plastic or magnesium saws, is one better

[davefrommd]

What's your thoughts on the changes they made in the newer saws using more plastic as the older saws are made out of mostly I guess magnesium or aluminum. Does anyone like the older saws because they seem to me made and feel more heavy duty. I like the older saws myself however if I had to use and carry one everyday I would probably prefer the newer lighter ones. dave

[slowzuki]

I looked at the MS270 when I bought my MS260.  The 270 is one of the newer plastic saws, but it was heavier.
Ken

What's your thoughts on the changes they made in the newer saws using more plastic as the older saws are made out of mostly I guess magnesium or aluminum. Does anyone like the older saws because they seem to me made and feel more heavy duty. I like the older saws myself however if I had to use and carry one everyday I would probably prefer the newer lighter ones. dave

[Frickman]

Magnesium was state of the art for its day, but can't hold a candle to plastic. We use to beak alot of the cast magnesium handles, covers, and housings from abuse in the woods. The plastic breaks too, but is alot more durable. It is flexible and snaps back into shape. Magnesium is brittle and just snaps. Roll a log over a saw a few times and you'll find out.

The plastic is somewhat repairable too. NAPA sells a two part epoxy made for welding plastic. I have used it for repairing breaks where strength wasn't critical. Magnesium is very difficult to repair, it tends to burn up when you weld it.

I just sold our last magnesium saw to a farmer friend last year, an 051, and don't miss it a bit.

[slowzuki]

Frickman, I guess I was assuming he meant the crankcases.  I don't think you can by a saw nowadays with mag covers etc.

Many of the higher end saws are moving to plastic crankcases it seems.  The saw tech I talked to commented that it was fine by him on the reliable saws but a lot of the holes get stripped out on saws that are dismantled a lot.

He mentioned one particular husqy model that is hard to keep gas tank / handle units on, the anti-vibe spring bolts strip out after the 3 or 4th dissassembly.

[incognitive]

As far as I know, the only saws with plastic crankcases are some of the Elux homeowner stuff (husq, poulan, etc.).  The Stihl homeowner stuff has metal engine units mounted into a plastic chassis and the 270/280 have the traditional metal vertically split crankcase design (the starter/ignition stuff is contained by a plastic assembly attached to the side of the metal crankcase).

Any piece of equipment making use of plastic in a structural way ought to have metal thread inserts if the intention is for multiple dis/re-assembly cycles.  Stripped threads in plastic sounds a lot like homeowner (casual use) stuff.

[Frickman]

I didn't know they were building saws with a plastic crankcase. I assumed Dave you were talking about the rest of the saw. I like the plastic cases and gas tanks alot. A plastic crankcase seems a little weak to me though.

[Rocky_J]

What make and model saws are you talking about? Or are we just waxing poetic in generalities here?
 ???

[davefrommd]

I have a small poulan pro 235 all magnesium saw and I noticed the new poulan pro saws I saw I think it was at lowes were mostly plastic. I have about three old mccullochs and there all metal.  When I look at these old chainsaws which are very heavy and made out of metal and look at the newer saws I guess the first thing that comes to mind is are they making newer chainsaws cheaper in quality. I'm guessing there's been new improvements in plastics and technology in new chainsaws. I'll have to check on that two part epoxy from napa. Reading all the responses has been most interesting. dave

[Dean Hylton]

I learned a neat trick last week from another shop. This guy showed me how to weld the plastic back together.  You take a big soldering iron and a broken plastic (the same type as you are welding up) and weld it up as if you were torch welding more or less.  When you are done sand and buff. He is good enough that when it was done I could hardly tell where he had welded the tank.  By the way the piece he showed me on was on an 064 tank that had been cracked.  A new tank housing is about $165  Just thought you old dogs would like to learn a new trick

[Minnesota_boy]

I have a small poulan pro 235 all magnesium saw and I noticed the new poulan pro saws I saw I think it was at lowes were mostly plastic. I have about three old mccullochs and there all metal.  When I look at these old chainsaws which are very heavy and made out of metal and look at the newer saws I guess the first thing that comes to mind is are they making newer chainsaws cheaper in quality. I'm guessing there's been new improvements in plastics and technology in new chainsaws.

The older saws were built to the best of technology available at the time.  The metal made them a bit heavy, but is was a great improvement from pushing a one-man saw.  The oldest of these is probably still runnable, but who wants to lug one of them around all day.  They became obsolete long before they wore out.  The newer saws are lighter but may not last as long, but perhaps will last until they are obsolete too.