Get me up to speed on the best saws of today

[Frankie]

What is the decibel level on your steroided 462?

It’s louder than stock but with a lower throaty - tone ... the stock 462c is ....power 119db(a) ; pressure 108db(a) as per STIHL INTERNATIONAL .... I ALWAYS wear ear muffs or plugs ... bone stock https://youtu.be/A2wferi9EdE ; tuned intake and exhaust ... https://youtu.be/tiysFN3-nL8 ; hot woods ported version with above mods just about there and coming soon

 

[Nutball]

Gotta have some hearing left over without using earplugs to hear the trees talk to you as you fell them. For safety reasons and such.


I think it would be fun to try to make modified mufflers that are both quiet and high flow. Obviously they would be bigger even to the point of wrapping around the oil tank.

I wonder if there would be a market for quiet port jobs where the engine is modified to run well with an unusually restricted over sized muffler, so all people could comfortably run OPE without earplugs and without bothering neighbors. I'd like to try modding one like that if ever I get good at brazing and working sheet metal to make a muffler to go with the port mods. Kinda funny, the exact opposite of your classic port job, but I'd run one like that, I don't like loud noises.

 

[Frankie]

Yah I hear ya man ! Me thinks that’s not feasible at least imho ... you can hear the “forest” just fine with the muffs on lol ... if ya go “au natural” you will suffer loss over Time especially with these new offerings that are “hot right out of the box”

 

[stig]

Reason I asked is, after 40+ years of running stock saws some 1500 hours a year, my hearing is shot to shit.

So I have always been leery of ported saws because of the higher noise levels.

 

[pete mctree]

What ear defenders do you run Stig ? I use ones with a bigger SNR (about 35db I think) rather than the standard (28db) & it helps with the running of the chipper & ported saw. Saying that my hearing has taken a beating too from years of sub standard protection.

 

[stig]

Yep, me too.
Plus, 2 years ago we all had molded ear plugs fitted, which we wear under the outer cups.

Wish I'd come up with that idea 30 years ago.

My new hearing aids are the cat's ass, though.
Heard a meadow lark this week.

Silver lining

 

[SeanKroll]

Gotta have some hearing left over without using earplugs to hear the trees talk to you as you fell them. For safety reasons and such.


I think it would be fun to try to make modified mufflers that are both quiet and high flow. Obviously they would be bigger even to the point of wrapping around the oil tank.

I wonder if there would be a market for quiet port jobs where the engine is modified to run well with an unusually restricted over sized muffler, so all people could comfortably run OPE without earplugs and without bothering neighbors. I'd like to try modding one like that if ever I get good at brazing and working sheet metal to make a muffler to go with the port mods. Kinda funny, the exact opposite of your classic port job, but I'd run one like that, I don't like loud noises.

Wood poachers use a boat-motor-like exhaust-through-water system. I'd like it for milling. Can you make something like that?

 

[SeanKroll]

I hear tinnitus, ATM. I wear plugs and muffs, often, and generally with anything but a top-handle or 250/261.

Looking at the long-term, I think I should look into molded ear plugs. Do they have a lanyard? Easy to replace after getting the mold made the first time?

 

[Nutball]

Why through water? Maybe pipe the muffler to an external super muffler on the mill, or a backpack muffler for portable use. I figure a flex steel tubing insulated with fiberglass held on under a wire mesh sleeve would make a good conduit to the external muffler.

 

[Frankie]

Reason I asked is, after 40+ years of running stock saws some 1500 hours a year, my hearing is shot to shit.

So I have always been leery of ported saws because of the higher noise levels.

The modded 462c is louder than the stocker but with a deeper - throatier tone ... exactly how much louder ? I don’t have the equipment to measure the db(a) so ... earplugs / muffs are your friend regardless of stock or ported

Here’s a ripper 241c that makes some noise and cuts quick to boot !https://youtu.be/syTVLS1Phrc

 

[SeanKroll]

Why through water? Maybe pipe the muffler to an external super muffler on the mill, or a backpack muffler for portable use. I figure a flex steel tubing insulated with fiberglass held on under a wire mesh sleeve would make a good conduit to the external muffler.

