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ISYM DVR 2 works ok, iPhone app

Hi Eddie, it was a real pleasure to meet you at the Arb show, I will be firing up my echo hedge trimmer for the 1st time this weekend on Aspen

The battery saw was quite a lot quieter than the 220..

It would be interesting to work out the cost of wear and tear on the batteries since they only last a certain amount of cycles. I wonder how that compares with fuel costs ? I wonder also how many hours the motors are designed to last. ? I saw a demo today of a Stihl lithium saw cross cutting and it was a lot slower than my mains powered Stihll 220.

Hi Paul and Jon it was great to meet 2 Arbtalk legends and thanks for the chains + oil Jon. See you at APF

Oops need to finish, conscious I think he must have had lungs full of water. I pulled him back to shore and a helicopter took him off the beach. It is funny, I never met him after that and have often wondered how life turned out for him.

When I was a teenager I saved a chaps life at Newgale beach. He was quite a way out in heavy surf and was only just conscius

Sounds good, my Hiflex trousers need replacing, are the Arbotec Breatheflex trousers lighter and/or cooler than Stihl Hiflex ones ? I hope to try a pair on at the arb show..

Hi Chris, I really enjoy your thread and I am sure there are loads of lurkers out there who enjoy it as well, don't be put off by the .00001 %, keep it going for the rest of us

My 046 standard oil pump will just lube a 30 inch bar and I needed a high flow rate pump for a 36 inch bar (which I only use very occasionally), as others have said, I seriously doubt if an 036 standard oil pump will lube a 30 inch bar.

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Jibtec I have run a Stihl 36 inch bar on an 046, but I needed to change the oil pump to a high flow rate one since the standard one does not pump out enough oil for a 36 inch bar, even at max setting. It worked but it was slow. I did it to cut up a really big piece of oak since this was cheaper than buying a 660/880. I wouldn't recommend a 36 inch bar on an 046 for regular use. Note that Rob D has been mentioning some low profile chains/longer bars and those should use less power but with a 36 inch bar, I reckon you would still need a higher flow rate oil pump on a 461 (unless the 461 oil pump has a higher flow rate than an 046 oil pump - that would be something worth checking). If you fit a high flow rate pump, then refill oil and 2 stroke mix at say 1/4 full on the fuel so that the oil doesn't run out first !

Vaseline essential moisture aloe fresh (Tesco do it) works

I am not sure if this is of any help or not, but a couple of photos of a link of Stihl RS chain. This is .325" pitch, 1.6mm marked as 26RS on the roll bought several years ago.

Hi Rob that sounds like a good idea. I have a Logosol bar + chain, 20 inch I think and for sure that type of chain saps less power. I would imagine there are a few people out there who would like a shot at milling and like me wanted to use an existing medium sized saw. I ended up using a Stihl 30 inch bar which I already had and the Oregon chains from you. The long 3/8. lo pro bar + chain sounds a better match for an 046 size of powerhead especially if someone didn't already have a long bar. A key thing will be to ensure that the bars are really rigid to ensure a straight cut especially at the longer lengths.

You guessed it 461 gets my vote

Hi Tim, I have done a bit of milling with an 046 with a 30 inch bar. The saw has been upgraded with a high flow rate oil pump which helps to improve the lubrication of the longer bar. It did the job, but it was slow. It is ok for occasional use and if you are not in a hurry, but if you were going to do much milling of bigger stems, then I would say use a more powerful saw. The sharpening has to be absolutely spot on and I use a bench grinder which I also use for setting the raker depths. For cross cutting, I usually have the rakers lower than standard, especially on the short bars/softer wood since the 046 can cope with that. I tried the same with a milling chain, big mistake, it just dug in too much so be careful with the raker depth. I used Oregon ripping chain. I guess using some kind of skip ripping chain would reduce the load on the saw. I would also let the saw cool down a bit after each cut since there must be quite some heat build up. I also switched to using HP Super 2 stroke oil (the green stuff) since this is supposed to give higher protection than the standard red Stihl 2 stroke oil. I used Shell Vpower petrol, maybe this petrol is just marketing hype but it only costs a bit more. I will probably have a go with Aspen one day.. Note that with the high flow rate oil pump upgrade and the pump set at max, it is possible for the oil to run out before the petrol runs out, so I refilled both before the petrol ran out.

