Studies on increasing the performance of chain saw machines for mechanical excavation of marbles and natural stones

Abstract

Slow cutting rate, tool wear and shallow depth of cuts are important practical issues observed with the commercially available chain saw machines. This paper is concerned with increasing the performance of current chain saw machines in terms of cutting rate and reduced tool wear, and investigates aspects of very shallow depth cutting, through changes in the original tool lacing of machines operating at various quarries. The cutting rate was observed to increase and wear on the leading tool was significantly reduced under similar cutting conditions when a partial modification was carried out to the manufacturers' original tool lacing. It was concluded that the tool lacing employed on current machines can be improved, with the power installed on current chain saw machines not being sufficient for the picks to benefit from deeper depth of cuts. It was further found that the basic principles of tool lacing fundamentals for conventional rock cutting machines are also valid for chain saws. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.