CSMilling with 390xp and 42" Bar???

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csmillingnoob

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I'm only a weekend milling warrior. I had intended to get a 395 xp for my milling weekends but my dealer made me a great offer on a 390 demo head (plus service promises) and I happened to have spare cash in my pocket that day. I jumped. I hope my excited purchase doesn't bite me in the butt.

It is now past the break-in and I have put in about 32 (intermittent) hours of milling with it, mostly with a 32" bar and some with a 36". I have the oiler opened all the way and I use a nose oiler. The powerhead does its job with those bars and I'm comfortable that I'm not overloading the saw (though metal in the heart of a red oak last weekend caused some anxiety) However, I have opportunities to cut a lot of free 30-36" red oak, pecan and some Live Oak thanks to Hurricane Michael. The 36" bar won't get it if I want to keep cutting live edge.

I have a 42" that I warmed up (stretched) the chain on with one gentle 30"cut last weekend. As I said, I run the oiler wide open and drip lots of canola on the tip while I cut. Nevertheless, I am a bit concerned about making 36" cuts of these hardwoods with the 42".

Assuming I can make most cuts with the 36", am I safe running the 42" for a couple of center cuts each outing? Am I being a wuss about this or am I pushing too far?

Are there any modifications I can make to keep the powerhead cooler? (Yeah, my hand doesn't like the exhaust when I forget my glove). If muffler modification, should it be mild, medium or extreme?

Please don't tell me I should have saved up a bit more for the 395.:oops:

Hoping to hear a lot of "Shut Up Wuss:chainsaw:."
 
Opening up the muffler would be a really good idea to keep the engine tips down as much as possible. Also you're going to want to richen up the high-speed jet on that carburetor, almost to the point where it for strokes even when cutting. And run 32:1 fuel mix. A 42"bar is more than that saw wants, but if it's not an everyday all day type of thing and you take a few precautions, the saw will be fine.
 
Thanks Andy:

I ran the first three or four tanks with Husqvarna premix 50:1 (for warranty reasons) Then, I started running 40:1 when I started milling. It seems to run smooth at 40:1 in the original tuning.

I'm not good at tuning the high speed by ear (old half deaf rock and roller). Well, the dealer owes me a free retune as part of our deal. So, I guess I'll take it in for a tuneup to 32:1.
 
From what I understood, is that more oil makes the exhaust gas hotter. Isn't it?
I had some chinesium two stroke tools which had stickers saying 25:1 and imprints saying 50:1 so I wanted to tune everything in the middle.
My stihl dealer said to stay clear from thinking more oil is better for the engine.
Not enoug oil, overheats the cilinder lining and pistonring. To much oil overheats everything.

Bottom line, stay between 1:40 and 1:50 for the sake of the German/Swedisch/Japanese made tools, and if the chinesium ones fail, buy something better next time.
Disclaimer. I didn't do any testing on the matter. Just reproducing the information.

Cheers from an other weekend miller

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-G955F met Tapatalk
 
All my tuning has been with a tach because I don't trust my ears. Yeah, I can tell if it's WAY out of whack by ear/feel but finding the sweetest spots escapes me without a tach.

Running right at 9000rpms now on 40:1
 
From what I understood, is that more oil makes the exhaust gas hotter. Isn't it?
I had some chinesium two stroke tools which had stickers saying 25:1 and imprints saying 50:1 so I wanted to tune everything in the middle.
My stihl dealer said to stay clear from thinking more oil is better for the engine.
Not enoug oil, overheats the cilinder lining and pistonring. To much oil overheats everything.

This has been categorically proven totally incorrect in actual testing, from multiple sources, in multiple two cycle engine applications. Dealers are just fed corporate BS, understand Stihl Husqvarna and so on are in the business of selling new products, not making them last forever. The difference between 40:1 and 32:1 is quite small. More oils is better period.
 
This has been categorically proven totally incorrect in actual testing, from multiple sources, in multiple two cycle engine applications. Dealers are just fed corporate BS, understand Stihl Husqvarna and so on are in the business of selling new products, not making them last forever. The difference between 40:1 and 32:1 is quite small. More oils is better period.

More oil is not better period. Stihl & Husqvarna are in the business of staying in business. To keep selling new products the stuff they sell needs to be engineered correctly. The engineers who design these don’t design them to fail, especially if you follow the manufacturer’s specs.

The engineers know what they’re doing, period.
 
Evidence that says more oil is better is overwhelming, and undeniable. Some like to keep their heads in the sand I suppose.

If you don't believe things are designed with built-in obsolescence, I have nothing further to say.

The evidence for me is run one saw at 50:1 and one at 40:1 and then open them up.

50:1 will have little to no oil in the bottom end.case closed for me.
 
If you believe that oil mixture is the key to that planned obsolescence I have nothing further to say. I went to engineering school. No engineer will design a machine to fail prematurely. It will have a useful service life, but the major components are designed to use a specific consumable. If oil was causing an early failure there would have been a redesign by now.

But it’s okay, because everyone knows better than the engineers that did the design.
 
If you believe that oil mixture is the key to that planned obsolescence I have nothing further to say. I went to engineering school. No engineer will design a machine to fail prematurely. It will have a useful service life, but the major components are designed to use a specific consumable. If oil was causing an early failure there would have been a redesign by now.

But it’s okay, because everyone knows better than the engineers that did the design.
Engineers have constraints they must deal with, from the big bosses and bean counters within the company, to outside forces such as the EPA. All of which you clealerly have no understanding of. You are out of your depth. Please I suggest you do some research before trying to give advice as if it's the gospel. You definitely sound like an engineer.
 
Engineers have constraints they must deal with, from the big bosses and bean counters within the company, to outside forces such as the EPA. All of which you clealerly have no understanding of. You are out of your depth. Please I suggest you do some research before trying to give advice as if it's the gospel. You definitely sound like an engineer.

You really are preaching like what you have to say is gospel, and there is no other option. I am not out of my depth, thank you. Don’t just throw insults around because you’re on the internet. While you’re at it, knock off with the conspiracy theory peddling. It really makes you look like a fool. You don’t think I haven’t had to work within constraints as an engineer? Are you serious?

If you want to discuss out of your depth, ever looked at metallurgy of what’s being used now versus older engines for bottom ends? That’s why you get away with less oil, not the EPA dictating it. Maybe you should research that. All the research I’ve done on oil mixes has turned up stuff for dirt bikes, nothing on OPE and nothing I would dare call a scholarly article.

Anyway, I’m not going to derail the thread any further. I run my stuff at the manufacturer’s spec and my last 044 lasted over 20 years running 50:1 Stihl Ultra. My current 461 is still going strong on the same mix. And yeah, I live out of a truck every summer and these saws see a lot more use than most of the saws people own here.
 
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