McCulloch BP-1 Balanced Piston saws

[catskinr]

I've been lurking here for a few months, and have noticed there are a few collectors among the group. I recently was lucky enough to acquire a McCulloch BP-1, Balanced Piston saw. Without Mike Acres' web site, I might not have known what it was. Does anyone else have one of these saws? I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who knows anything about them at all. I'm hoping to get it running, and I'm sure I'll be needing some help and parts.

Brett Phillips

 

[Bill G]

I assume you are referring to the Mac that has a second cylider at 180 degrees that does not fire. I have seen some pics but never one in person. I was talking with a dealer a few months ago and he was telling me that he would really like to have one. His tune changed when he realized how many saws I have and that I make him put his money where his mouth is. He started backtracking and talking about how he wanted one "but I aint going pay nothing for it". I will be honest when I say I would like to get one and I am willing to pay a fair price for it.

Bill


Here is the link
http://www.acresinternet.com/cscc.n...378fb4451b521bbb88256b6100149cd3?OpenDocument

 

[catskinr]

Yep, that's the one. Had I not seen the saw at the Chain Saw Collector's Corner, I might have thought it was just a later version of the Mac 35 or 33. There isn't much about the saw that is normal, even by modern standards. They not only have the balance piston engine, but they also sharpen themselves with a built in grinding wheel that grinds the top of the chain (!). The chain on my saw is completely shot, so I'm looking for some McCulloch Auto-Mac chain, as well as copies of any manuals or literature. A parts saw might not be out of the picture either.

Brett Phillips

 

[sedanman]

The only one I have ever seen is in the collection of George Blake aka motosag. Saw had a wild reputation of going "supernova" 15,000 rpm was not impossible to acheive but was impossible to maintain.........BOOM!

 

[HUSKYMAN]

You would think it would be heavier than 15#.

McCulloch's engineers were some pot smokin motha's

 

[Jacob J.]

The BP-1 saws were recalled due to the fact that they would catch on fire. The engine would get to spinning to fast and generate so much heat that the magnesium parts would ignite and the whole saw would be toast. They're neat little machines to play with though.

 

[catskinr]

As soon as I got the saw home, I cleaned it up as best I could and made sure the governor linkage was limber (it wasn't, glad I checked). I didn't want the new toy to self destruct like something out of James Bond. Unfortunately, I can't get any spark out of it, so there's no chance of it running off just yet. The points look like kaka, so I might have to silver solder some new tungstens on them. Hopefully, the coil is O.K. The spark plug is definitely a special piece, as the plug wire has to go _in_ a socket to connect, rather than on a tower.

Brett

 

[shooter]

You may wish to contact Scott Mueller, here on A-Site. His cousin ran a McCulloch balanced piston saw in the antique saw races at Baraboo WI this summer. He may have some info on setup & spare parts.

The BP saw has a distinctive exhaust sound & very quickly builds rpm's. My suggestion would be to get a tach to run with your BP saw. The numbers will be impressive.

Mike

 

[catskinr]

Mike:

Thanks for the lead! I'll try to look him up. Sounds promising. Do you know his user I.D.? Maybe he has info on a chain swap of some sort.

Thanks!

Brett

 

[HUSKYMAN]

Yeah its Scott Mueller

 

[catskinr]

Who'd a thunk it?!! Thanks! I just sent him an e-mail...
Brett

 

[McC]

Hey guys, it's definitely a cool saw. When converted to modern chisel chain, they'll cut pretty darn fast for a small displacement saw. Here's a video of me at Baraboo this past summer. It beat all the Homelites, (9-27, 7-21, 700G) and a McC 55. It did get beaten by one McC 55, by about 1.5 seconds in one cut.