kerf

[hazard]

Throwing the idea around again of upgrading the 066 to a 880. This could be a hopeful dream at best. One thought I had was setting the saw up for 3/8" chain instead of .404. Was wondering what are the kerfs of these two chains.

Thanks
Chris

 

[Kicker_92]

Throwing the idea around again of upgrading the 066 to a 880. This could be a hopeful dream at best. One thought I had was setting the saw up for 3/8" chain instead of .404. Was wondering what are the kerfs of these two chains.

Thanks
Chris

I can't help you with the .404, but I'm running 3/8" our 880 and it works well. Switching to an 8-pin spocket, and dropping to 3/8" change pretty much works out to the same chain speed.

With 3/8" chain and a 5°-10° top plate angle, the kerf is around 5/16" (0.3125), which is the thickness I use for wedges. The filing angle makes a large differance on kerf, a standard 30° grind will be much wider.

 

[mtngun]

Throwing the idea around again of upgrading the 066 to a 880. This could be a hopeful dream at best. One thought I had was setting the saw up for 3/8" chain instead of .404.

It's tough to measure kerf precisely, but generally, a smaller kerf is a good thing for milling.

I would not even consider .404, though we have a few members who are happy with .404.

Aggiewoodbutcher did quite a bit of chain testing on 120cc saws, and settled on .325" chain for up to 42" bars, 3/8" on longer bars. He used a 9 pin sprocket with the .325".

Only problem with .325" is that milling bars and chain are not easy to come by.