chain gauge on bigger saws

[tony marks]

i just picked up a 69 cc solo.
i think its got .50 gauge chain.
now this the first saw ive ever owned
in that class,and im wondering if .50 gauge wont be more likely to break an whack me accross the neck or somethin.
most saws ive used had .63 gauge in the past ,except for a few ive recently aquired and ive never had a chain to break on me. i work solo and am careful
with my work,as i realize the danger.
appreciate any advice. other than not workin solo . no choice there.

 

[jokers]

Hi Tony, don`t sweat the guage issue. The tie straps which hold it all together are the same on the .050 and .058. It used to be that the tie straps on the .063 were heavier, but from looking at them without mic'ing them, I would say that is no longer true, either that or my eyes are worse than I thought, LOL. Russ

 

[user 2993]

.050 guage is fine, Tony. Comes standard on even 066 stihls. I've heard from a guy who uses .050 in .325 pitch on his 088 for milling logs, no problem.
Have fun,
George

 

[StIhL MaGnUm]

Tony,

I agree with everyone else I don't see the need to run anything but .050 thats all I run on all my saws 385XP,064,3120XPG and I have yet to see any problems you should be fine with it.

Good Luck
Rob..

 

[Tony Snyder]

Walt Galer could surely give us the background on this.

From what I have experienced .050 has kind of been the American standard (Homelites, McCullochs, Poulans) Echo brought their powerheads in from the beginning and supplied American bars and chains (.050) gauge.

Gauge .058 kinda seems to be the European standard, and now that lots of European saws are being sold .058 is probably more popular than the old .050.

I sell Solos. I believe until recently they sent in just pwerheads and purchased bars and chains in the U.S. (.050) mostly.

It makes little difference to the user since the most important part of the links are all made about the same thickness stock.

Where it does affect things, is that it causes the dealrs to have to carry more types of chain and also the bar patterns with different groove sizes.

 

[tony marks]

thanks much for the input fellas.
im to old to let a chain be my demise.
i just wasnt sure about their strength. im sure lookin forward to gettin my saw. been hearing u guys talk about these 70 cc saws ,and now ill hopefull get to find out for my self. . if it suits me ,heck i mite even get her power tuned. a power tuned stock type saw would win a little change around here.
ill gurantee that around here if i bring out that pretty red saw[kinda looks too pretty to be a real saw]. these guys willl want to show me up. but im gettin ahead o myself . lets see what i got first.thanks again tm

 

[John in MA]

My little 110cc toy came with .50 gauge. It worked for the previous owner and it works for me. No problem as far as I know.

 

[don]

"weak link"

It makes little difference to the user since the most important part of the links are all made about the same thickness stock.

What part of the chain is likely to fail?

 

[JimL]

I see alot of chains come through the shop, I would have to say on the bigger 3/8 chain it is the drive link 75% of the time, straps 25%.

Now on the .325 and 3/8LP it is 50%-50% each.

 

[JimL]

Almost forgot, I got in a .063 guage .404 chain today with a broken drive link. chain was ???? near new

 

[Gypo Logger]

Hi Don, a chain will usually fail at the rivets, snaping a tie strap. Failure is generally a result of chain abuse, such as lack of lube, coupled with over tensioning and a severaly worn sprocket. Subzero temps can compound the problem as well.
Hope this helps,
John

 

[don]

Thank the big guy upstairs

Never had a chain fail and check the equipment all the time.
Had chains jump off track and get messed up but never a out right breakage during a cut. Been lucky so far.
So Gypo, what do you run on the 088KD and why?

 

[tony marks]

hey don. im just curious as to just where u use a chainsaw out there in la.
ive heard they got laws against cutting anything.not trying to be smart w u it just got me curious .
if u want a little more freedom come on out to carolina. no laws hear YET.
thats happens and im headed deeper into the woods.

 

[don]

LA LAW or the ART of kissing the public officials behind

The moist interesting thing about Los Angeles is you never know what kind of tree you might go cut. Palm, Eucalyptus, Pine, Peach, Avocado, Cedar, Pistachio, Carob, JuJUbe, Mulberry, Birch, Cotton etc... Most are Pine.
Depends what city and county you are in on what type of tree you can touch. In Ventura County just West of Los Angeles all Oak trees are protected if they are over 3 feet tall. If a branch falls and you touch it you can be ticketed. Even trimming is illegal without a permit. They monitor all trees in the County by SATELLITE and keep records of their whereabouts. If you have a undesirable bug, desease, etc on your tree and are discovered they (your local government will cut it down and might charge you for it.)

Someone just cut down allot of trees without any permit and is in big trouble see this article:

http://www.cnpsci.org/html/Conservation/Kaddis Oaks-Sep02.htm

Just to make things worse the guy did this:

http://www.insidevc.com/vcs/oj/article/0,1375,VCS_168_1555102,00.html

To tell you how bizarre people get around here:

http://www.insidevc.com/vcs/state/article/0,1375,VCS_122_1556822,00.html

What the article doesn't tell you is they want to build the biggest planned real estate developement in the US there. I think it is somewhere aropund 120,000 to 200,000 homes. I'd like to know where they are going to get the water.

Well the winds here are gusting up to 90 thats right 90 miles an hour right now ... and trees are falling down everywhere.
The winds come from the Santa Ana Mountains hence the Santa Ana Winds. At least brush fires burn pretty fast right now!

The Los Angeles forest is a whole nother story. A nicer one at that!

 

[Ryan Willock]

i'm sorry but tree sitting just wouldn't work with me, i'd cut the d@mned thing down with him in it all environmentalists are is Eco-Tarrorists with nothing better to do than pick on the working man's lively hood

 

[treeclimber165]

Perhaps, Ryan, you missed the part about it being a 400 year old tree. I think it's great that someone is taking a stand to protect such a specimen from idiot 'developers' and 'planners'. They would rather see concrete.

 

[Rotax Robert]

I dissagree with Gypo, my side of the story is that side straps will fail 1st only if you have an incorrect filing method, your 90 second tickle is not enough, I prefer Walts method wich takes a minute and a half....Generaly the driver will fail at the rivet generaly due to rolling a chain off the bar when it is over tightened...say tension set to 224kg or more.

In my case it happens by just plain having to much power.

 

[Ryan Willock]

sorry Brian, i should have been more specific. just that type of stuff makes me mad It may be a 400 year old tree but it is on the DEVELOPER'S property, now i was taught that you RESPECT someone else's property. now i do happen to like big old trees like that but don't you dare tell me what i'm going to do on MY property like that!!!!! now if that developer was doing some thing dangerous to society or the environment like dumping toxic crap then some one needs to step in and stop him but cutting down a tree??? i think the proper step for the eco people to have taken would have been to try and buy the tree off of him or work something else out instead.

 

[tony marks]

ryan ,we live in a completely different world here in carolina than .L.A.
we have folks movin in here from ,i wont say where. anyways they love it here,
but the first thing they try to do is start trying to changing things so that they are like they were ,back where they came from.
a new neighbor that i was trying to be nice to . called me not long ago to ask me what i thot we should do about a fella dn the rd that had timbered his land.it was unsightly ,this guy says.
i told him the first thing i was going to do was mind my own buisiness. hadnt heard from him lately.ive decided these people just cant help it they just got to fix whats wrong with everybody an everything.
and of course they always know how.
people tryin to mind other folks buisiness rank almost up there with thieves as my favorite uh target.

 

[don]

Moved the discussion on trees to this forum

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6658

igure it would be better for the people wanting to know more about the government intervention on the tree or "old growth" on the developers land.