Hi Gixer, I used a 40 pound grinder for a couple of years and it did a good job, it certainly saved a lot of time on the bigger chains if damaged with nail, stone etc. I have quite a few chains and only sharpen at home on the grinder and just swap chains over in the field. With a grinder you can just grind a tiny bit off if that is all that is needed. I upgraded to a Carlton all metal grinder which I picked up at an arb show for around 100 pounds. The difference between this and the cheaper models is all metal construction which makes it a bit more accurate + stable and a +/- 10 degree tilt angle on the chain vice. This allows a slightly better tooth profile to be ground (well i think so A grinder is well worth having. I have seen a few posts where some people say that filing by hand file gives the sharpest edge of all, but I am fine with the cutting speed of full chisel chain sharpened by grinder and it is a lot quicker to recover a damaged chain with a grinder. I will probably try out one of those fancy CBN grinding wheels one day which are supposed to run cooler and keep their shape. I agree that by grinding gently you can keep the heat down.

I bought the electric vertical 7 ton Handy Pro from Riko and it works well, I split 10 cubic metres with it last weekend and it has split everything so far. I think they do a petrol one as well. The more expensive ones will be quicker, but this is fast enough for me. It all depends on how much you need to split. A friend has recently bought a 5 ton horizontal double ended Forest Master electric log splitter and he is happy with that. I used to have a Metabo 5 ton horizontal log splitter that I sometimes ran off a 3kw generator, that lasted several years but finally failed and lacked spare parts backup. Riko offer spares back up for the Handy Pro which was one of the key selling points for me.

I have an 026 and an MS250 and the 026 cuts quite a bit quicker. The 026 seems to have quite a bit more torque since it doesn't bog down as easily as the MS250. If it was me, I would go for the power of a the 261 class of machine. I normally run my 026 on a 16 inch bar. The 026 is still pulling 160psi after all of these years. It would be worth taking a look at the current power/weight differences of the MS261 versus the others. From the servicing/repair threads, it sounds like the pro saws are easier to work on.

Too much Cizzer ?

Hi Arthur, that would be neat, heat up the thermal store before leaving home and when you are heading back home, switch on remotely the valve(s) to heat the room(s) ready for when you get back. I have seen small wall mounted fan based heat exchangers which would bring the air temperature up quicker than the under floor heating. Option B is to get the underfloor heated concrete slabs extra warm before you leave and with a highly insulated house with no opening of doors, then I would imagine the house would cool down quite slowly (several days probably).

A friend of mine has a wood burning stove with back boiler feeding a thermal store which feeds hot water + downstairs under floor heating with a control valve for each room. He also has hot water solar panels for the summer months. It was a new build so very energy efficient house and uses approx 8 cubic metres of hardwood per year (less this past year) for a family of 4. The under floor heating makes it very controllable since he can decide which rooms are heated to what temperature and when (thermostat in each room I believe feeding back to central controller). The under floor heating adds quite a lot of thermal mass. From what I remember, with the high level of insulation upstairs is warm enough from just the hot air rising from the downstairs underfloor heating. He has been very happy with the overall result.

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and with an electric chainsaw there is also the option of cutting up inside a garage/shed to cut the noise down further if the neighbours are a bit sensitive (something that you can't do with a petrol chainsaw of course). I have used a Stihl E220, it is powerful, expensive and quite noisy, but at least it doesn't sound like a petrol chainsaw. I tried a few of the smaller electric chainsaws quite a few years ago (e.g. black and decker) but they all overheated after about 15 mins. It is possible to make the E220 trip the overload if pushed too hard for too long, but generally it just keeps on going. You just need to keep an eye on the oil since there is no petrol to run out as a reminder Others have said in the past that they think that the vibes are a bit high since no AV, but I would imagine that there various chain options to help reduce this and anti vibe gloves are an option.