Color Tune - Safety Warning !

[Mike (Perth, Western Australia)]

At 06:08 PM 17/3/2000 +0100, you wrote:
>>Don't look - in line of sight with the spark plug - just in case the quartz
>>fractures and it goes in your eye, the little mirror supplied with the unit
>>is for that specific purpose - so you *don't* ever look "Straight" in line
>>with the plug.
>
>Mike, while I appreciate the quality of this as a safety warning, it is a
bit over the top - the glass in the plug 
>is almost a 1/3 of an inch thick of crystal thermal glass (Fireglass).
Gunson's have been selling these for 
>around 25 years without any problems, and there are sufficient safety
warnings on the packaging for users
>to be aware of safety issues when using it. They do stress that it should
not be used under load, only 
>as a a diagnostic tool and low-stress tuning device. 

mmmm - Mine is a tad different - looks like the glass is only about 1/8th"
thick (if that) and has a grainy edge - which looks like a developing
fracture - even though I've only used it about 15 times (about 15yrs)...

I may very well have a jap/taiwanese copy :(

Am I getting paranoid that this is one more thing to worry about, <sigh>

>It is primarily intended for Carb tuning. It is designed to loose the
centre electrode to stop firing the 
>cylinder in the event it overheats, and the copper seat seal will oblate and 
>blow past in over-pressure conditions. I am not stating it is fail safe,
please note.

mmm - Looks like another difference there, bummer :(


> Even the packaging 
>states that the use of the mirror is optional - I rarely use it since
vibration often renders the flame colour 
>invisible in the mirror. 

mmm - hardly noticed that, I can see the colour quite well on a 4cylinder
with fair vibration.
I'd recommend using a better mirror perhaps - if yours has a plastic lens
like mine perhaps it could be improved for better use...
When I rev my six, there is an odd vibration at some speeds, then I just
hold the black plastic tube but still use the mirror - gets rid of most
of the vibration and does make it easier to see, though the basic colour
is what we are really after - if the vibration chenges the colour then
we have one *very* fast vibration which might have pleased Einstein ;-)

>If you go over the top with this type of warning, then I am sure people
will >just tend
>not to use it, and hence lose out on the use of a potentially very useful,
cheap little tool.

Well using it through the mirror would be OK, I just have concerns that
since mine looks doubtful then others might do that too - especially if
they are copies or whatever, more risk etc

>Having said that - I applaud your cautious stance, there is *absolutely
nothing* more important than 
>safety around car engines....

Tah,
Well, its the eyes I'm worried about - I have some experience from a
friend that went through that when it could have been easily avoided,
<sigh>

Rgds

:) mike

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