Canadien PM 276 chainsaw

wolfpawtimber · Jul 14, 2007

Just got a Canadien 276 today and am beginning to take it apart. I have been having a hard time finding any info on it besides Mike Acres. They said it was running a couple of years ago, but then the owner passed away. I don't seem to be getting any spark and was wondering if the wires or switches can go bad on these saws. Is there a way to bypass the switch? Any info on this saw or Canadiens in general would be helpful. It has a Tilloston Carb and a Wico flywheel.:chainsawguy:

http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t190/michaeldimock/?action=view&current=IMG_2244.jpg
http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t190/michaeldimock/?action=view&current=IMG_2248.jpg
http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t190/michaeldimock/?action=view&current=IMG_2253.jpg
http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t190/michaeldimock/?action=view&current=IMG_2253.jpg
http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t190/michaeldimock/?action=view&current=IMG_2253.jpg

Sprig · Jul 14, 2007

That be a potential monster of beasts! (hey clean that bar an' chain up eh!)
First thing I'd do is clean up the magnets in the flywheel (by the looks of the bar its had a bit of moisture around it) with a bit of fine emery then the module contacts, check gap, if you're handy with a tester (not quite me) check to make sure not inadvertantly grounded etc. etc., amazing how many lawnmowers etc. this makes a diff. in. Check the plug lead and the plug, put a new plug in anyway imo, if the plug is pooched you could cause yourself lots of extra work. Make sure the groundwire on the cutoff switch is in the right place and not floppin' around too and check the continuity of the switch to make sure its doin' what it should. But get those parts nice an' shiney first and re-check for spark. Looks like ya won't have to do much stripping for its new paintjob lol btw

My useless ).02$ worth for the afternoon before headin' to the harbour for some quality drinkin' on da beach

Good luck on the saw, I am sure there will be many other ideas for you forthcoming.

:cheers:

& Welcome!

Serge

doc874 · Jul 14, 2007

Sprig said:
That be a potential monster of beasts! (hey clean that bar an' chain up eh!)
First thing I'd do is clean up the magnets in the flywheel (by the looks of the bar its had a bit of moisture around it) with a bit of fine emery then the module contacts, check gap, if you're handy with a tester (not quite me) check to make sure not inadvertantly grounded etc. etc., amazing how many lawnmowers etc. this makes a diff. in. Check the plug lead and the plug, put a new plug in anyway imo, if the plug is pooched you could cause yourself lots of extra work. Make sure the groundwire on the cutoff switch is in the right place and not floppin' around too and check the continuity of the switch to make sure its doin' what it should. But get those parts nice an' shiney first and re-check for spark. Looks like ya won't have to do much stripping for its new paintjob lol btw
My useless ).02$ worth for the afternoon before headin' to the harbour for some quality drinkin' on da beach

Good luck on the saw, I am sure there will be many other ideas for you forthcoming.

& Welcome!

Serge

Hi. I have a Canadien 175 that i've partialy redone to date. Parts are difficult to find on this side of the Atlantic but there is a mbr here " GREGFORD" he's from Newzealand and they have lots there ( thicker than flies here, Lol.) anyway, great find and reassess the spark once she's all cleaned you may find it will work, also check bearings they are famous for being stuck on these Canadien's. Let us know how it goes.

Doc

Gregford · Jul 14, 2007

I'm very familiar with Canadiens

At last! :rock:

Someone with taste!!!

Canadiens are a great saw and we had heaps of them in New Zealand where they are considered to be a lot more reliable than contemporary saws like Pioneer 600's. They were simple and well-balanced.

I have a workshop manual for Canadien saws floating around. It's actually at a mate's house and he's trying to find it.

Canadiens are not noted for the electricals packing up but you can easily take off the coil and get it tested at a friendly chainsaw shop. I have parts for these if you find the coil is toast, but it's more like what the other guy said and will be something simple.

The BIG problem with Canadiens is the main bearings. Everything else is pretty durable. If you notice that the engine turns reluctantly when attempting to pull-start it, and when running has a kind of whirring or whining sound, the main bearings are shot. The main bearings are sealed bearings, unlike some other saws, so they only have a life of 10-15 years. The GOOD thing is that they are a standard bearing cheaply available from any bearing manufacturer like F.A.G., S.K.F. or SAECO. Crankshaft seals are probably available as well although I haven't had to replace these yet.

