ChainMeister| benchtop sawchain tensioning| filing device

TreeStuff

The ChainMeister is the most innovative chain management device inside the logging, forestry and arboriculture industries.

Mount and tension a chainsaw chain for bench filing without having the actual chainsaw in the equation.

Ever found yourself with loops of dull chains you want to sharpen but couldn't be bothered swapping them on and off the chainsaw to file them? Then this is the solution you have been waiting for. Remove a sharp chain in around 5 seconds and put a dull chain back on for filing in around 10 seconds .... you no longer need a chainsaw to do it.

As the ChainMeister fits any bar of any pitch of any saw manufacturer it is the one tool every workshop needs.

Where can you buy this practical time saving device?

At Treestuff of course.

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Eric Frei

Very interesting. Do you have any videos of the Chainmeister in action?

Just wondering how it works and how fast change-overs are.

Amazing that no-one had already done this, seems so logical.

__________________

TrevMcRev

My thoughts exactly! Usually that reaction is the sign of a good invention

Tree Machine

Yes, a number of short, informative videos have been made. They will be posted to youtube as they are introduced here within this thread.



Call me the bringer of information.
I was voted into this by the ChainMeister's development group. They said I was the best speller.
I said, "Dudes, I use spellcheck."
The vote held.



Just to be VERY out front, I am not the inventor of this device.
I have had a good number of things to say regarding it's design and have become quite familiar with it. This thread signifies the end of three years design and development.
I was privileged to be there and able to contribute important elements along the way, since the beginning.

Can I show you some pictures? All the pictures you will see are ones that I have shot. Hope you enjoy!

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Tree Machine

Yea, what Trev said.


Just look at the device. Can you just sort of look at it and tell what it's purpose is?

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Tree Machine

...another.

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TrevMcRev

Hey TM, this is probably a silly question but will You and the chainmeister be at TCIA?

Tree Machine

Yes, absolutely. I was there last year with prototypes.
This year, the real deal.

Tree Machine

There is also an introduction in the TCIA Magazine, Nov 2011, pg 22.

Tree Machine

..still more to come.

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TrevMcRev

Well i decided i just had to be the first in Oz with one of these so i jumped on a plane to the US and back JUST to get me a chainmeister.

OK...so it wasn't the only reason i went, but meeting TreeMachine was definately a highlight.

Just got back and need to load up for the VTCC on the weekend, so dull chains are the last thing on my mind, but next week we will put it to test & i'll report back here then

Tree Machine

Yes! Hey readership, do you mind a slight diversion?
THIS IS A REALLY GOOD STORY!

A couple of posts ago, Trev asked me if I was going to the TCIA EXPO.
I replied to him, "Yes", just hours before I was to leave for the convention.

I was there at the EXPO Wednesday for setup, Thursday and Friday, and the half-day Saturday, the show ending at 1:00.

So it's Saturday, just after the noon hour, the final and last hour of the entire event. I was at at the All-Gear booth discussing dyneema and outta nowhere I hear this thick Aussie accent,
"Tree Machine, is that you???"


It was Trev McRev, live and in-person! I couldn't believe it! I thought my head was gonna pop off!

All the way from Australia,

just to see me. LOL!



I'm still having a time wrapping my head around that I got to meet Trev McRev, from the other side of the planet.
It was by pure chance that we connected. A lot of magic happens at a TCIA EXPO, but this one takes the cake.

I keep having to look at this picture to convince myself it was true.



Here is our Aussie hero, I had to bring him over to the Silky booth to meet Hiroshi.

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Tree Machine

... so for the monumental effort and numerous sacrifices made to get all the way to the United States,
Trev was rewarded with the first official model to be seen in
Australia.

Trev, it woulda probably been less expensive just to order one! LOL

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TrevMcRev

Baahhh! Where's the fun in ordering something and just sitting around waiting for the mailman Might as well just go get it yourself i reckon! It was way cool to meet up like that, i tried tracking down your cell# later on, which i found, but could get hold of you. I owe you a beer or three mate

Tree Machine

Wow, I mean, WOW!


In a room full of hundreds of treeguys, you found me.
I didn't find you.... I didn't even know you were there.

That's what makes having met you there all the more miraculous.
2,000 miles and you found your target right at the very final moment.

Trev, that puts even the best hunting dog to shame.

