We have a zero turn Ariens and love it for our treed 2 acres. I used to work on a twin screw tugboat and the zero turn is similar...you could drive nails with it. Went from a snapper 30 yrs ago ( what a bronco that was, good thing I was young}, then had a Toro 267h, which was a good mower and still runs but I had to weld up a new deck for it. The deck just evaporated after only 25 yrs
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Dear George, thank you for the efforts in development of the new TSE version. I biult four TSE version one amps and think seriously about the new one. Could you please tell me if the new version is rather redesigned according to heat/currents/voltage issues or is it also different construcion in case of sound? I mean if I use exactly the same 'outer' parts like transformers, choke, auxiliary caps, should I hear significant difference with the new consyruction?
There should be no differences in the sound between the TSE and the TSE-II. The audio paths for the two boards are essentially the same. The sonic performance of the original TSE was its strong point and I see no reason to mess with it.
A resistor / Zener pair have been added to reduce the dissipation in the mosfets, and gate stoppers were added to the mosfets since mosfets are much faster now than when the original TSE was designed. These added parts can be bypassed if an EXACTLY IDENTICAL audio path is desired.
The reason for the new board was the obsolence of the original filament regulator chip. A new chip was fitted and added filtering was added to the filament supply was added to help with 2A3 tubes. There were some requests for making the board larger and added holes for mounting and airflow, so that's where the design effort was spent.
My last B&S mower died of the same problem in the 1980s......since then I've become a 2-stroke lawn-boy fan.......can't get much simpler than that....of course since I live in So Cal it's a prison sentence if I get caught with a 2-stroke lawn mower.
Your prototyping volume knob is pretty slick...did you solder RCAs right to the pot pins?? brilliant!
2-stroke motors were outlawed from Florida waterways years ago, and it seems that they have slowly vanished from the lawns as well.
Our church here still has an old light weight Lawn Boy. It's easy to one hand on their steep banks, so it still gets used. The 4 stroke Honda will quit running after a minute or so at a 40 degree angle. I think the Lawn Boy would run upside down.
Other than an old Craftsman lawn mower that ran without oil for a long time (it leaked badly out the main seal due to a bent shaft), this B&S was the first time I have had engine problems in a mower. It's usually the deck that rots off of them.
Yes, that was a spur of the moment creation that happened when one part from a box labeled "pots" and another from a box labeled "connectors" decided that they liked each other. Somewhere in this mess that has become my workbench there is a piece of perf board with a pot, several different connectors and some green screw terminals all mounted so that I can use it on almost anything. I made 3 or 4 of them back in Florida. At least one wound up in an amp that I sold.
Our cable / internet / phone has been out for most of the time since I returned from Florida. It goes out when it's windy, raining or both and this has been going on for over a year. The neighbors are having the same issues but their techs seem to want to mess with the in house wiring since it never acts up when they are here. My modem / phone box / UPS / and internet router are all on the top shelf of my workbench to maximize the WiFi range. This means I have had to clean off the bench and move it all down to bench level twice in a week and it still doesn't work right.
I'm leaving for the Dayton hamfest on Thursday morning. I will come back with LOTS of BIG sweep tubes from ESRC, and maybe some 4 pin tube sockets on Saturday evening. I'm not putting the amp back on the bench until I return and decide if I need to call Comcast out here again. Their stuff is still where the amp was.
I have received some email asking if the board can be ordered now that I know it works. The answer is yes, but I probably won't ship any until Monday. I have to load up my car and put the mower back together well enough to mow the yard before leaving....and it's currently 48 degrees and raining.
The board is USD $40 and the usual $8 US and $15 INTL shipping rates still apply.
Some people try to save me a few $$$ by using the friends and family option on Paypal. Pleas DO NOT do this. Paypal then blocks the address since they assume that we know each other, and prevents the purchasing of postage at the Paypal rate, which is cheaper than the post office rate wiping out most of the savings any way.
Didn't think about the paypal postage rate vs normal rate, good to know.
It is really easy to ship via usps and paypal now, few clicks and print a label out.
It used to be that friend/family transfers were free of fees on Paypal. That's no longer the case. Now Paypal just shifts the fee to the sender of the payment rather than to the recipient.
When I lived in the US, I'd use Stamps.com to print USPS first class postage. I found it well worth the monthly service fee.
