Coming: No new gas saws in CA

[Dan Cobb]

Who wants to throw their hat in the ring and try to make a hotrod electric saw? I'd say the first step would be seeing what the goings on are in the husky top handle. I think it's the beefiest small saw so far? Or is there a more powerful one?

So you want a T540i Ludicrous Edition?

Are you thinking about a practical top handle saw or a competition novelty saw?

 

[theatertech87]

Talking with the Makita guys at tcia and they are bringing a new 40v battery system to market in the next couple months. They were talking about a single battery till behaving like a 50ish cc saw and dual batteries (80v) behaving like a 70cc saw. They were talking about it coming stock with a 20 inch bar. I didn't get a chance to see it in action, but one if the guys from arb session got to use it and he said it was way better than the rest of the current market offerings.

As for availability of batteries long term, it sounds like they're doing lawn lawn mowers and some of their other higher battery use tools and it's going to be a line of a couple dozen tools. Also going to have a 1.2kw (I think my memory on that is fuzzy) battery back pack

 

[Jonny]

I believe it.
Doesn’t Milwaukee have a battery 14” demolition circular saw? Sounds like equivalent to at least 70cc

 

[27RMT0N]

While batteries are the future and I love my Husky battery saws, I'm VERY skeptical about those kind of power claims.

The 540i claims to be equal to a 40cc gas saw, but my 32cc MS180 is far more powerful. And while it's great for limbs, the second you start cutting into wood over 6", battery life drops off a cliff. It's just a simple truth that gas still holds FAR more energy by weight than current battery tech, and it will probably be that way for quite some time.

 

[Dan Cobb]

For top handle battery saws, I wonder if any manufacturers have considered making the battery separate from the saw connected with a cord/lanyard combination (that would of course need a breakaway/unplug feature.) The saw could be very light and still have ample amp-hours.

 

[ATH]

For top handle battery saws, I wonder if any manufacturers have considered making the battery separate from the saw connected with a cord/lanyard combination (that would of course need a breakaway/unplug feature.) The saw could be very light and still have ample amp-hours.

 

[Dan Cobb]

That's not quite what I had in mind. It weighs in at almost 21 pounds and you will have both a cord and a lanyard. Except, I wouldn't need the lanyard because I'd be limited to working on the ground, since the battery harness looks incompatible with using a saddle and the weight on my back would have me inverting all the time.

With that large of a battery, I imagine you'll run out of oil long before you exhaust the battery. (But I guess you can just strap a jug of b&c oil to the battery!)

 

[Reach]

I believe it.
Doesn’t Milwaukee have a battery 14” demolition circular saw? Sounds like equivalent to at least 70cc

Milwaukee does, and a few other tools on that battery system. I’ve held a couple, but not run them. Apparently they’re quite powerful, but REALLY heavy. The concrete saw feels significantly heavier than it’s gas engine equivalent, largely due to the car battery on top that powers it.

 

[hseII]

Talking with the Makita guys at tcia and they are bringing a new 40v battery system to market in the next couple months. They were talking about a single battery till behaving like a 50ish cc saw and dual batteries (80v) behaving like a 70cc saw. They were talking about it coming stock with a 20 inch bar. I didn't get a chance to see it in action, but one if the guys from arb session got to use it and he said it was way better than the rest of the current market offerings.

As for availability of batteries long term, it sounds like they're doing lawn lawn mowers and some of their other higher battery use tools and it's going to be a line of a couple dozen tools. Also going to have a 1.2kw (I think my memory on that is fuzzy) battery back pack

We used the dual 18v offerings during the 2017 Upstate New York Chainsaw GTG in Greenwich- this gtg was at the Dolmar dealer.

These saws were the size of say a ~40cc limbing saw but had (2)- 18v batteries on the top of them.

I was impressed with their plunge cutting abilities but felt they were a bit heavy for the size.

Sounds like Makita has made advancements since then.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Bart_]

Bit dated, but this guy showed 5 to 8 minutes cutting time on 4 amp hr class batteries in locust. Seems meagre. Anyone actually measure cut time on say a 200T on a whole tank of gas?

electrics - 11 to 14 lbs, 200T - about 8 lbs wet maybe not exact. We know who the weight advantage goes to.
edit - found another source showing working 201T 4800 g or 9.6+.96=10.5 lbs can anyone confirm?

 

[Bart_]

I found a photo of the Husky T535 motor and it filled up the whole size of the saw housing. Too technically challenging for me to get the pic here.

edit - Aha! pictures of the 540's guts:

and this video claims 8.4 lbs for the T540 - maybe battery/no battery issue? Doh! with battery, without chain bar and oil!
edit - same source with 4800g 200T showed right on 11 lbs with big battery for T540. Interesting.

 

[Reach]

Bit dated, but this guy showed 5 to 8 minutes cutting time on 4 amp hr class batteries in locust. Seems meagre. Anyone actually measure cut time on say a 200T on a whole tank of gas?

Never measured one, but my guesstimate would put it at 20 minutes or so minimum working the saw hard.

 

[Bart_]

Anyone owning a T540i, can you check if the fan blades rotate 1:1 with the chain sprocket, or maybe the gizmo under the k of okat is a planetary gear reduction? I thought most saws used gear reduction. Thanks.

edit - thinking on it, drum under the k is probably for the chain brake, and it's 1:1 direct drive (?)
The soup thickens - HayesMachinery on youtube says its an electronic chain brake i.e. via motor torque.

 

[Bart_]

Still msa300 looks to be a factory effort at making a mid size electric saw, or at least getting closer to it.

Tech/engineering problems appear to overlap with the e-bike crowd, similar power, weight and endurance objectives. Tough go of it to compete with a big company's R&D department and its associated budget. But the big cooling fan sure gives a clue as to what limits the system.

 

[Bart_]

New tech tidbit. Along the lines of Puke-ert's law, apparently if you limit charging your lithium ion batteries to 80 or 90% instead of full, you get many more lifetime cycles from your $$$ pack. Talking 200 to 300 vs 1400 cycles. Might have to shave 5% off of going right to discharged for max benefit. A new one on me. Proves you can always learn, no matter how old the dog.

 

[Vicente]

I can see simply an argument for safety and efficiency with some of the post fire cleanup. Can you imagine the shit show with the wildland crews. ‘Welp let’s call for another helicopter drop for the generator fuel’…. Normal arb crews landscapers I could see a cut off around a 20” bar. But we aren’t dealing with hard woods much, I run a 20” 3/8 .050 set up on my 261. No way I’d use that on a madrone or oak removal but those are rare.

I run a 20" bar on an ms271 for oak regularly I don't usually cut to the max I can with the bar but it still does pretty well. I do square filed chisel chain on everything which does help.