@Arbor1

 

[OM617YOTA]

I have no idea whether she knows anything. I thought she had to know more than I did. She seems to have a successful shop. Her Youtube handle is Chickanic.

I've learned a ton from Youtube. Lots of machining and welding stuff. Very good source for solutions to odd problems, like how to install a new glove box in a certain model of car or how to fix a certain type of "green" toilet that routinely fails.

I don't have a lot of alternatives. I'm from a white-collar family, so I grew up surrounded by people who were helpless with tools. I can't just go and ask my uncle or one of my dad's friends how to fix a saw. My high school didn't have a single vocational class. A friend of mine wanted to work on cars, so he had to get my school's administration to sign a letter saying they offered no shop courses. He took it to a public high school, and they had to let him in.

I've taught myself plenty on YT as well.

YT is a lot like these forums. If you looked at the entirety of what gets posted, it would be 99.998% utter crap, with a very few folks who got popular sprinkled in. Those popular folks are who the YT algorithm recommends to you. Just like here on the forum, getting popular has absolutely nothing to do with being knowledgeable, and I would put Chickanic in this category.

 

[iowa_jim]

OP, I can appreciate the frustration. You just want the son of a gun to run. That's why I went with an Echo 620, having had a great experience with an Echo blower and string trimmer. The 590s and 620s are known to flood easily though. Every saw has a weak spot, after all. The advice given about starting hot or cold is useful, give it a try. For occasional work, go electric. Good luck!

 

[Paul Bunions]

I have been reluctant to mention this, but I already flooded the new saw.

I ran it and cut until it was hot. I put it down. A few minutes later I tried to start it. No choke. No pumping the valve. It wouldn't run.

I know this has to be my fault somehow. I'm afraid I may have to do the unthinkable: read the manual.

That sounds pretty extreme, though.

 

[Bob Hedgecutter]

I have been reluctant to mention this, but I already flooded the new saw.

I ran it and cut until it was hot. I put it down. A few minutes later I tried to start it. No choke. No pumping the valve. It wouldn't run.

I know this has to be my fault somehow. I'm afraid I may have to do the unthinkable: read the manual.

That sounds pretty extreme, though.

either that- or you filled the fuel tank with straight gas.

 

[Paul Bunions]

I have probably burned two ounces of fuel since it was filled at the shop where I bought it. I haven't had to put gas in it yet.

 

[LuDookie]

I have been reluctant to mention this, but I already flooded the new saw.

I ran it and cut until it was hot. I put it down. A few minutes later I tried to start it. No choke. No pumping the valve. It wouldn't run.

I know this has to be my fault somehow. I'm afraid I may have to do the unthinkable: read the manual.

That sounds pretty extreme, though.

What is the new saw?

 

[Paul Bunions]

The new saw is a 562XP.

I gave up and looked at the manual. To start when hot, you have to use the choke. That's different from my Jonsered, or at least it's not what I've always done. When the Jonsered is hot, I just yank the cord and go.

It also says to use the purge valve when the engine is hot. With other tools I have, using the purge valve on a hot engine seems to tend to kill it.

It says not to use the decompression valve on a hot engine.

It's possible I did everything on the list wrong.

So set the choke, purge 6 times, release the choke, start the saw. It says to pull the cord out a little ways before really yanking.

I guess I'll try it the correct way, but I kind of resent having to do it right.

The manual says to put my foot inside the handle when I start it. Has there ever been a saw with a handle big enough for that? I would have to take my shoes off for my Echo and Jonsered. I keep a little piece of wood with me. Saw on ground. Wood in handle. Foot on wood.

 

[Breckinridge Elkins]

So what do all these malfunctioning saws have in common? Possibly the loose nut at the end of the handle?

 

[NSEric]

The new saw is a 562XP.

I gave up and looked at the manual. To start when hot, you have to use the choke. That's different from my Jonsered, or at least it's not what I've always done. When the Jonsered is hot, I just yank the cord and go.

It also says to use the purge valve when the engine is hot. With other tools I have, using the purge valve on a hot engine seems to tend to kill it.

It says not to use the decompression valve on a hot engine.

It's possible I did everything on the list wrong.

So set the choke, purge 6 times, release the choke, start the saw. It says to pull the cord out a little ways before really yanking.

I guess I'll try it the correct way, but I kind of resent having to do it right.

The manual says to put my foot inside the handle when I start it. Has there ever been a saw with a handle big enough for that? I would have to take my shoes off for my Echo and Jonsered. I keep a little piece of wood with me. Saw on ground. Wood in handle. Foot on wood.

What the manual doesnt make clear is that when you pull the choke out then push it back in the saw is on fast idle/part throttle. That's why you use the choke for hot starts. This works on most all saws, they start better hot with a little throttle.

 

[Paul Bunions]

Thanks. I thought it was just a choke. For some crazy reason.

The manual is a little surprising. The quality of the writing is similar to what I've experienced in manuals from China. I score really well on reading comprehension tests, but it mystifies me. I think I know why a lot of manuals end up propping up table legs.

My Jonsered is now in the shop, along with a new OEM carb I bought. I think the Chinese carb is fine, but if the saw is going to be worked on anyway, might as well remove a variable.

