Guide Pressure

Over the 120 years at McDonough, technology has changed a lot. What was adequate for Guide Pressure 30 years ago may be different today. McDonough has had several different recommendations for guide pressure settings. Of course, each mill is going to be different based on the filing, type of saw blade, the material you cut, or general preferences. But here is the McDonough factory recommended setting for guide pressure:

44in — 1/4in
46in — 1/4in
54in — 5/16in
62in — 5/16in
6ft — 3/8in
7ft — 7/16in
8ft — 1/2in

Air Strain
The exclusive McDonough Air Strain system has been an industry leader since the mid 70s. Its success lies in the simplicity of the design. But how much strain should you use? Like Guide Pressure, there is no correct answer for every mill. The best answer is, 'as little as possible'. The less strain you run, the less work you need to do to the saw blades in the filing room. The biggest concern when you run your strain near redline is the life of the bearings. The closer you get to redline, the sooner you will need to replace wheel bearings. As a general guideline, start at 50% less the redline and increase the strain gradually.