Tree Machine

The TCIA EXPO is a real stretch for a lot of guys to attend,
they've got their businesses, schedules, bills, crews, families and on.

So to travel half way around the world to be there,
I just gotta tip my helmet to that stupendous effort.

This is what Trev's model looks like,
with not-yet-official packaging.

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Tree Machine

Trev, if I'd have known you were going to be there
I could have had your name engraved into it.

Which brings up a point I was going to bring up later,
but here it is sooner.

I would not want to engrave 'Trev' into it.
The reason being, this device will likely last longer than a lifetime,
so Trev may want to pass it on down to one of the McRev offspring whose name may not also be Trev.

So, for the sake of whichever of the little McRevlets would eventually get Daddy's ChainMeister, I would have engraved into it, 'McRev'.

Tree Machine

Are the pictures helpful?

If so, I have the entire collection, three years of development, engineering, all the prototypes
with group permission to share any of it with you.

Its my gut instinct that the more information you have about this device,
the more you may see ......

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Tree Machine

.... and that brings up the question;

What DO you want to see in a new product?


Personally, and this is coming from the standpoint of being a commercial arborist and daily chainsaw user,
I want to see betterment of my operation.
I want some repetitive task of mine to become easier.
I want to feel more efficiency, and I want to know it's there.
I want to save time.
if I save time, I save money, so I want to essentially be able to calculate, based on time saved, how long before this tool pays itself off.

Will it continue to pay its rent after it has paid itself off?

Does the addition of this device fill a void / solve a problem or add value or new options to my operation?


I have been elected to share this device with you other saw users and chain sharpeners because I am one of you.
Like yourselves, I am what they call, an extreme end user. It doesn't get much more extreme than an Aussie Arborist,
so that's why we chose to launch this thread here.

Aussie Arborists, and the New Zealanders, some of the most extreme Arborists on the planet. Tasmania guys, you may well lead the pack. You're small in land mass, but huge on the scene. You are all the highest level critics anywhere on the planet. You are like the jaws of the lion.

That makes this the best place to start.

Tree Machine

I'm ready to get started.

We're editing the 4th video of the five, and we will show ALL videos,
1-5 coming up here in awhile.

But first, a few more pictures and I can take any questions you might have.
Truly though, just sit back and let this presentation move along, the goal of creating it is to answer any question that might possibly come up, ahead of that question even being asked.

Very cool of you, readership, to take an interest in this tool.

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Tree Machine

Before going any further, this upcoming display of images and videos
is meant to help everyone understand ANYTHING that could be known about the ChainMeister.

Trev McRev and a short list of bff's are the only holders of these in the world, at the moment
and I realize it is my sole responsibility to demonstrate what this device is, and how it functions to professionals who use saws worldwide.
I take this responsibility rather seriously, as you guys are my professional community.

To formally display this device to you, I don't really know how to do this, but I'll give it a whack.
Being a daily saw user, I can speak and show you from the direct place of it's use, much as you might see in the field or in the shop.

I will present everything objectively, no hype, no bull.
What you see is real, transparent and anything I do is easily replicable.
No smoke and mirrors.
I am very, very clear that you men will call out anything that doesn't seem right.

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Tree Machine

We're going to pretty much dissect this piece of metal, inside and out so we can more thoroughly understand it and how custom-tailored this tool is to those certain saw guys and certain saw shops.

In 'dissecting' this piece of kit, we can actually, literally, take it apart, but more will be focussed on the actual use of it in the field where it is in-use and doing what it does. This is where the videos will really show the essence of this thing. And speaking of videos ......

The ChainMeister video 1 is up on YouTube. Let me introduce that to you in this next, upcoming post. I'm very stoked about this first video, partly because this is the very first YouTube video I have ever posted, and I'm no longer a virgin!

I know, I know, 10 year olds are able to post videos on YouTube,
it took me a stupid-long time, the course of two and a half days, and a couple different people helping me,
ultimately we got the ChainMeister 1 video up, it is in hi-def and I am very proud of this minute and seven seconds.
YOU GUYS are the only audience at the moment, all five of you, here at last count. LOL

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Tree Machine

Do you like the packaging?
I ask because, everyone's insistance up til now has seemed to be to encapsulate this thing in plastic
just so it can be handed over to you.


I say NO.
Right here, right in front of the world and the group for whom I'm speaking. Loud and clear.
THIS PRODUCT DOES NOT NEED A PLASTIC PACKAGE.

