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I have an old 24r grass trimmer with a contact-breaker / points set in the ignition. My user / parts manual makes no reference to the existence of the points, or the required gap. I'm guessing around 15 thou, but can anyone help with the specified figure please?

Just set the points gap to between 12 and 15000th of an inch, that will be fine.

Thanks for the reply. This machine is around 35 years old and is on its original points set, never altered from new. Wear had tightened the gap to around 10 thou and running was poor. I had reset it to 15 and that improved things, but just wanted to check with someone who knows! A new CB set would probably do no harm, but I suspect we're talking unobtainable nowadays?

They are still out there............https://www.ebay.com/itm/husqvarna-...-set-and-condenser-501-78-74-01-/183080489015

Thank you, that's useful... Think this old machine deserves a treat!

The only thing that points do with age is pit or oxadize both of which are fixed with a point file or some 600 grit wet & dry.
What does go off with time and cause bad running is the capacitor ( condenser to some ).
I got a 103 year old magneto still with its original points waiting for a new solid state cap to be fitted

I've done one repair of the contacts with some wet & dry paper on a flat surface- running improved considerably. With the 24r the difficulty is in making iterative adjustments, as the starter assembly has to come off and be replaced every time. I'll fit a new CB set / capacitor anyhow - parts are under way from the US thanks to advice on here; I don't think I'd have much luck finding anything locally. I recall condensers going leaky or open-circuit in cars I had years ago: either no spark at-all or badly burnt contacts after lots of arcing. Thanks for your interest....

Thanks for the reply, let us know how it goes with the new parts.

Just reporting back to say that the new points made a significant difference to performance, well worth fitting. The capacitor was fine, no perceptible leakage. The main problem was mechanical wear, with the moving contact arm having developed eccentricity on its shaft. The uncertainty in contact position was noticeable when compared to the new item. Starting is now easy, tick-over and high speed running smooth at a 15 thou gap. For reference, the package was marked as Meiki part FR64902; the parent company is Mitsubishi. Thanks again for the advice here - interesting to keep this machine going.

You are welcome and thanks for letting us know.