Chainsaws,weedwhackers,snow blowers...oh my!

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Thanks HV. You spotted that one right. It's a bearing on the outboard end of the shaft so the motor bearings don't get all the load. Blain's Farm & Fleet sells them for 8 dollars. Here's some new pics to show it better.
The bearing pillow block is bolted in the black angle which bolts to the "pivot shaft" which runs through mounts on the seat stays of the frame. So the motor and outboard bearing pivot up and down together when I engage/disengage the drive.
The friction wheel I prefer to use (on the bike now) was made from a hockey puck. A hockey puck is 3" diameter and 1" thick. With hole cutters, I cut out a wheel 1 1/4" inches diameter and drill a 7/8" hole in the center. I can get 3 drive wheels out of one puck, but my first one has lasted a year with little wear.
So then I epoxied (clear 5-minute epoxy) it onto a steel spacer. I bought the spacer (that's the actual name of the item) from Lowes hardware section. It's 1 1/2" long, 7/8" O.D., 5/8" I.D. and fits over my 5/8" motor shaft. I drilled and tapped two holes for set screws.
The one that I am holding in the picture (grit wheel) is basically made the same way except the material is a urethane skateboard wheel. Urethane (Gorilla) glue is used to glue the wheel to the spacer and the grit on the wheel. Epoxy don't stick to the urethane good at all, but Gorilla Glue sure does. The grit is from some weird old grinding wheel I got somewhere about 20 years ago. It is "friable"; the grit breaks off of the grinding wheel easily. It is white and rather sharp and glass-like.
The grit wheel works well in wet weather, but I can notice more tire wear than the dry-weather, hockey puck wheel.
 

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Excellent pics, my man! Thanks.

Now I have more questions, hehe.

So, there is just the one pillow block bearing on the outside then, not one on the engine side?

Also, I see you've taken some steps I think about....talkin' about the stainless flex. Auto parts store? Lowes plumbing dept? Cut noise much?

It's a clean setup, small, unobtrusive, tight to the seat tube. Gooder.
 
Yeah, just the one bearing on the end of the shaft. It could work without it, but the "sideways" pressure on the motor shaft would probably wear out the motor bearing quickly. The motor mounts to a 1/8" steel plate. The pivot shaft (3/8" threaded rod) affixes to the plate with nuts. At the other end of the pivot shaft the bearing holder is affixed with nuts. So the whole thing moves as a solid unit. The pull-down springs go from the motor plate to the dropout on the left side, and from the bearing holder to the dropout on the right side.

The stainless hose is just the braided covering off of a flexible plumbing connector; like you use under a kitchen sink. I used one inside another, that makes it about 90% airtight (which means it is 10% holes - not airtight). It's purpose is really to direct the sooty, oily 2-stroke exhaust out of the "business" area. I wish my motor's exhaust pipe blew out on the left side instead; I wouldn't need that hose. The hose does keep things a LOT cleaner, but I doubt that it makes the motor any quieter at all. BTW, it sounds surprisingly quiet to me. I often cruise past people working in their front yards who don't seem to hear me go by.

Now that you got me thinking about it, I should just modify the muffler to exhaust on the left. Duh.
 
The stainless covering on the plumbing hose is pretty flimsy; I think it is just for looks. But before I used that stuff, I was out on a ride and saw a long braided hose on the ground; like something off a semi truck. I think it was hydraulic hose. On my way back it was gone. :(
I think that covering is actually to increase the hoses bursting strength. That stuff (if you can separate it from the inner hose) might work somewhat as a flexible exhaust. I'm totally speculating on that, though.
 
is it possible to put a clutch on a weed wacker? I got a ryobi Weed wacker engine on my new bike and it sucks coz wen u stop the engine stops then u gotta pedal hard to start again. is there anyway of changing that? Check out my build pics, click on my name, go to posts then it will be in there.

The eccho whackers have one built in
 
If the engine dies when you stop the bike, either A. The clutch engages at too low an RPM, or B. There is no cluch.
 
After reading all these ideas, given consideration of modifications to my bike that would in most cases be needed, and modifications to the otherwise useful chainsaw (I have a lot of remodeling scrap to cut up), the idea that comes to mind is to:

Take advantage of the chainsaw already driving a chain on a solid bar, and... replace the bar with one made for the task of driving a friction drive against the rear tire. With the chainsaw facing to the rear, the chain and anything it directly drives is already facing the right way to drive the wheel by friction. Since metal is somewhat tough on a tire and I use knobby ones, the wheel to drive the bike should be a rubber wheel like a lawnmower wheel.

It will need a bar made to fit the chainsaw but that should be easily done with my sawzall type saw, and a cordless drill. Maybe a bench broach. The rest of the stuff should be easily gotten at Home Depot except for the drive sprocket but that's no biggie online to find.

After that some control cabling from a bike shop, metal strapping to rig the control pull on the throttle, so on.

I'll let you know how this works out when I do it...
 
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