Stainless dog cable imbedded, how bad can it be?

[BobL]

Here is the other thread I started in the chainsaw subforum. Service tech says 880 is not meant to mill?

That's correct no chainsaw is made for milling.
We've been through this argument several times before but my 880 Stihl Warranty specifically says "saw not to be used with any unauthorised attachment" -all of my mills are homemade so they are obviously unauthorised. It's really up to your dealer to determine how to interpret this. My expectation is that a good dealer will clover this but some cheap skate dealer might not.

But with some precautions its relatively easy to keep your saw from dying.
Did you detune it as discussed many times in this forum?
Whats your sharpening regime look like?

Also don't believe the 25:1 mix referred to in the other thread. 25:1 is actually leaner in terms of gas:air than 50:1 and milling needs a rich gas:mix.
25:1 just ends up putting out a lot more unburnt oil into the exhaust and fogging the air around the operator with all the other garbage that is put into oil to suppress smoke formation.

 

[jagchaser]

I didn't tune it. I am still learning, the hard way it looks like. I assumed it would be set right out of the box and that tuning would be for someone buying a used or rebuilt saw.

I sharpen quite often. On a 16ft oak with no bark I would touch up the chain every 2 passes. On a 8 foot walnut with bark I may touch it up every pass, at least every time I fill the fuel.

I did not have an aux oiler set up yet though. Laziness I guess.

I have been mixing 40:1 using stihl oil.

The one thing that has me wondering now is my tension. I know how to set tension on my 24" bar, but Ive never been shown how tight to get the 41. I always assumed it would be looser than the 24 but how much more loose I don't know. Someone in the other thread said over tightening could cause bearing failure that would cause air leaks, scoring and also brake friction.

 

[olyman]

I used an axe to hack down to the cable, but it was almost in the heartwood. I thought I would try the same thing if it was just under the bark.

Got about 10 seconds into warm up starting to mill on Saturday and my 880 locked up. That is another thread. Im not too happy right now.

Sorry about that, I tried to quote olyman, but it didn't quote

sookay,,next post of yours shows it.

 

[BobL]

I didn't tune it. I am still learning, the hard way it looks like. I assumed it would be set right out of the box and that tuning would be for someone buying a used or rebuilt saw.

1) That's unfortunate, it definitely won't be right for milling straight out of the box and if it was already tuned on the lean side that would have survived cross cutting but certainly not helped with most of the other factors below

I sharpen quite often. On a 16ft oak with no bark I would touch up the chain every 2 passes. On a 8 foot walnut with bark I may touch it up every pass, at least every time I fill the fuel.

That's good.

I did not have an aux oiler set up yet though. Laziness I guess.

2) That's not so good. I have a temperature gauge on my 880 and can see the temp change when I turn the Aux oiler on/off. I even use an Aix oiler. on my small mill with the 25" bar.

I have been mixing 40:1 using stihl oil.

3) Normally that's fine but the saw would have been tuned for 50:1 out of the box, so that would have made a small contribution to the leanness.

The one thing that has me wondering now is my tension. I know how to set tension on my 24" bar, but Ive never been shown how tight to get the 41. I always assumed it would be looser than the 24 but how much more loose I don't know. Someone in the other thread said over tightening could cause bearing failure that would cause air leaks, scoring and also brake friction.

4) Over tightening won't help.

I'd say the combo of all 4 of the items above might have been enough to do it. Personally I would still push the dealer for a better deal.

 

[Blanc]

As I told in the other thread, OK for the marked cylinder and piston, but to damage rollers you had to make your saw damn hot.

Hot enough to boil the gas in the tank (or stihl rollers are crap!)

For the brake it seems fair you burnt it, most first timers to, next time you'll build one from scratch.

