On 17 Jun 2004 23:46:58 -0400, (DoN. Nichols)
wrote:

In article ,
Old Nick wrote:
On 17 Jun 2004 21:44:44 -0400, (DoN. Nichols)
vaguely proposed a theory

[ ... ]

O.K. Are the chain pitches sometimes in metric units, and
sometimes in inches, depending on country of origin?

No. I am happy to deal in Imperial...sorry...inches. The only thing is
sometimes it's 3/8" and sometimes .375. Then there is .370...go
figure. 1/200th of an inch! Thsi guy tells me the saw only takes .325"
and .370. But everybody else says 3/8".....then there is low profile,
etc.

What I meant was not the actual units of measurement, but
whether there was an actual physical difference in the pitch of the
sprockets on the saws.

AS for the .375 vs .370 -- I think that may be a side-effect of
people accustomed to mm (where 0.01mm is already pretty small) just
rounding the decimal inches to two significant figures too -- but
continuing to display that third zero. :-)

The .325 may be a matter of just not typing in the right figure
somewhere in there, as it makes no real sense either in fractional inch
or in mm (8.25mm doesn't sound like a normal metric size to me.) .3125"
(5/8") is pretty close to 8mm, but this isn't that, either.

Standard chain pitches in the smaller sizes are.
3/8"
3/8" Low Profile
..325" pitch (I've not got any idea where they came up with this size
but it is standard).
1/4" pitch.

There are larger sizes as well but those are reserved for the large
saws. Most saws that home owners have either take a 3/8" low profile
or a .325 pitch.

Next there's the gauge measurement. This is the thickness of the
drive links. Most smaller saws use a 0.050" gauge. Some saws are set
up for 0.058" gauge (Stihl comes to mind here). There is another gauge
but I don't remember it off the top of my head since I've never seen
it in this part of the country.


Wayne Cook
Shamrock, TX
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/waynecook