design of modern chain saws.

[deye223]

The other thing is ROI, are professionals all of a sudden going to change from a $500-$600 saw to a $1000 to $1500 saw? Would homeowners go from a $150 saw to a $500 saw? Probably not.

going on past experience in oz yes we will pay $2000 for a pro saw and $600 to $1100 for a homeowner

 

[zogger]

There is an engine that sort of resembles that... they are hoping to bring it to market in a couple of years. Look up the OPOC (opposed cylinder, opposed piston) engine. Fascinating, and it is a two stroke. Testing so far has been very successful, minimal emissions, and excellent performance and reliability. Question is whether others in the engines/auto industry are going to try to sabotage the whole thing kind of like they did with the Tucker Torpedo in the 50's, or not. These guys that developed it are Michiganders. They and a few Germans came up with the design, IIRC.

Thanks! The site is ecomotors.com. Couple of heavy hitters funding them, gates and the founder of sun. I'm looking at their video now.

I'm still digging on advances in electric. Better batteries, better computer controls, exotic materials motors. And recharge from solar panels

 

[BrocLuno]

Well now, there have been major advances. Polycarbonate chassis to reduce weight, higher revving motors to make more power with less weight, smaller packages for power heads. Then along comes EPA and we have catalytic converter mufflers, adding weight and driving heat management into the melt zone We may have peaked on the mechanical side...

On the fuel management side, we may get Yamaha style variable exhaust port timing, electronic fuel injection (solid state piezio injectors?), variable ignition timing, and limited fan blower action to the carb/injector box.

The big deal is that vertical cylinders are great for stumpin. I like horizontal cylinders for bucking as the heat is not up front when you are crowding the log. Felling is a mixed bag on which is better ... depends on the cut. That's why I have some of each

Climbing and small limbing - almost always horizontal with top handle

We may go back to saws with external power for felling. In the old days it was cable drive from a ground engine. Nowadays it may be electric from a small power source off to the side. Could be four stroke?

Really small four strokes with high revs and gear reduction may be the future, but it will take a leap in materials science to keep the power/weight the same...

 

[promac850]

Thanks! The site is ecomotors.com. Couple of heavy hitters funding them, gates and the founder of sun. I'm looking at their video now.

I'm still digging on advances in electric. Better batteries, better computer controls, exotic materials motors. And recharge from solar panels

Electric is meh. No beautiful two stroke exhaust note. I love listening to a good running two stroke taking care of business.

 

[fearofpavement]

There are technologies that mature over time and the capability for future innovation diminishes. If you look at wood harvesting it has gone from axes to whip saws to chain saws in a relatively short period of time. Much of the wood nowadays is mechanically harvested by large equipment and here in Georgia where gajillions of pine trees are grown and harvested, they aren't even touched by humans, just machines. Feller bunchers cut them off and put them on the ground in piles, skidders drag them and then an articulated grapple runs them though the debrancher and they are cut to length and placed on a log truck to go to the mill. The truck driver may contact some logs when putting the chains and binders on but other than that, it's just machines.

Look at a fifty year old lawnmower. What is different now from then? Not that much. Things continually change but there comes a time when innovation has peaked and the "tool" has matured and further development will be limited to minor tweaks. A circular saw today still has a steel blade. Maybe carbide teeth is prevalent and not special any more. Some have a laser, but essentially the same thing that was used 50 years ago. With chainsaws, they have become lighter, more powerful and more reliable but I don't think a saw 10 years from now will look that much different than one from 20 years ago.

 

[GASoline71]

They could make saws out of plastic...

...nevermind... opcorn:

Gary

 

[bcsizemo]

Look at a fifty year old lawnmower. What is different now from then? .

50 year old lawnmowers didn't rust. I know they are made of steel and it isn't stainless, but by god the chassis doesn't seem to deteriorate at the rate a new one does.

Growing up we had an old T style handle mower, nicked named "old greeny" because it was painted green. Standard B&S 3.5HP engine, nothing special at all. We had it for 21 years until my father ran over a large rock and caused the blade side of the crank to bend. Hardly a lick of rust on the thing. In the 15 or so years since that time my father has been through 3 new mowers. Now he is using another 30 year old inherited one from a neighbor who passed away. That same neighbor also gave him one that is probably 40 years old. The shell of that one is living out in the edge of the woods, not doing anything but being shelter for some animals and getting covered with vines.

 

[discounthunter]

whats the biggest blade i can put on my ms170

sorry i had to go there:taped:

i think you can put a 2 footer on there,but i like the 2 footer 4 inch ones myself.

 

[discounthunter]

There is a big inch Remington, don't remember which model, it used air off the fan to pressurize the airbox. That was probably over 40 years ago.
BTW that Remington uses that new fangled horizontal cylinder.

horizantal cylinder!? your making my 032 jealous.

 

[Chris-PA]

.....lThen along comes EPA and we have catalytic converter mufflers, adding weight and driving heat management into the melt zone

Looking at it from the point of view of a product designer who has to deal with regulations, it's important to make the distinction between what the regulations required and the solution that the manufacturers came up with. Cats and limiter caps were cheap, and besides they had done absolutely nothing in terms of technology development and piddled away all the time. Clearly there was something better they could have done - the AT/MT systems are really crude in terms of engine control technology and could have been done long before. And it does not look like the saw manufacturers actually did much of that design work, probably it was the carb manufacturers.

Strato is not that complex either, but it is clever and someone had to come up with the idea and work out a lot of details in development. My impression is that Redmax did a lot of this work? I'm curious about that.

But this is typical - we went through the same nonsense on cars too. A corporation that is comfortable with a big part of a mature market will do as little as possible in terms of product development. The other guys are doing the same - they're not really competing with each other because that is expensive. It's only small companies that are innovative, big ones only do it when forced to, and usually they do it by buying a smaller company with a good idea.