There. I said it.


The ChainMeister peeps and I have gone back and forth on this and I guess they got tired of my plain stubbornness and just said,
"Tree Machine, you just roll with it."

I'm 7 or 8 tries into it right now, the packaging decisions and trys on this alone has been its own journey, and I know you guys will help me finish it off,
but that shiny foil version up above, this is roughly, pretty much how I think it's going to look.

Below is the version just before the bright and shiny. Pretty rough!
See how there is a vertical line in this one? That is so when the purchaser turns the tensioner handle, as anyone would, the package opens up, just as would a bar be moved and a chain be stretched.

An interactive Meister package!

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Tree Machine

Here's an early version of that, opened, and closed:

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Tree Machine

.... oh, the safety instructions,

I was told that instructions and safety disclaimers needed to be provided with the unit.

I said cool, I'm on it, but when I sat down to write the safety schpeel,
I came up with that this product does not come with a chain,
so I shouldn't have to write a safety claim for the chainsaw chain manufacturer,
only the ChainMeister unit itself.

Without a chain attached, safety is a rather unremarkable point,
like this thing you're holding in your hand, no bar no chain,
I am to write instructions on how you, my fellow professionals, should handle this thing and keep from hurting yourselves.

I came up with "Do not heat it up to 1,100 degrees F. and play hacky sack with it." "Do not drop it off of high buildings." ya know?
Just basics safety fundamentals. LOL




Do not eat it. Now I mean it!

The ChainMeister is NOT to be used as a contraceptive device. I'm only gonna say it once.

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Tree Machine

Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. My apologies. I indulged in a selfish moment of humor.



I had promised you all a video awhile back,
and like any good adult with attention deficit disorder I got a little off track.


OK, please allow me to .... focus... and introduce this planet's very first ChainMeister video.

This first-in-a-series-of-five will show a specific aspect of the ChainMeister, an isolated point that can be measured and compared directly to an alternative.


This vid will show, at a glance what a ChainMeister IS
and the thing that is being shown is taking a ChainMeister off of a bar and chain. And, of course, putting it back on a bar and chain.

The alternative against which it would be compared and measured would be to take a chainsaw powerhead off a bar and chain.

You all, every one of you, has an idea how long it takes to remove a chainsaw powerhead from a bar and Chain.

Here we will how see how long it takes apply a ChainMeister onto, and take off of, a bar and chain.

Here is the first video:

p.s. Click on the 4-arrows in the bottom-right of the video screen.
This will open you up to a full-screen view.

The musical artist is Preston Reed,
600 tiny time pills.

Tree Machine

Since this is our starting point, our baseline,
let's be scientific and objective about our approach.
We can measure efficiency.

I am going to post a second video, a minimal, bare-bones version of the first.

In the first video, there was a written claim of four seconds
for the ChainMeister to be taken off of a bar and chain.


One would have to question, is that real?
Four seconds?

Hence,

this second video,
a beginning-to-end, real-time clip of the device being removed from a bar and chain.


4 seconds, I'm thinking, is an exaggeration.
I'm calling myself out on this one.

You watch the video, you be the judge.

Tree Machine

The video says 7 seconds.
The video doesn't lie.

From 4 to 7 seconds,

I'll briefly spotlight this point, scientifically.
4 seconds or 7 seconds.



Wouldn't 8 seconds be twice as long as the initial claim, a two-fold, or a doubled difference in claimed effectiveness. That is significant, right?



Two videos. One says 4 seconds, the other 7 seconds.
Let's get to the bottom of this.

The time difference goes is this,
7 seconds is 1 and 3/4 times longer than 4 seconds, 75% more efficient.

So is it 4 seconds, or 7 seconds?

Which is it?

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Tree Machine

This is why in research you do lots and lots of trials to collect lots of data, eliminate the really highs and really lows as anomalies
and statistically crunch the numbers to get a view of the spectrum of results,
but more importantly, an average.

I have the budget for about three trials, your results may vary, but probably not by much.



Let me post one more video, a third view, short, like video 2, to determine a third point of reference, we will all sort of agree,
based on these visual indexes, of what the accurate claim should be on the time it takes to take a ChainMeister off a bar and chain.

4 seconds? 7 seconds? Let's consider an average of the three.

..... give me a moment here,