Can you post a link to a picture of such a super muffler. Would it just be like putting it through a small car's muffler, after the saw muffler? Is the muffler needed for two-stroke lubrication, or is that not the case?

 

[Nutball]

Such a muffler would need inventing. Muffling is accomplished by smoothing out the sound waves coming from the engine. No muffler gives you probably a squarish saw tooth wave, a standard muffler gives a more sine wave like saw tooth wave, but fully muffled would produce no sound waves, just a smooth steady stream of exhaust.. The other issue is preventing sound from leaking out of the sides of a muffler, but steel is pretty good at keeping it reflected inside as long as the steel isn't too thin to be flexed by the sound waves.

Turbulence and sound absorption both reduce sound. Turbulence chops up the big pressure waves into little ones that are both quieter, and are mostly self cancelling as they are mixed together. Baffles cause this. Generally in car mufflers, baffles also lead to a closed chamber that acts like an air cushion that absorbs sound wave energy, and returns delayed bounce back waves which also fill in the gap between the main pressure waves smoothing them out.

Chainsaws don't need much more of a muffler below 75-85dB because you will soon realize how loud the chain on the sprocket and wood, and intake strokes are, so muffling that little bit from 100+dB shouldn't be hard. One of the easiest ways is to have a really small outlet hole on the muffler that really slows down how fast the exhaust can escape. The small hole also limits the amount of sound energy that can be emitted by both limiting the output area, and focusing the sound into a narrower direction. You need a larger than stock muffler to keep the internal pressure low enough to not affect how fast exhaust escapes from the cylinder. Such a muffler would look like an empty chamber with a 3-6mm outlet hole for most mid size saws, and it would have the exact same effect as a large capacitor wired in parallel in an electrical circuit.

 

[Frankie]

Yah , a 3-6 mm outlet ain’t gonna do much for Performance lol , ain’t gonna let heat out very well either ... your mileage may vary

 

[Nutball]

I muffler modded my 23cc poulan blower, we'll see how it does in the day time, but I got it started, and it runs well with the propane tank muffler with a 3mm exhaust opening. In fact, it spools up with that opening closed off too because there are some extremely small leaks in the gaskets. It was measuring in the 60's dB 20ft away, <75dB within 5ft, and 85-95dB <1ft away. The old muffler sounded around 103dB at the operator's ear. There is still a loud ping which could be the sound of ignition, vibrating parts, or a powerful shock wave from the exhaust port going right through the muffler walls. I'll video comparison the mufflers too

 

[Magnus]

It has a bit to do with the expansion and time frame as well.

 

[Frankie]

I muffler modded my 23cc poulan blower, we'll see how it does in the day time, but I got it started, and it runs well with the propane tank muffler with a 3mm exhaust opening. In fact, it spools up with that opening closed off too because there are some extremely small leaks in the gaskets. It was measuring in the 60's dB 20ft away, <75dB within 5ft, and 85-95dB <1ft away. The old muffler sounded around 103dB at the operator's ear. There is still a loud ping which could be the sound of ignition, vibrating parts, or a powerful shock wave from the exhaust port going right through the muffler walls. I'll video comparison the mufflers too

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That’s some “ghetto-tech” there lol !!!

 

[Nutball]

As ghetto as your 462 air filter cover

 

[stig]

"The saw chewed to death by rats"!

 

[Frankie]

As ghetto as your 462 air filter cover

Yeppers youÂ’re right !

"The saw chewed to death by rats"!

Haha , also the fastest hot woods ported 462c on the east coast lol .... Pretty don’t cut faster

 

[Nutball]

26cc blower RPM: 7360 with new muffler plugged, 7860 with new muffler (4.5mm outlet), 7960 with new muffler & 6.5mm outlet, 8040rpm with normal muffler (which is actually modified for more flow).

I was going to try no muffler, but it was way too loud to wait for the 4 stroking to clean up. It didn't show to be much louder, but the high pitch pop is way less tolerable than a bassy roar, even with 2 sets of ear protection on.

It was hard to tell how quiet the Bernzomatic muffler was because the carb is actually around as loud as the stock muffler if not more!

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When you think about it, the sound waves from the carb on a saw is a straight shot to our face often times. Maybe we need to focus on muffling the carb, though I know there's a big difference when the exhaust sound bounces back off a big trunk and the ground.