Specifications

Sharpening Tips l
“ The Pro’s Choice” 19
tion. These, too, are being
incorporated into the newest
chain designs. By reducing cut-
ting vibration, saws perform
better and operators are more
comfortable and productive.
Our Advice
• Check the depth gauges on
your saw chain. Make sure they
are set at the proper height and
set evenly. If they need to be
lowered, don’t over-do it.
• Round the fronts of your
chain's depth gauges after you
lower them. Try to return them
to their original shape.
• Sharpen your cutter teeth
accurately. Maintain the correct
angles and keep all cutter teeth
the same length.
• If you run bar of 24" or less or
cut a lot of limbs or small diam-
eter trees, use full-comp saw
chain. This is the smoothest
and fastest cutting sequence for
making short cuts.
Conclusion
If your saw has excess cut-
ting vibration, hopefully this
information helps you over-
come it. As always, if we can
help, please contact us. We
don’t have all the answers, but
we do have a lot of experience.
On top of this, we can involve a
host of technical experts if need
be. So contact us if you have a
question or problem with your
pro saw chain. Our experience
and resources are here for you...
That’s why we’re the pro’s
choice.
We attribute this to vibration.
Since 3/8" pitch saw chain is a
little smaller it generally runs
smoother.
To d a y ' s S a w C h a i n
Vibrates Less
There is an ongoing effort
among today's saw chain man-
ufacturers to reducing the cut-
ting vibration of saw chain.
Oregon Cutting Systems, for
one, has developed special tools
for measuring cutting vibration,
and has used them to develop
products that vibrate less.
Their Vibe-Ban technology is a
result.
Without getting too techni-
cal, Oregon engineers found
that by removing a small
amount of material from the
base of each cutter tooth and its
adjacent tie strap, the heel of
each cutter will "float" above
the rails on the guide bar. On
earlier designs, when a cutter
tooth impacted the wood, it
released a jolt of energy into the
guide bar. A small space
between each cutter's heel and
the bar rail, creates a "shock
absorber" that dissipates much
of the energy that used to go
into the bar. Tests show it
reduces cutting vibration by
25% or more.
They have found other
ways to reduce cutting vibra-
of wood. Anything that causes
individual teeth to take different
sized bites can cause vibration.
How Sequence & Pitch
Affects Cutting Vibration
Most pro saw users who cut
large softwood trees in the
Northwestern US and Alaska,
typically run long bars -- 32"
and longer. These long guide
bars are usually fitted with skip-
tooth saw chain. While this
combination works well when a
long bar is immersed in a big
log, skip-tooth sequence is more
prone to cutting vibration. The
additional space between cutter
teeth improves its cutting per-
formance in long cuts, but this
also makes skip-tooth chain
vibrate more. This characteris-
tic is pronounced when cutting
limbs and making other small
diameter cuts. This is why, in
these cases, it is best to run a
full compliment saw chain, even
in combination with a long bar.
Another common mistake
we see is users running skip-
tooth chain on bars lengths of
24" and less. With these shorter
bars, it is not possible to make a
deep enough cut for a skip-
tooth configuration to offer any
benefit. Other than having
fewer teeth to sharpen, the use
of skip-tooth chain on a short
bar will cut slower and cause
more cutting vibration than a
full-comp configuration. So on
bar lengths of 24" or less, full-
comp chain always the best
choice.
Along with a chain's config-
uration, pitch makes a differ-
ence, too. We have noticed that
main bearing problems occur
more frequently on saws run-
ning .404" pitch than saws of the
same model running 3/8" pitch.
Quality Pro
Saw Chain
Shown is a cutter with a new heel
shape which transfers less vibration
into the guide bar.