Long and Short of Rockers

jbcampn · Nov 15, 2009

How often should I file my rockers? Oh, and since I have purchased my 361, I have been reading a lot about it. Many who don't have it are commenting "I thought the famed 361 could cure cancer." Well, it does. Had a tree that one limb was pretty eaten up with cancer. My 361 cut it off quick and painless. Tree is in full remission! It's looking and feeling great. No Chuck Norris tears needed.

One more little known fact. Chuck Norris once roundhouse kicked someone so hard that his foot broke the speed of light, went back in time, and killed Amelia Earhart while she was flying over the Pacific Ocean. fact ... google it.

John Ellison · Nov 15, 2009

Be very careful filing on your rockers. It could throw you "off your rocker."

Mac_Muz · Nov 15, 2009

I think you mean rakers, perhaps it is a typo. Most manuals say to file these every 4th time you file the cutters, but that is book speak and isn't always true.

Rakers usually are 0.050" inches lower than the cutters, so you need to watch and see. After a while, depending on the type wood you cut, it will come to you if you want the rakers any higher than book spec, or lower.

The more you take off, the harder the engine needs to work, and the bigger the chip you take.

Take off too much and the saw will kick back if you make an error a lot harder.

ironman_gq · Nov 15, 2009

.050 is pretty aggressive. Most chains spec between .025 and .035. Buy yourself a Carlton file-o-plate from bailey's it sets them progressively and keeps the chain cutting like new

Tzed250 · Nov 15, 2009

Mac_Muz said:
I think you mean rakers, perhaps it is a typo. Most manuals say to file these every 4th time you file the cutters, but that is book speak and isn't always true.

Rakers usually are 0.050" inches lower than the cutters, so you need to watch and see. After a while, depending on the type wood you cut, it will come to you if you want the rakers any higher than book spec, or lower.

The more you take off, the harder the engine needs to work, and the bigger the chip you take.

Take off too much and the saw will kick back if you make an error a lot harder.

.05 is crazy.

Read this.

.

SteveH · Nov 15, 2009

what's a rocker

constantine · Nov 15, 2009

SteveH said:
what's a rocker

It's where you want to sit after cutting all day.

Erick · Nov 15, 2009

I usually try not to file my rockers at all, if you get them to short you could fall over backwards and possibly even off of the porch altogether...... veeeery dangerous, thats why you should always wear your hardhead... er hat.

GASoline71 · Nov 15, 2009

SteveH said:
what's a rocker

It opens and closes valves on an overhead V-8...

Gary

thomas72 · Nov 15, 2009

Depending on the chain and pitch I have them between .020 and .045.

trimmmed · Nov 15, 2009

SteveH said:
what's a rocker

here ya go........

Mac_Muz · Nov 15, 2009

I stand corrected... 0.025" is what my book says. oops!

ShoerFast · Nov 15, 2009

GASoline71 said:
It opens and closes valves on an overhead V-8...

Gary

Saws with rockers can have .050 rakers. :rocker:

Hddnis · Nov 15, 2009

ShoerFast said:
Saws with rockers can have .050 rakers. :rocker:

At least.

Mr. HE

ShoerFast · Nov 15, 2009

jbcampn said:
How often should I file my rockers? Oh, and since I have purchased my 361, I have been reading a lot about it. Many who don't have it are commenting "I thought the famed 361 could cure cancer." Well, it does. Had a tree that one limb was pretty eaten up with cancer. My 361 cut it off quick and painless. Tree is in full remission! It's looking and feeling great. No Chuck Norris tears needed.

One more little known fact. Chuck Norris once roundhouse kicked someone so hard that his foot broke the speed of light, went back in time, and killed Amelia Earhart while she was flying over the Pacific Ocean. fact ... google it.

Welcome to the site! :cheers:

To start with you can get an idea by looking down the cutter as you can see how thick the chip is going to be, or you will get an idea.

By measuring and paying attention to how your chain feeds the hight of the depth gauges will be your final tune.

No real numbers, as no two people cut the same. And as the chain wares back your going to need deeper DG's. If you are fussy about maintaining your chain and keep them real sharp, you can get away with a little more aggressive DG, dirty wood that needs a lot of attention you might get a few more cuts with a shallower DG.

.035 - .040 Very aggressive green, softest of soft wood and a lot of engine on a short bar

.030 - .035 Good to aggressive chain that your going to need to hold back slightly in some wood. In wood less then 12" dia you might like your DG's around this range?

.025 - .030 Not much that is not going to cut real well here, good chain speed that you can sort of control by how you feed the saw into the cut. A place to start if your cutting a lot of bigger/harder wood?

.025 or less Very hard or frozen wood, it won't impress many with it's cutting speed, but will make an under engined saw spin on a bar that is a little much for the saw (like a 020/290 with a 20" in hard wood might sound better with this shallow of DG setting?)

BobL · Nov 15, 2009

Fixed raker depths work for some operators, but I see a lot of operators moving to progressive raker depths. This keeps a chain cutting optimally all the way through the life of the cutters.
The easiest way to do this is to use a Carlton FOP or one of the many similar gauges. What these so is vary the raker depth according to the wear on a cutter or width of the gullet.

For a 3/8 it approximately makes the the raker depths:

.025 on new chain

.030 when the cutter gullet is 0.3"

.035 when the gullet is 0.35"

.040 when the gullet is 0.4

.045 when the gullet is 0.45

ETC

If you look at the numbers you will notice a pattern. The raker depth is ~1/10 of the gullet width

Of course you can vary this fraction depending on the conditions and size of saw, some operators with bigger saws use 1/8 instead of 1/10, but this cannot be done using a standard FOP.

My gullets on some of my chains are around 0.45" and I'm currently using a 0.05" raker depth.

Will Malloff in "Chainsaw lumber making" recommends starting at 0.045" for milling using an 090, and the guys on Lucas slabbers use up to 0.06" depth rackers on new chain!

fubar2 · Nov 15, 2009

You are going to mess up your valve timeing.

jbcampn · Nov 16, 2009

thank you for the correction. The only rocker I will file is in my ipod folder. Thank you for all of the honest feedback for this question and being that I am amongst so many men that are so much more well versed in the typing biz, rest assured that I will watch my p's and q's more closely from now on. Let alone my o's and a's.

Ho my gosh! Filing the gap to .050? that's .005 bigger than I gap the spark plugs on my DOC V-8! Maybe thats the gap after filing the rockers. lol:deadhorse:

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