1. That was nothing but an attempted cover-up by Jason because the customer wasn't happy with the saw.
What you don't know is that I pulled the cylinder off this saw before I ever ran it. It was fully inspected before I ran it. After all, that's what I was asked to do. I didn't just pull it out of the box, fire it up, and go WOT.
There was nothing obvious mechanically wrong with it. I found numerous issues of sloppy work, but nothing that would have caused a catastrophic failure. I even degreed the saw and pulled a compression check.
Before this video was made, I made one or two cuts with it to make sure it ran right and to tune it. It actually ran very well, IMHO. I turned on the camera, verified the tune RPMs on the tach, which was only 13,800 IIRC, and it went boom before I could video a cut in the wood.
For whatever reason, either the rod or the piston failed. My opinion is that it was the piston. It had been ground on and lightened, but not so much so that I anticipated its failure. Why did it fail? I can't tell you that.
5. Jason built the saw and it exploded, costing the owner $500 in parts alone. Is that not enough reason? How is it any different than Randy starting this thread?
Feel free to ask any questions. We all know what happens when we make assumptions.