B&S 1450 no spark

I have a Craftsman chipper with a Briggs 1450 engine. Ran great last time I put it away 4 months ago. Went to start it yesterday and dead. First thing of note, when I went to pull the crank start, it locked up due to a remaining chunk of wood in the grinder. I do not think anything I did clearing it or attempting to start damaged anything. I pulled and pulled, did not even try to fire. Brought it t the garage, no spark.

I checked the kill switch function and it seems grounded no matter if the switch is open or closed. Confusing. There is one wire to the switch and one connected to nothing (just hanging there with a butt connector). I'm confused on how this kill switch is supposed to work and where there other wire would connect.

Any help would be appreciated on next steps.

One side goes to the coil / module and the other goes to ground.
If it has an oil cut out one side goes to the cut out switch then to the coil so either one grounding will cut the spark

After a bit more troubleshooting, the kill switch works as designed. I got a spark tester in line with the spark plug and wire and it fires a weak looking spark, then no spark with the kill switch engaged.

I'm concerned about the spark. I did change the fuel to ensure I did not have bad fuel. Just can't seem to get an ignition going. How can you tell if the magneto is weak or out of time? Could this have gotten off time when I tried to pull against the stuck branch in the chipper?

If the blades are direct drive then there is a better than average chance the flywheel key has sheared and the engine is out of time.
The confirmation is a short shot of starter fluid down the plug hole & a new plug.
If it does not fire, it is out of time.
Magnetos produce more power the faster they spin so a weak spark at cranking speeds is to be expected particularly if it has been turnded over a few times so is damp with modern fuel which is very conductive when compared with real petrol.

After tearing down, short of removing the flywheel, I put it back together and tried to start it again with a shot of starter fluid. It tried to rumble to life!! With that, I took the carb off and apart, and lo and behold, the famous gelling of the fuel in the fuel/ float bowl. Cleaned it up and put it back together and it runs like a champ again.

Lessons learned:

1. Run the fuel out of the carb when finished with infrequently used equipment. Get ethanol free gas, if possible.
2. Troubleshooting a non-functioning engine, check the fuel after spark is confirmed.
3. Don't put the bag catcher inside the hopper on a chipper for transporting. After all the work I did to get it running, I ended up chewing up the catcher bag when I went to start chipping again because I forgot I put the bag in the hopper. :ashamed:

A little Zen & The Art of Shredder Use.
When I got my first one in the late 60's. I used it all wrong.
Used to trim all the shrubs, bushes & tress, then cart it all around to "that" corner of the yard then spend a day or more chopping it up.
Took way too long so I bought a much bigger petrol one but again spent 2/3 of the time waiting for it to digest the load & pick up speed again.
Then neighbour asked to borrow it & I saw what I was doing wrong.
He placed it with the discharge chute towards the trunk of the tree .
As he cut a branch, he dropped it strait into the hopper & by the time he had cut the next the previous was processed & the unit was back up to speed.
When finished he raked the wayward chips back around the tree , leveled off he pile and moved on to the next.
When finished he tossed some chook poo + blood & bone on top of the shreds, waters well and topped off with some gum chips to make them all look the same.
Job done in 1/4 of the time I used to take , looked great, used very little bought in mulch and the bloody trees grew like mad.
So I modified my methods.
Most trees & shrubs grow better with their own leaves around their bases.
If I needed some "dry' material to add the the grass in the compost tumbler it was just a matter of pushing the wheel barrow around the garden & pinching a shovel full from each shrub.