Cannon bars - 50" or 60" ?

[dave k]

A couple of questions, I will be ordering a new Cannon bar for milling and wondered about anyone's experiance with the 50" or 60" ? The 41" I'm running at the moment is a great bar and would hope that the bigger bars would be as ridgid in relative terms allowing for the extra lenth ?
I will be sticking with .404 for now. Also expecting to add aux olier.
I will have to order the bar from a UK dealer whom is offering Oregon ripping chain at a fair price, 178 DL @ £60, and again any comments welcome on that or am I as well to carry on converting Stihl RSK to 10deg ?
Thanks for any help.

 

[excess650]

I can't answer to the rigidity of the long bars, but will say that Stihl RM in 3/8 .050" works well for milling without modification. I don't see why .404 .063 wouldn't work similarly.

 

[olyman]

rigidity--bobl says that there is drop in the center of those bars. thats why he made a mod to his csm to hold the bar level, and hes says once its in the cut--it stays that way--

 

[BobL]

rigidity--bobl says that there is drop in the center of those bars. thats why he made a mod to his csm to hold the bar level, and hes says once its in the cut--it stays that way--

The extent of the droop depends on how the saw is mounted to the mill. If the saw is mounted by clamping direct to the bar at both ends as per most Alaskan style mills the droop is counterbalanced to some extent by the weight of the power head. The droop problem is greater for the GB style mills where the in board end of the mill is mounted to the bar bolts. I have about a 0.1" droop for my GB bar and a Stihl 60" bars.

I would also echo the use of 3/8 chain. At those bar lengths a CS needs every Watt of power it can muster. 3/8 has less kerf to cut which helps the saw and reduces the amount of log turned into sawdust.

 

[Can8ianTimber]

I have a Cannon 50" and it is great for milling. It is so much stiffer and lighter than my 60" GB bar. Depending on how much oil your saw puts out you may be able to get by with no aux oiler on the 50", I never did but that is not saying much.

 

[BlueRider]

If you are going to change from .404 to 3/8 take the time to figure out the appropriate number of pins so you don't drop the chain speed.

As for 60 pounds for 178 dl of ,404 that sound high. not sure what the hassle and charges are for overseas shipping but bailey's sells the same chain for 27 pounds.