The Holy grail?

[Trailoftears]

Thanks to the good offices of mark@skyland I am now the (slightly) over excited owner of a stihl light 04 18" bar.When it arrived,I was so overwhelmed,I had to sit down for a bit and gather my thoughts.Many thanks Mark.Ironically when I bought it via radmore&tucker there was only a fiver difference between opting for the 16" or the 18" version.In my wisdom,I decided 16" was the perfect sweet spot for the saw.Always intended to then purchase an 18" option to add a bit more flexibility.However,I didnt know then what I know now!

[pleasant]

20 minutes ago, Trailoftears said:

Thanks to the good offices of mark@skyland I am now the (slightly) over excited owner of a stihl light 04 18" bar.When it arrived,I was so overwhelmed,I had to sit down for a bit and gather my thoughts.

Blimey.....methinks you really need to go out and find an accommodating girlfriend! 🤣🤣

[Trailoftears]

You dont know my missus mate......

[Haironyourchest]

Why does the OP want a 1.3 guage bar instead of a standard 1.6? Same bar, only difference is the width of the groove, surely?

[Trailoftears]

Well,Given stihl in their wisdom decided that this was the optimum setup for a 50cc saw,I thought it best to go with the flow.I've just bought the reasonably priced old picco 'upgrade' kit for the saw.I notice the picco bar is lighter than the light 04 bar,also the picco chain has 7 odd less teeth than the .325 chain-easier on the saw/maximises performance? I'm guessing putting a standard 18" 3/8 1.6 bar would just ask a bit much lf the saw.Saying that,in the states its often put on a 20"  standard bar setup.Which to me,is a tad silly for the saw's output?Sometimes less is more i.mo.

[Dan Maynard]

2 hours ago, Haironyourchest said:

Why does the OP want a 1.3 guage bar instead of a standard 1.6? Same bar, only difference is the width of the groove, surely?

Width of the whole thing, importantly the width of the cut is narrower so it takes less energy to cut. Hence same engine power cuts faster.

[pleasant]

43 minutes ago, Dan Maynard said:

Width of the whole thing, importantly the width of the cut is narrower so it takes less energy to cut. Hence same engine power cuts faster.

That's not strictly true. A .325" chain cutter tooth and links are exactly the same length and cutting width irrelevant if the drive link in the bar groove is 1.3mm 1.5mm or 1.6mm. The only difference is the bar groove width....thinner the drive link, less rolling resistance...that is the theory any way, although in practice no one in a normal work environment is going to notice any difference. In a lab test, yes possibly, but we all know real world is not a lab.

Edited November 19, 2022 by pleasant

[Dan Maynard]

Stihl website

 

Its narrower saw kerf enables the .325" Pro to achieve up to 20% better cutting performance in comparison with the previous .325" saw chains in this drive link thickness.

[Haironyourchest]

So the 1.3 bar is for a .325 chain? 

 

The .325 is a bit narrower than 3/8th for sure. So does Stihl .325 always come in 1.3 guage, or is it available in 1.6? Cos if that's the case, the gauge won't make any difference to the kerf width. Go with whatever is cheapest and easiest to find, I'd have thought.

 

[gand]

Older 261's ran .325 1.6 up till about 3 year back maybe less. They brought out the updated version with the new light 04 bar ( I think it's called that. ) using .325 1.3mm. It's been used on Husqvarna's for years usually on lower powered saws and probably for a good reason. So nothing new really.