Thread: lucas slabbing attachment

Hey Carl I tried my slabber attachment last week, for the first time, used the Oregon 27RX chain as supplied by lucas and took 6 min to travel through 900mm x 4metres of Acacia Cedar the worst was 24 min through 1200mm of the same 4 metre log. I didn't push much at all

How do you set your chains up is probably the issue.

How do you sharpen

I sharpen mine very scary sharp as per the recommendation, and it eats timber even abrasive blackwattle.

Shayne

i sharpen the chains well i now that as i have sharpened the chains on my chainsaw mill an our all 6 of our chainsaws and they are always kept dead sharp as we make our living form using them.

this one was cut back on the chain grinder then sharpened with a file.

think it may be the scrapers myself.

Originally Posted by weisyboy

i sharpen the chains well i now that as i have sharpened the chains on my chainsaw mill an our all 6 of our chainsaws and they are always kept dead sharp as we make our living form using them.

this one was cut back on the chain grinder then sharpened with a file.

think it may be the scrapers myself.

Could easily be, try the rakers too, are the tips deadly if so I think ur right.

Shayne

Hummm . . . I always though sharpening the chain involved setting the rakers?

The formula that works for me is set the raker depth to 1/10th the gullet width.

Originally Posted by BobL

Hummm . . . I always though sharpening the chain involved setting the rakers?

The formula that works for me is set the raker depth to 1/10th the gullet width.

Yep, BobL your right, all components of the cutting link must be looked at to ensure the best cutting and clearance efficiencies of the chain.

Shayne

Carl, can you take a pic of the chain and up load it for us? I can give a better idea then.

Also, cutting with the slabber is different to the way you and Bob slab up. I've experimented a couple of times, but really nothing beats the way the chain comes out of the box.

As for your blade guard, two things you can do, as you've found, chuck something in to wedge the switch (from new you get a little square of aluminium with a built up weld on it to slip on the switch, the weld holds in on the switch in that small bit of pipe above the switch) or you can do like I do. I've lost my little 'custom bit' so I just disconnect the switch. With mine there is one of those push together, crimped on red cable joiners and I just pull 'em apart when the slabber is on. Back track from the blade guard cut-out switch (mine is a white cable) and you'll find the joiner - Lucas told me where it was.

Originally Posted by BobL

Hummm . . . I always though sharpening the chain involved setting the rakers?

The formula that works for me is set the raker depth to 1/10th the gullet width.

Bob, I think Carl uses a chain to this kind of specs...

Either that or he has a problem with with identifying parts of a chain

But you're right Bob, although I don't always touch up rakers, maybe every 2nd or 3rd sharpening. I get anal on somethings, but not as anal as you do with your rakers, I can't believe you have got specific enough to measure your chain and file rakers to 1/10th the gullet width. It does make sense to me and given how much 'hand' slabbing you do I probably should give it a run, but after I was labeled OCD by a shrink I've tried cutting back on a few things! Yeah I know how could anyone think I had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? I mean whats wrong with knowing your tax file number, or what about your bank account number, hey how about your drivers license number, I mean honestly what is so wrong about knowing your Visa card number, or what totally set off the shrink was I knew how many times the razor touched my face when shaving - what's wrong with that? You guys have a pattern for shaving don't you? ('cause I know you all need to know it's 19!)

But seriously, I should get me some verniers from the big fat man so I can address the slabbing chain a bit more specifically, I'd expect it'd certainly help to keep results consistent?

on my Alaskan i have single skip chain and on the Lucas iv got 5 skip im not sure what type as they came with the mill.

i have my rakes on the Alaskan cut right back so it takes a huge bite. i keep them at at least 2 hacksaw blades below the tooth height. i will check the rankers when i get time.

maby sat?

for ome reason i wrote scrapers instead of rakers in my last post? maby im working to hard

Originally Posted by Sigidi

But you're right Bob, although I don't always touch up rakers, maybe every 2nd or 3rd sharpening. I get anal on somethings, but not as anal as you do with your rakers, I can't believe you have got specific enough to measure your chain and file rakers to 1/10th the gullet width. It does make sense to me and given how much 'hand' slabbing you do

I don't make each individual raker height 1/10 of its individual gullet width and neither do I touch them up every time I sharpen. I would check the rakers maybe after every 8-10 touchups?

The way I work out what raker depth to set is, I randomly select and measure about 10 gullet widths and roughly average these (eg lets say the average comes to 0.350") and then set every raker height to 0.035" or a few 1000" more.

The critical factor is not raker depth, it's the cutting angle between the top of the cutter and the top of the raker. This should be between 5 and 7º. As the cutter is sharpened the gullet becomes wider and if the raker height is continually set to 0.025" the cutting angle drops below 5º and cutting speed will drop significantly.

By the time I chuck my chains away my raker depths could be a low as 0.045". It sounds like Carl uses 0.040" (two hacksaw blade thicknesses) all the time. 0.040" on a new chain on a big saw could break the chain.

After the cutter sharpness I would say raker depths it the next most important factor in cutting speed. The next factor is raker shape. The harder the wood the less flat top I leave on the raker - this is a tip I got from Sawchain and it really works. This is so the raker can dig into the wood and allow the cutter to bite to its full angle.

There has been nothing like slabbing 4 big Lemon Scented Gums to hone my sharpening and chain setting skills. I found these logs quite daunting at first but now I feel quite comfortable tackling these beasties.

Regarding OCD, Great sympathies mate - a guy at work had it bad and I could see how it slowed him down so much that he couldn't function sometimes. The only thing I count obsessively is money, and chain links and nuts and bolts and . . . . . humm - I need to look at this. As for shaving - I have a beard.

Now there's something, raker shape..... I've just filed em flat once I start touching rakers.

So your advice is keep 'em rounded like a new chain comes? can you do one of those famous pics to show what you mean?

I've just asked the big red, fat, happy fella for some digital calipers for Chrissy

Originally Posted by Sigidi

So your advice is keep 'em rounded like a new chain comes? can you do one of those famous pics to show what you mean?

Well even more rounded if the wood is hard.



I file mine somewhere between the green the light blue setting - I have very little flat left on the top of my rakers. Sawchain has his closer to the dark blue.

hmmm interesting...
Ya think there is any benefit in a chain similar to what I chucked up earlier in the thread? with two 'scoring cutters'?

Originally Posted by Sigidi

hmmm interesting...
Ya think there is any benefit in a chain similar to what I chucked up earlier in the thread? with two 'scoring cutters'?

Dunno, haven't tried it myself. Will Mallof seems to think its the ducks nuts. My gut reaction is it would work better on cross cutting and in soft wood.

BTW Will Mallof uses 0.045" raker depths using and 090 saw.

Smart blokes just get a proper depth gage measurer , like the Carlton file o plate . Cheers MM