why chrome???

[floriceeel]

Why are they still using chrome plating instead of nikasil,aren't we paying enough money for these saws?Chrome seems like a cheap way to go.
Oh...these are the specs for the 462,not an old 041

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[Huskybill]

Industrial chrome plating is some tough material. I prefer chrome over nikasil.
Years ago if we blew a piston in a chrome plated cylinder we had a better % of the chrome cylinder not being scored. Just add a new piston and we were off and running. The older huskys with chrome are more rebuildable over the newer nikasil ones I think anyway.

 

[Conquistador3]

Correct me if I am wrong but I think the MS462 cylinder is cast in-house by Stihl themselves.
Nikasil is a proprietary Mahle process: I don't know who has bought a license to use the Nikasil process (if anybody), but surely not Stihl.
Mahle has long had excellent salesmen, very skilled in making everybody believe Nikasil was better than everything else while in reality is just a very cleverly marketed nickel and silicon based coating. But I guess Nikasil sounds better than Nicom or other lame trade names.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with chrome-based cylinder lining. It's still very much used in industrial diesel engines, albeit new cylinder treatments such as nitriding and phospating are starting to make inroads. The trick is how the chrome is alloyed (generally vanadium and molybdenum) and especially how it's applied.

But I guess those Mahle salesmen have to pay for their brand new yachts...

 

[Huskybill]

I believe industrial chrome plating is better, more expensive but better. Nikasil is cheaper to do. It’s all about the cost not longevity. If the saw lasts past the warranty plus a few years they the manufacturer made there product cost effective for them.

I been testing moly since 1970. That’s another post.

 

[floriceeel]

From what I know,nikasil is more expensive.Don't know about longevity but in terms of performance I heard it's better.The nikasil is more elastic than chrome,less chance to chip.

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[sunfish]

It doesn't really matter. I ran a couple of the good old Poulan saws for 30 years, they had bare aluminum cylinder bores with chrome plated pistons. They still ran fine when I sold them.

 

[sunfish]

From what I know,nikasil is more expensive.Don't know about longevity but in terms of performance I heard it's better.The nikasil is more elastic than chrome,less chance to chip.

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That's what I've heard also.

 

[Huskybill]

Chrome won’t chip if it’s done right. Nikasil is better for heat transfer. Before nikasil the dirtbikes were castiron, then some were rock hard chrome. They put chrome rings on chrome cylinders. Even chrome rings on castiron sleeves. Once the cylinder was glazed it was hard like glass. This is why disc brakes are castiron.

 

[BlacknTan]

Before retirement, I was a Tool & Die Maker. When a big draw die ring would wear out of tolerance, we'd send them out for hard chrome. Never seen the plating chip. And these die rings were under incredible pressure... So much so that they had to be shrunk into big mild steel rings to prevent explosion.
So, while I have no experience with Nikasil, I'd trust hard chrome completely.

 

[stilh036prohog]

When i was in the aircraft piston engine maintenance we would aways send the jugs out to get bored out then chrome plated. You use different rings and they took longer to seat in. Chrome is tough. Just my two cents.

 

[Conquistador3]

From what I know,nikasil is more expensive.Don't know about longevity but in terms of performance I heard it's better.The nikasil is more elastic than chrome,less chance to chip.

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Nikasil was all the rage back in 70's because allowed very tight piston/cylinder tolerances, especially with large pistons, but things have changed a lot since then. Well, apart from Mahle's sales pitch.
Kolbenschmidt cylinders have long used Alusil lining, an aluminum/silicon alloy, which had the big benefit of being sulfur-resistant: what the Mahle salesmen "forgot" to tell customers was that fuel with a high sulfur content reacted with nickel over time, effectively corroding the lining, and causing "inexplicable" failures. This is not a problem these days since most of the world uses low sulfur fuel, but always remember Stihl has been selling 070/MS070/MS720 by the pallet load in the most remote corners of the world for decades now so they know a thing or two about low quality fuel.

 

[cus_deluxe]

one thing i know is that when a guy wants to use a high performance piston in a race saw, you have to specify what plating you have. the wiseco forged pistons that have been made recently be a member here come with a chrome faced steel ring, but they can only be used in nikasil plated cylinders. put that chrome faced ring in a chrome plated cylinder and you will have a few mins of run time before the chrome plating is wiped right off the cylinder wall. take from that what you want.

 

[floriceeel]

by the way, what's that "4 kanal" thing written in the specs?

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[stilh036prohog]

Hardness in a scale I don't know

 

[DND 9000]

The transfer channel splits into 4 channels to get a more homogen mixture in the combustion chamber.

 

[stilh036prohog]

Yes chrome was I a different animal the nikica or what they called it. Wasn't Kawasaki the first for that?

 

[James Miller]

It doesn't really matter. I ran a couple of the good old Poulan saws for 30 years, they had bare aluminum cylinder bores with chrome plated pistons. They still ran fine when I sold them.

Some of us still run them. This one hasn't lived the shelf queen life still runs good. BG delete and send it back to work.

 

[Franny K]

Yes chrome was I a different animal the nikica or what they called it. Wasn't Kawasaki the first for that?

I believe the Kawasaki process was electrocution. A wire in the center was made to explode, particles of which embedded in the aluminum and then the parts of the embedded particles sticking out machined off with diamond tooling. Supposedly better oiling property than plating.

 

[Deleted member 117362]

I believe the Kawasaki process was electrocution. A wire in the center was made to explode, particles of which embedded in the aluminum and then the parts of the embedded particles sticking out machined off with diamond tooling. Supposedly better oiling property than plating.

Was that like a Vega engine?

 

[stilh036prohog]

Ok I thought kaw was the first. I ran Yamaha 1984 watercool with the boost valve. I'm still here. Lol