5
KICKBACK SAFETY FEATURES
WARNING: The following features
are included o nyour saw tohelp reduce the
hazard of kickback; however, such features
will not totally eliminate this danger. As a
chainsawuser,donotrelyonlyonsafetyde-
vices. Yo u must follow all safety precau-
tions, instructions, and maintenance in this
manual to help avoid kickback and other
forces which can result in serious injury.
S Reduced--Kickback Guide Bar, designed
with a small radius tip which reduces the
size of the kickback danger zone on the
bar tip. A Reduced--Kickback Guide Bar
has beendemonstratedtosignificantly re-
duce t henumberandseriousness ofkick-
backs when tested in accordance with
safety requirements for gasoline powered
chain saws as set by ANSI B175.1.
SmallRadiusTip
SymmetricalGuideBar
Reduced
K
ickbackSymmetricalGuideBar
LargeRadiusTip
S Low--Kickback Chain, designed with a
contoured depth gauge and guard link
which deflect kickback force and allow
woodtograduallyrideintothecutter.Low--
Kickback Chain has met kickback per-
formance requirements when tested on a
representative sample of chain saws be-
low 3.8 cubic inch displacement specified
in ANSI B175.1.
Low---Kickback
Chain
Nota Low---Kickback Chain
CanObstructMaterial
Contoured DepthGauge
Elongated GuardLink
Deflects
kickback force
and allowswood
to graduallyride
into cutter
S Front Hand Guard, designed to reduce the
chanceof yourlefthand contactingthechain
if your hand slips off the front handlebar .
S Position of front and rear handlebars, de-
signedwithdistancebetweenhandlesand
“in-line” with each other. The spread and
“in-line” position of the hands provided by
this design work together to give balance
and resistance in controlling the pivot of
the saw back toward the operator if kick-
back occurs.
CHAIN BRAKE AND CKA ANGLE
S ChainBrake, designedtostopthe chainin
the event of kickback.
WARNING: WE DO NOT REP-
RESENT AND YOU SHOULD NOT AS-
SUME THAT THE CHAIN BRAKE WILL
PROTECT YOU IN THE EVENT OF A
KICKBACK. Kickback is a lightningfast ac-
tion which throws the bar and rotating chain
back and up toward the operator. Kickback
can becaused byallowingcontactofthebar
tip in the danger zone with any hard object.
Kickbackcanalsobecausedbypinchingthe
sawchainalongthetopoftheguidebar. This
action may push the guide bar rapidly back
toward the operator. Either of these events
may cause you to lose control of the saw
which could result in serious injury or even
death. DO N OTRELYUPONANYOFTHE
DEVICES BUILT INTO YOUR SAW. YOU
SHOULDUSETHESAWPROPERLYAND
CAREFULLY TO AVOID KICKBACK. Re-
duced--kickback guide bars and low--kick-
back saw chains reduce the chance and
magnitude of kickback and are recom-
mended. Yoursawhasalowkickbackchain
andbar asoriginalequipment. Repairs ona
chain brake should be made by an autho-
rized servicing dealer . Take your u nit tothe
place of purchase if purchased from a ser-
vicing dealer, or to the nearest authorized
master service dealer.
S Tip contact in some cases may cause a
lightning fast reverse REACTION,kicking
theguidebarupandbacktowardtheoper-
ator.
S Pinchingthesawchainalongthetopofthe
guide bar may push the guide bar rapidly
back toward the operator.
S Eitherofthesereactionsmaycauseyouto
lose control of the saw which could result
in serious injury.Do not rely exclusively
uponthesafetydevicesbuiltintoyoursaw.
WARNING: Computed kickback
angle (CKA) listed onyour saw and listed in
the CKA table below represents angle of
kickback your bar and chain combinations
will have when tested in accordance with
CSA(CanadianStandards Association)and
ANSI standards. When purchasing replace-
ment bar and chain, considerations should
be given to the lower CKA values. Lower
CKA values represent safer angles to the
user,higher values indicate more angle and
higher kick energies.Computedangles r ep-
resented in the non-activated column indi-
cate totalenergy andangleassociatedwith-
out activation of the chain brake during
kickback. Activated angle represents chain
stopping time relative to activation angle of
chain brake andresulting kick angle of saw .
In all cases lower CKA values represent a
safer operating environment for the user.
The following guide barand chain combina-
tions meet kickback requirements of CSA
Z62.1, Z62.3, &ANSI B175.1when usedon
saws listed in this manual. Use of bar and
chaincombinationsotherthanthoselistedis
not recommended and may not meet the
CKA requirements per standard.