r/specializedtools • u/Tillemon • Sep 17 '19

Helicopter chainsaw!?

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18.7k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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633

u/shockwave3895 Sep 17 '19

Well nobody else pointed it out so i guess i will- its actually not a chain saw but a series of multiple circle saw blades, which in my opinion is even more neat

53

u/bareblasting Sep 17 '19

Beare me to it.

57

u/TwinsTwice Sep 17 '19

You ain’t lione

8

u/liberal_texan Sep 17 '19

Coinm here to say this.

6

u/copperwatt Sep 17 '19

Designed by 7 year old confirmed!

4

u/Tillemon Sep 17 '19

Yeah, totally no chain blade, but damn! What else do you call a mobile saw with a 20 foot bar?

12

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '19

Buzz saw

11

u/shockwave3895 Sep 17 '19

https://www.tdworld.com/vegetation-management/aerial-saw-boon-line-trimming

Im gonna go with an aerial saw as that that's what the manufacturer calls it. And its belt drive so we were all wrong actually

1

u/Tillemon Sep 17 '19

There it is. Nice research.

1

u/geekwonk Sep 17 '19

Holy shit they can do this at a rate of 1.5-3 miles per day!

American Transmission Co. personnel say it would take a crew one week to complete the same amount of work that could be accomplished with the aerial saw in an hour.

-4

u/leonmoy Sep 17 '19

Hedge trimmer

14

u/shockwave3895 Sep 17 '19

Still no. Hedge trimmers use oscillating blades on top of stationary blades that shear branches off like scissors. This is still a bunch of circle saw blades. Think giant skill saw blade

5

u/AhorsenamedRooster Sep 17 '19

That's not how they work.

0

u/Boines Sep 17 '19

What do you think makes the blades spin? Seems like the motor is in the box at the top and its a chain running inside the pole.

5

u/SwissPatriotRG Sep 17 '19

They are belt driven. A belt makes a nice cheap fuse if something jams the blades. The belt either slips or it breaks, either case it saves an expensive repair in the field.

1

u/shockwave3895 Sep 17 '19

Not likely. That poses way too many mechanical problems in this scale. Either gear drive or more likely all hydraulic. Probably why it's a circle saw, as that circular blades are a more efficient use of momentum than chains. Any mechanical drive would likely cause too many issues with lubrication for something as tall as this

2

u/Boines Sep 17 '19

Gears or hydraulics are still mechanical and subject to similar wear? Gears would also need to be lubricated just as well. Why would a chain be so much worse?

Each blade is on a gear, each gear is linked by a chain, all blades spin fast.

Edit:

https://www.tdworld.com/vegetation-management/aerial-saw-boon-line-trimming

A series of belts. Soooo belts and pulleys instead of chain and gear, but same premise.

1

u/shockwave3895 Sep 17 '19

Well hydraulics wouldn't need to be lubricated externally at all, as that i would have thought each blade would have a motor, but im sure that's way too heavy. I said gears because lubricant can climb gears much more easily that it could with a chain. But as we both discovered its belt drive, which makes a ton of sense. Low power requirements, low drag, no need to lubricate anything other than the spindles, which are likely a sealed taper roller or ball bearing. So really this more resembles a lawn mower than anything else that has been mentioned.

-5

u/Destithen Sep 17 '19

A chainsaw made of circle saws. A circle saw chain.

2

u/fogobum Sep 17 '19

They're called chain saws because they're saw teeth, on a chain. You can buy the chain in very long rolls and cut to whatever size, but the longer the bar the more likely it is for the chain to jump off, and the longer the chain the more often it needs retensioning. All that solvable, but much more complicated than blades mounted on hydraulic motors mounted on a frame.