The air cleaners can be annoying because the flocking gets sucked out of the wire mesh over time. None of mine so far have had air cleaners in good condition. I found the simplest solution is to buy a micro-fibre vacuum cleaner filter (available in supermarkets in the section where you buy vacuum cleaner bags) and cut it to the same size as the filter (if you have a flat filter) or to fit around the outside of the filter (if you have a circular pleated filter).

Good to see someone running one of these beautiful saws. A friend of mine has about 11 of these big saws when working as a logger and he used to win many chainsaw races back in the 60's with Canadien 275s. I'm still trying to get him to part with a couple!

Let me know if I can be of assistance,

Greg

Sprig · Jul 14, 2007

And so there ya go wolfsomethinorother! On the flock filters, one thing that wasn't mentioned by ^^Greg^^ when u r adding other filtering as in vac bags is at least make sure to clean as best you can the origional too, if its spent its life cutting pitchy stuff even go beyond detergent and water and give it a good thrashin' with some mixed gas or... just a thot in a dark brain-dead kinda 'end of da evening thing' way. (ya ya kinda dumb but people get all excited and miss simple things

& do please keep us updated eh! oh some progress pics would be great too (rem ta re-size m8!), thanks again for the first ones! :rockn:

Serge

wolfpawtimber · Jul 15, 2007

Well, everything is apart and mostly cleaned. I coulden't get the head off, because my socket was too big. I will post more pics tommorrow and with luck I will get it painted with some engine enamel. Should I paint it stock or some other scheme? What do you think. I would definitely be interested in the canadie 276 portion of that book. If he finds it, could you scan this saw's section out and email it too me? I will get that magneto all spiffed up and hopefully I will get fire! :chainsawguy:

Sprig · Jul 15, 2007

wolfpawtimber said:
Well, everything is apart and mostly cleaned. I coulden't get the head off, because my socket was too big. I will post more pics tommorrow and with luck I will get it painted with some engine enamel. Should I paint it stock or some other scheme? What do you think. I would definitely be interested in the canadie 276 portion of that book. If he finds it, could you scan this saw's section out and email it too me? I will get that magneto all spiffed up and hopefully I will get fire! :chainsawguy:

Cool! I think for something like that you should go for the stock colours (or close to), when ya look at some of those full restoration jobs on Mike's site, man let da slobber flow!
:laugh:

wolfpawtimber · Jul 15, 2007

Going to go out and begin the claening process again. Well, after looking at the piston through all the ports, it seems to have no visible scoring. However, it seems to be pretty easy to turn the flywheel to get the cylinder to turn over. I have no idea what these big saws should feel like, so I am at loss here. I am definitely leaning more towards the stock color scheme, and will go with white and a red top cover. How do I check the breaker point settings? My inexperience is killing me here, but I will have to deal with it. I know that these are made out of magnesium, which seems odd (think chainsaw=hot flaming ball of melting magnesium), and I know you can weld it. But how do you do it? Would a mig set up for steel do it, and could you weld steel to the magnesium? Greg, this is definitely aimed at you. Two pics show a huge chunk that was taken out of the saw. Someone must have thrown the chain, and knowing geardrives it caused a lot of damage. The sprocket is a little banged up and I was wondering if you could fill the slightly grooved parts in with a weld? Just a thought. Well I better get off this computer and get to work!:angry2: :chainsawguy:

http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t190/michaeldimock/?action=view&current=IMG_2268.jpg
http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t190/michaeldimock/?action=view&current=IMG_2267.jpg
http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t190/michaeldimock/?action=view&current=IMG_2299.jpg
http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t190/michaeldimock/?action=view&current=IMG_2295.jpg
http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t190/michaeldimock/?action=view&current=IMG_2291.jpg
http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t190/michaeldimock/?action=view&current=IMG_2269.jpg
http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t190/michaeldimock/?action=view&current=IMG_2263.jpg