Tom
When I lived in the US, I'd use Stamps.com to print USPS first class postage. I found it well worth the monthly service fee.
Tom
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Paypal also does international shipping at a discounted rate.
The USPS web site will still do international shipping for Priority Mail at nearly $30 to ship a circuit board. Any attempt to print international parcel post ($14) gets me a "this service has been temporarily suspended on our web site, please got to your local post office." There the rates are higher, and the customs forms are still filled out by hand and the copy actually stuck on the envelope is barely legible if at all.
The "temporary suspension" has been in force for over a year. It took me nearly an hour to post a board to England last week.
During the slack summer months I ship 2 to 4 boards a month. It wouldn't work for me, but Paypal does.
Wish I could say the same, although, from here, it's easiest to leave on a Wednesday and that gives some time Thursday to hit Fair Radio, sometimes the Neal Armstrong museum at Wapokenata. Unfortunately, if the weather is good, I need to be on - you guessed it - a mower. I've got about eleven acres I need to do which would not be too bad standing alone, but it's split over five pieces in two states, and one of them ( Grand Lake 'o the Cherokees ) is a "you can't get there from here type of place". This is in addition to the office, houses, etc.
Since these tracts are all over the place, I can't make a deal with one guy to mow them - I have to hire multiple guys to do it, and it's a minimum of $250 - $300 to get a guy to load up his stuff and go mow a couple of acres. Sometimes they just take the money, and don't even bother with the mowing. This gets expensive, fast, so I can destroy a semi expensive mower every year and still be way ahead, as long as my time doesn't count, but I'm self employed so I can do whatever I want, when I want, as long as I don't have to be in Court, and I've found that I rather like doing it - gives me a chance to think. Depending on what I'm thinking about, I may be making money while I'm mowing ...
Sometimes it's worth it just to get away from the relentless robo calls ( that spoof local, sometimes known, phone #'s, so you have to answer ) about having myself moved up in Google search engine results.
Yep, I broke internal hard parts on a one jug Tecumseh once, but the decks are always the weak point on this consumer / prosumer stuff. I'm on my second JD deck and there is just no good metal left around the spindles. I have a huge Lincoln welder and an oxy acetylene torch, and at one point in my life knew how to use both of them, so it is within my theoretical DIY capability to cut old metal out and weld new stuff in, but I think I am just going to buy a new replacement deck with all the parts pre loaded, and keep the JD tractor as a spare. The tractor is a better choice IMO if you are just going in a straight line for a few hundred yards, over and over again ...
We can still use them here. I got a Harbor Freight auger thing with a 49 cc two stroke on it a couple of weeks ago - need to repair some fences ..... It seems to work well, but smokes like a mosquito fogger when it starts, although it seems to run visibly clean.
The new TSE II board looks great, btw.
Win W5JAG
I got a Harbor Freight auger thing with a 49 cc two stroke on it a couple of weeks ago - need to repair some fences ..... It seems to work well, but smokes like a mosquito fogger when it starts, although it seems to run visibly clean.
The new TSE II board looks great, btw.
Win W5JAG[/QUOTE]
Try the Stihl Ultra two-stroke oil and maybe some 89 octane WaWa non-ethanol gasoline.This stuff does not foul plugs, unlike the good old days,LOL.
The new TSE II board looks great, btw.
Win W5JAG[/QUOTE]
Try the Stihl Ultra two-stroke oil and maybe some 89 octane WaWa non-ethanol gasoline.This stuff does not foul plugs, unlike the good old days,LOL.
Come to think of it....I have never seen a 4 stroke chain saw.....
Well I spent about 3 hours on the old mower today. That B&S never ran so good as it did today. Still has the hammer straightened push rod and the valve guide hammered back into the head. I did set (by eyeball) the valve lash on both heads since they were both really loose and re gap the old plugs. I think the best improvement was moving the loose ignition coil back where it belonged and tightening the mounting bolts. I had pulled the flywheel to check the key before I found the mangled pushrod.
I also have the first stack of TSE-II boards ready for the post office tomorrow morning. I may get another batch out Thursday if orders arrive, but I won't guarantee it......otherwise, its Monday.
I don't know why, but I have a picture on my mind with George on a pimped mower going with the boards to the post office
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
No such luck, the boards go to the post office either in my 11 year old Honda Element which is totally stock, or in the mail girl's Jeep.