Today I had to move a big sweet gum and an oak that were leaning over my fence, past a subdivision bridle path maybe 25 feet wide, and over parts of neighboring properties. A liability smorgasbord.

I thought I was going to be ready because I had the new Husky and my 18" Makita, and then I found out I had somehow lost the Makita's oil cap. And those caps have plastic retainers on them. This must be a first.

After all this foofaraw and who shot John about buying a new saw and making sure I could make it run, I never started my saw. A guy from the subdivision HOA brought a 460 Rancher, and he cut stuff up before I could get to it. I was busy running the tractor.

He cut the sweet gum, which had two trunks. One was suspended horizontally about 12 feet off the ground, and the other branched off at maybe 45 degrees from the ground and hung in some other trees. I was hoping to find some way to drag it down without cutting it, because it looked like two giant springs ready to snap and kill someone. Before I got there, the HOA guy took a Kobalt cordless pole saw, cut the horizontal part in two places, and dropped it on the ground. He cut it in two places about 20 feet apart. I have never seen that in an instructional video. I think he made it up.

I would not have done that for a million dollars, but it worked.

The oak extended all the way across the bridle path. Over the last two days, I've been nibbling away at it with pole saws and a ladder to make it safer to remove. I must have removed 400 pounds of limbs and trash. The HOA guy cut it about 6 feet off the ground, it split, and it lowered itself slowly onto the bridle path. Again, the 10" Kobalt cordless saw. The tree was about a foot thick.

I have been taught never to cut anything higher than my shoulders except with a pole saw, but I must be the only one who takes it seriously.

I could not get him to accept a new package of ear plugs or borrow my hard hat.

The tenant who owns the cattle on my land arrived with his relatives. They had an MS271. Along with the HOA guy, they decided they wanted to cut the remaining trunk (the one hung up 30 feet off the ground) about 12 feet up and run away when it started to give. I thought they were nuts, but I went along with it.

There is a limit to what I can do with other adults. Compared to what I get in person, the respect I get on this forum borders on awe.

We put a chain on the trunk above the cut, and I kept tension on it with the tractor. I was so far away, I might as well have been in Australia. I was totally isolated from the danger. A young man got on a ladder and cut with the Kobalt saw until we heard pops, and then he fled. When it started to give out, everyone near it took off, and it came down very nicely.

Later on, one of the tenant's guys asked me to raise him on my tractor forks so he could stand on them and cut the ragged end off the oak. Nobody was interested in hearing from me about safety, so I lifted him up, and he popped two chunks off the oak.

The HOA guy wasn't right about his theories about how the trees should be taken down, but they worked perfectly anyway. He had tremendous self-confidence. I think he is now convinced he did things right, because he isn't dead. Whatever. I am really grateful to him. He had a great attitude about helping, and I owe him a lot. Fine man in my book.

Maybe the real key to getting trees down safely is to get other people to do it and make sure you're not liable.

 

[Paul Bunions]

I finally got to use the Husky a little. A 12" by 10" (more or less) partly-rotten oak hanging over a dirt road at waist level, held up at both ends. I only made a few cuts through it. I would guess that maybe 10% of the trunk's cross-sectional area was spalted.

Not knocking the Echo, any more than I already have, but this thing is nicer to use. Seems to buzz my hands less. The 24" bar is also pleasant to have. I like having the purge bulb, and I prefer the Husky/Jonsered style choke switch.

Starting it by following the directions made a big difference. I ran it to get it hot, shut it down, and then tried to see if it would start. It pooted to life right away.

Haven't run it enough to have to tighten the chain. It's raining today.

I will get the Echo going and try to keep it going. I feel like keeping small engines running is like a plate-spinning act.

 

[Breckinridge Elkins]

Well once you get them all running the biggest thing is to not let them sit for months at a time with ethanol pump gas in the tank. I ran canned fuel through all my engines last winter then drained them. So far this spring everybody starts right up. Well worth the cost.

 

[Paul Bunions]

You are definitely right. As of this month, every Thursday is small engine day. Everything gets started.

 

[oldbuzzard]

I finally got to use the Husky a little. A 12" by 10" (more or less) partly-rotten oak hanging over a dirt road at waist level, held up at both ends. I only made a few cuts through it. I would guess that maybe 10% of the trunk's cross-sectional area was spalted.

Not knocking the Echo, any more than I already have, but this thing is nicer to use. Seems to buzz my hands less. The 24" bar is also pleasant to have. I like having the purge bulb, and I prefer the Husky/Jonsered style choke switch.

Starting it by following the directions made a big difference. I ran it to get it hot, shut it down, and then tried to see if it would start. It pooted to life right away.

Haven't run it enough to have to tighten the chain. It's raining today.

I will get the Echo going and try to keep it going. I feel like keeping small engines running is like a plate-spinning act.

Couldn’t agree with you more on the “hot start” procedure being great, along with the purge valve. Not to start another Stihl-Husky war but that is two reasons I prefer the Husky Autotune over the Stihl Mtronic. I have Stihls that I use and really enjoy but they need to copy Husky on those two features.