Chain grinder (and wind) wrecked my saw!

[Billy_Bob]

Well I've figured out how to grind my chains (with my new chain grinder) so they work real good. Too good actually!

Perfectly square wood chips are flying all over the place and making big piles. I'm cutting through large logs like cutting through cheese.

But the wind was blowing just right and all those chips flew right into the cooling air intake on my Stihl 460. My saw died. I had just filled it with gas and wondered what was wrong. Then I noticed the cooling air intake was completely blocked with saw chips. I removed the chips and a bit of smoke came out of the air intake. Arrrrgggg!!! Then my saw would not start.

Is my saw totally wrecked? (I left it at the shop and he said he would need to tear it apart to see what was wrong.)

So then I used another saw and noticed the air intake was getting clogged with each cut. Basically I had to clean off the cooling air intake after each cut.

I've never had this happen before. In the past I could make a lot of cuts and there would be just a few chips blocking the cooling air intake (which I would then wipe away).

Anyone else have this happen?

I'm thinking of installing some sort of "mud flap" (like behind tires on trucks) on the lower bar to keep the chips away from the cooling air intake.

Or perhaps maybe a square screen cover over the cooling air intake. So it would have the same front area plus 4 sides. This would unlikely become completely blocked and I could more easily see if it was blocked by chips.

I'm concerned of course about the safety of a mud flap hanging down and maybe getting caught in something?

Ideas?

 

[Philobite]

The solution to your problem is to buy a Husky.

The Huskies actively prevent this problem with an air injection centrifugal cleaner, that blows those chips right out. That design feature in my 372xp and 346xp has been a great help in felling and bucking redwood. Lots of chips can get in the wrong places when felling bigger trees. Other than that I don't have a suggestion on how to fix the problem with your saw except to go back to dull chains...

 

[Billy_Bob]

Actually I was working at the same exact spot again yesterday - everything the same except the wind, and there was no problem with the chips getting stuck in the cooling air intake. So just a "fluke" I guess.

So I guess the day before the wind was blowing just the right direction and just the right speed...

Maybe some "Einstein type" here could figure out the aerodynamics of a "flying wood chip" and the cutter heads modified a bit to make chips which fly down rather than up?

 

[toddstreeservic]

there are einstein types on this site???:monkey:

 

[smokechase II]

there are einstein types on this site

And whoever they were they invented the air filtration system cited above by Philobite:

"The Huskies actively prevent this problem with an air injection centrifugal cleaner, that blows those chips right out."

This works extremely well on saw chips.
It only works very slightly on lighter bark dust and soot from burned logs etc.

 

[Philobite]

This works extremely well on saw chips.
It only works very slightly on lighter bark dust and soot from burned logs etc.

Let's see now... The saw chips get taken care of by the centrifugal system, the lighter bark dust fills your nose, sinuses, throat and eyes, and the soot sticks to your face, neck and arms. All excess particles fill your wedge pouches so you can't find your wedges, or your pants pockets. Yep, a complete chainsaw debris suppression system.