The mower was declared dead when I found it being left outside for years and buried halfway up the tires in mud. I have done just what I needed to to keep it running for 5 years. Yesterday I got it running and installed just enough parts to make it usable, things like an air filter and the belts. The bare flywheel with fan blades attached was spinning on top of the engine and the hood was left off. I really wanted to watch for oil leaks since I reused all the old gaskets.
I'm out zipping back in forth along the dirt road we live on (hence the air filter) and I see a Fedex truck pull up to the entrance of the road and stop. On the next pass I see the driver standing next to the truck, on the next pass I see him frantically waving a large yellow envelope, so I shut the blades off and drive the smoking (minor oil leak) beast toward him. As I approach and he spots the spinning fan of death, and backs up so I shut it off.
He has seen the mower and me before, but not me driving "half a mower like a mad man." My wife usually rides the big mower and I push the little one around the obstacles. He explains that they have him driving a "damn buss" and he can't turn it around down the single lane dirt road.
Well, I must go now.....I have to do my part in mowing the church property. They have good equipment.
The mower was declared dead when I found it being left outside for years and buried halfway up the tires in mud. I have done just what I needed to to keep it running for 5 years. Yesterday I got it running and installed just enough parts to make it usable, things like an air filter and the belts. The bare flywheel with fan blades attached was spinning on top of the engine and the hood was left off. I really wanted to watch for oil leaks since I reused all the old gaskets.
I'm out zipping back in forth along the dirt road we live on (hence the air filter) and I see a Fedex truck pull up to the entrance of the road and stop. On the next pass I see the driver standing next to the truck, on the next pass I see him frantically waving a large yellow envelope, so I shut the blades off and drive the smoking (minor oil leak) beast toward him. As I approach and he spots the spinning fan of death, and backs up so I shut it off.
He has seen the mower and me before, but not me driving "half a mower like a mad man." My wife usually rides the big mower and I push the little one around the obstacles. He explains that they have him driving a "damn buss" and he can't turn it around down the single lane dirt road.
Well, I must go now.....I have to do my part in mowing the church property. They have good equipment.
Hello George!
What is the way to order one TSEII pcb? I have tried to contact to the email in the webpage, but I have no response, I guess that I have any problem with me email or you are so busy preparing orders. May I pay the pcb using paypal 40+15$ international shipping in order to order one pcb, and you send the pcb when you have time? Or I have to contact you before make the payment?
What is the way to order one TSEII pcb? I have tried to contact to the email in the webpage, but I have no response, I guess that I have any problem with me email or you are so busy preparing orders. May I pay the pcb using paypal 40+15$ international shipping in order to order one pcb, and you send the pcb when you have time? Or I have to contact you before make the payment?
My internet service has been intermittent for the last two weeks. The cable company had been to our house twice and changed most everything, but the problem is outside. Our neighbors are affected also, and it only happens when it's windy or raining. They still don't get it. It's still messed up, as is the TV and phone service. I am currently using hotel internet.
I saw your email but lost my connection before answering it. I am currently away from home until Saturday night. Any orders that come in during my absence will be sent Monday morning. Yes the 40+15 USD (not Euros) via Paypal will be good for shipment to Spain. Your address was in the email, so I already know where to send it and that you want the TSE-II, so no further contact is needed. I will send out the tracking number after shipment even if I have to use the computer at my daughter's house.
I am at the Dayton hamfest today, tomorrow and Saturday. I have got a big box full of BIG sweep tubes, and a few little tubes......but zero 4 pin sockets. I brought a sample of what I want and Stan at ESRC will get them for me. Delivery time is unknown, they have to come from China. The big sweeps are for the UN-SET...….
I saw your email but lost my connection before answering it. I am currently away from home until Saturday night. Any orders that come in during my absence will be sent Monday morning. Yes the 40+15 USD (not Euros) via Paypal will be good for shipment to Spain. Your address was in the email, so I already know where to send it and that you want the TSE-II, so no further contact is needed. I will send out the tracking number after shipment even if I have to use the computer at my daughter's house.
I am at the Dayton hamfest today, tomorrow and Saturday. I have got a big box full of BIG sweep tubes, and a few little tubes......but zero 4 pin sockets. I brought a sample of what I want and Stan at ESRC will get them for me. Delivery time is unknown, they have to come from China. The big sweeps are for the UN-SET...….