Stihl 461 with .325 chain?

[Rough Hewn]

A few days ago I found some stihl .325 9 pin rim sprockets at work, used on a ms341.

That set me thinking...

Would the chain speed increase be enough to offset the torque so I don't snap the chain.

Has anyone tried this?

I'm thinking 25" bar would cut very quickly. [emoji3][emoji848]

[Stubby]

7 minutes ago, Rough Hewn said:

 

A few days ago I found some stihl .325 9 pin rim sprockets at work, used on a ms341.

That set me thinking...

Would the chain speed increase be enough to offset the torque so I don't snap the chain.

Has anyone tried this?

I'm thinking 25" bar would cut very quickly.

 

Try it .

[billpierce]

I sometimes run my double ended milling bar with 2x 660s on 9pin .325 not snapped a chain yet. So reckon you'll be fine. Pretty sure 440 or 460s are listed as taking a 325 9 pin also

[billpierce]

Yep, here you go https://www.lsengineers.co.uk/rim-sprocket-0-325-9t-stihl-part-no-0000-642-1239.html

[Sambo]

What's the point?!

The cutters on 3/8" chain aren't a hell of a lot bigger than .325 but due to the chain pitch there are less of them. A 461 has some crazy chain velocity like 28 m/s so I'd say that's plenty of cutters going through the wood at any given moment. I'd guess that really you wouldn't notice a great deal of advantage. 

 

By comparison, I changed the chain on my 261 from .325 to 3/8 picco - reducing the number of teeth on the chain. the longer pitch and less teeth reduce the resistance to the saw and allow it to cut much faster!

[Steve Bullman]

53 minutes ago, Sambo said:

What's the point?!

The cutters on 3/8" chain aren't a hell of a lot bigger than .325 but due to the chain pitch there are less of them. A 461 has some crazy chain velocity like 28 m/s so I'd say that's plenty of cutters going through the wood at any given moment. I'd guess that really you wouldn't notice a great deal of advantage. 

 

By comparison, I changed the chain on my 261 from .325 to 3/8 picco - reducing the number of teeth on the chain. the longer pitch and less teeth reduce the resistance to the saw and allow it to cut much faster!

On the contrary, you’d notice a massive difference!

[spuddog0507]

On 26/07/2018 at 17:34, Rough Hewn said:

 

A few days ago I found some stihl .325 9 pin rim sprockets at work, used on a ms341.

That set me thinking...

Would the chain speed increase be enough to offset the torque so I don't snap the chain.

Has anyone tried this?

I'm thinking 25" bar would cut very quickly.

 

a 461 is a pretty decent saw and cuts well on a 3/8 chain i cant see why you would want to change to a .325 if you did change it and chain snaps and hits you ? then you end up with time of work its a dear experiment , personally i wouldnt do it, we run 461s on 20 @ 25" bars chains sharpened as per book then 2 more strokes across each depth gauge and they cut well.