I guess you're the direct consequence of all people around saying again and again that you should not mill with a small saw. I gave up telling people on French forums they should as a learning saw.
Most cs millers I know (and believe me they are quite scarce in Europe) used to start with small second hand saws, burned them rebuilt them, made some wood the hard way to pay a bigger one and a bigger one... I guess their learning curves was less expensive than yours and your 880.
But well that's how the fashion is, I dreamt of a big saw when I started milling and now that I'm over 85cc ported and muffled I won't go back, but I learnt a lot with small machines, how to sharpen, how to guide, how to listen to the saw how to fine tune them for milling....

 

[Derf]

+1 on using a metal detector.

 

[jagchaser]

As I told in the other thread, OK for the marked cylinder and piston, but to damage rollers you had to make your saw damn hot.

Hot enough to boil the gas in the tank (or stihl rollers are crap!)

For the brake it seems fair you burnt it, most first timers to, next time you'll build one from scratch.

I guess you're the direct consequence of all people around saying again and again that you should not mill with a small saw. I gave up telling people on French forums they should as a learning saw.
Most cs millers I know (and believe me they are quite scarce in Europe) used to start with small second hand saws, burned them rebuilt them, made some wood the hard way to pay a bigger one and a bigger one... I guess their learning curves was less expensive than yours and your 880.
But well that's how the fashion is, I dreamt of a big saw when I started milling and now that I'm over 85cc ported and muffled I won't go back, but I learnt a lot with small machines, how to sharpen, how to guide, how to listen to the saw how to fine tune them for milling....

I spent a couple years milling with my ms390 on a 24" mill before this. Never burned up a brake on any saw before and never had any problems milling with the 390 straight out of the box, so I never had to rebuild anything. I sharpen a lot, probably more than is needed, and I take my time. I had already told the repair shop to go ahead and fix it on my dime because I will NOT go back to milling with the small saw!

Apparently the 880 is a whole different animal as far as milling straight out of the box. Im going to make sure I get it tuned before I run when I get it back, just in case.

Today I decided to email Stihl and ask them about it, and their distributor called me back right away. Apparently he is on here and had already replied in my other thread. He agreed to cover the repair. He also insisted on using 50:1 in that saw regardless of what everyone says here.....

 

[Knobby57]

I spent a couple years milling with my ms390 on a 24" mill before this. Never burned up a brake on any saw before and never had any problems milling with the 390 straight out of the box, so I never had to rebuild anything. I sharpen a lot, probably more than is needed, and I take my time. I had already told the repair shop to go ahead and fix it on my dime because I will NOT go back to milling with the small saw!

Apparently the 880 is a whole different animal as far as milling straight out of the box. Im going to make sure I get it tuned before I run when I get it back, just in case.

Today I decided to email Stihl and ask them about it, and their distributor called me back right away. Apparently he is on here and had already replied in my other thread. He agreed to cover the repair. He also insisted on using 50:1 in that saw regardless of what everyone says here.....

This is the one of the reasons I only buy stihl saws . The hardly break but when they do it's usually not to much of a hassle. Once you buy 30-40 saws from the same dealer they usually cover stuff even if it's completely your fault . Shame on your dealer . I'm sure he could have pushed the repair through very easily


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[jagchaser]

This is the one of the reasons I only buy stihl saws . The hardly break but when they do it's usually not to much of a hassle. Once you buy 30-40 saws from the same dealer they usually cover stuff even if it's completely your fault . Shame on your dealer . I'm sure he could have pushed the repair through very easily


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Im not going to blame him for what almost happened. This is my first time at this dealers shop. He is a little out of my way, but I was going south on Monday anyways. The dealer I bought the 880 from is east of me about 100 miles and I wasn't headed that way this week. Its kind of few and far between for chainsaw shops out here on the plains. Like I said before, I wonder if he has even seen an 880 before. I have NEVER seen one for sale in any shop out here except for the one I bought. I am plenty happy with their response today and continually happy with the product, even with this hiccup.

 

[Yellowbeard]

My dealer has told me that they see no reason not to cover milling. Then again, they were trying to sell me an 880 at the time. Think I'll stick with my 084 for now.