wolfpawtimber · Jul 15, 2007

I bought the paint today and am prepped to get going, but back to reality, homework time. Yeah, I have a writing 121 class I am taking this summer:jawdrop:. I didn't do as good as I should have on the writing portion of the SAT. I have to write a paper, so we will see how the painting goes. the saw will be white everywhere except for a red top. Then it will all be glossed up with a coating of clear! I am still wondering if you can weld steel onto that magnesium? Oh yeah, when the chain was thrown, a small chunk was taken off the bar right before the round nose. Should I weld a piece of steel onto it to fill in and reinforce, or would that make it worse? Has anyone made a .404 sprocket for these gear drives? As long as I got the right number of teeth and size, a machine shop could whip one off pretty easily I think. This would ge rid of the 1/2 chain and I could put a new bar on it. Just a thought. :chainsaw:

safeT1st · Jul 15, 2007

Magnesium welding

You cannot weld anything to a magnesium casting . If you were to try you could have a serious fire on your hands. Good luck with your project.

wolfpawtimber · Jul 15, 2007

That is what I thought, but there is a weld on the gas tank where the factory put it together. Can you only weld magnesium to manesium, or is it something else. I am pretty curious on how they welded it together. This is why I asked, cause a stupid thing like what could have happened would have probalby sent me to the hospital. The paint is drying now, in a couple days it will be all painted and I hope I will find a spark! :bowdown:

safeT1st · Jul 15, 2007

cannot be done?

As far as I know, magnesium cannot be welded. Technology changes so I may stand corrected .

wolfpawtimber · Jul 15, 2007

I'll take a picture of the weld tommorrow and maybe Greg will have some answers on how the magnesium was welded. Who knows?

gatkeper1 · Jul 16, 2007

safeT1st said:
As far as I know, magnesium cannot be welded. Technology changes so I may stand corrected .

You can weld magnesium using TIG or MIG

wolfpawtimber · Jul 16, 2007

Really? I have a mig welder, and is there some trick to it? Lower frequency or wire speed? Can you weld steel to it? I'm not sure if the metals would mesh or not.

safeT1st · Jul 16, 2007

Stand Corrected

Spoke with welder at work today and I was wrong . Magnesium can indeed be welded . Sorry .

wolfpawtimber · Jul 17, 2007

NO prob. Here are some pics of the saw in progress. I have 3/4 of it painted, but I ran out of white. Going to look pretty nice (hopefully). I was wondering what the 4 was on my chain, so I looked it up on Mike Acres site. It turns out I am running 9/16 .063 chain. Maybe that is why the sprocket is bad. My bar has a chunk taken out of the tip, and I was wondering if it would be advisable to weld some metal in? It is also cracked down at the bottom, which I will weld tommorrow. After 1/2 hour of sanding w/ 60 grit I finally got that bar looking newer again. I also painted some Durabak bedliner on my handle bar. I put a #$%^ load on, and it turned out amazingly cushiony. Fun, fun! :chainsaw:

wolfpawtimber · Jul 17, 2007

I was also thinking that I should weld in some new metal at the tip of the bar. I would be using some thicker sheetmetal and weld it in on both sides. would this compromise anything? Those chunks taken out at the end worry me, so I am thinking of alternatives.:help: :chainsawguy:

http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t190/michaeldimock/?action=view&current=IMG_23392.jpg

wolfpawtimber · Jul 17, 2007

Rain cancelled my painting today, but later I might start repairing my bar. Wish me luck!:biggrinbounce2:

wolfpawtimber · Jul 20, 2007

Canadien PM 276 chainsaw

Help Support Arborist Forum:

ArboristSite Member

Addicted to ArboristSite

Addicted to ArboristSite

ArboristSite Operative

Addicted to ArboristSite

ArboristSite Member

Addicted to ArboristSite

ArboristSite Member

ArboristSite Member

ArboristSite Operative

ArboristSite Member

ArboristSite Operative

ArboristSite Member

ArboristSite Guru

ArboristSite Member

ArboristSite Operative

ArboristSite Member

ArboristSite Member

ArboristSite Member

ArboristSite Member

Similar threads

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!