smoking chain

[Bilge Rat LT 20]

Make sure you have the right gauge chain for the bar.
Are you sure it is oiling when cutting? Check the oil tank vent too.
With a new bar and chain try starting with the chain a little looser than you normally would. This helped on a saw i worked on. After a few tanks the bar broke in i guess and everything started working properly.

Check the bar oil hole alignment. Maybe enlarge it a little.
Are you picking up on the bar when adjusting/tightening it? That may help on a loose fitting bar.

 

[danl]

This is a brand spanking new saw maybe 2 tanks of gas. I almost stole it at a farm store. Marked down from $519.00 to $239.00 Had never been started, brand new sitting on top of the original box.
It has a 20fold78 bar and had 20lpx78 chain on it. I noticed right off that the original chain was getting loose a lot, but using plenty of oil. did the usual point nose at block of wood and rev up. Had oil spray.
I had ordered a couple of loops of woodland pro so I put one of those on. It started out cutting great (big chips) but then started bogging in the cut and smoking. Let it sit a while, cut great then bogging and smoking. Put the original chain back on still gets loose. Put other woodland chain on still gets hot. I have made completely sure that the chain tension is correct. I am using real bar oil, tried thinning it with diesel. smoked really good then...
I am convinced that the sprocket it binding up when it gets hot. So instead of buying a new .325 bar I wanted to switch to 3/8" but doesn't look like there is any thing compatible. I bought it quite aways from home and local dealer isn't very interested in working on it. Let me know very clearly it would be the least of his priorities and I don't blame him... I just couldn't pass up the deal. And I am pretty sure its simple.

I can make it oil by just spinning the clutch cover by hand.

 

[nnero]

Have you double checked to make sure you have the right gauge bar and chain? Try filing the rakers down as well. Like a previous poster stated make sure to lift up on the bar when setting tension and tightening bar nuts. Business is business and thats a poor attitude by your dealer in my opinion.

 

[Philbert]

Smoking chain is just the gateway symptom . . . .

(Internet photo - before someone asks. I really have no idea what happened here . . . )

Philbert

 

[Skeans]

Anyone who can use intuition and psychic powers to see into the future and know what a chain needs as far as sharpening goes and not getting a feel for what needs improving on before actually using it is a GOD! of some kind! now that takes skill lol...Now for a common man he will in most cases use a tool before judgment and most the time not have that much free time to worry about if a chain is up to par and cuts 3sec slower than if he had spent an hr sharpening said new chain lol.. Even a crap out the box chain will get you two tanks in easy but then this is just IMHO but I'm no god! most the time I pick up saw and cut stuff is all ....

Even stihl chain out of the box I throw on the pro sharp before using the angles aren't aggressive enough for timber falling. Oregon is worse for angles not being aggressive enough but minimum both will need the rakers taken down especially for timber falling. And two tanks on a brand new box chains if you like pushing it through wood maybe or smoking your wood, I prefer the chain and saw do the work for me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Locust Cutter]

Not to ask a dumb question but is it possible that you got a mis-printed 3/8" bar or 3/8" low-pro? Even if the gauge was correct (and all else sounds good) I wonder if the nose sprocket is the wrong pitch and is binding up when hot?

 

[LegDeLimber]

re: Philberts found photo (impressive by the way)
Interesting how that plastic sleeve over the spring looks so much better than everything around it.
Wadda yall reckon? run with the brake on and smoldered off the oily sawdust?

That thin band would get bright orange in short time. Once the the contact regions of the band and the clutch shell started to go plastic and gall from the heat,
it wouldn't be too far fetched to expect a few flecks of dry dust from the wood being cut
to ignite and get the oily crud going.
You guys that work in a wood shop or grain mill, all Know how dust will flash off
like a fine mist spray of kerosene.

When the road crew went to use a flame wrench inside of a corrugated box plant,
The owners and maintenance people usually got a little pale in the face over it
and dragged up every fire extinguisher in the shop.
Damned dust built up under and in an old box press will light up surprisingly fast.
Add in the fact that we were removing old letter press ink rolls (oil based)
to convert to flexo (water based) just added to the suspense.
If you've ever wondered why Silly-Putty wont pick up a comic page picture worth hoot nowdays,
The water based inks in use now, are the reason why.

And that's my little insomnia trivia contribution for today.

 

[danl]

Not to ask a dumb question but is it possible that you got a mis-printed 3/8" bar or 3/8" low-pro? Even if the gauge was correct (and all else sounds good) I wonder if the nose sprocket is the wrong pitch and is binding up when hot?

I think the sprocket is binding.
I ordered a narrow kerf bar and chain from baileys that should be here Monday. They have been on back order.

I just tried it again the other day, brand new chain, throwing big chips and slicing right through 10" oak log. Started slowing down and smoking. Let cool off for a few minutes and it repeats the action...

btw, back to the oiling question. The saw will put oil through the bar if I just spin the chain by hand. I didn't think it would do it.

 

[danl]

I think the sprocket is binding.
I ordered a narrow kerf bar and chain from baileys that should be here Monday. They have been on back order.

I just tried it again the other day, brand new chain, throwing big chips and slicing right through 10" oak log. Started slowing down and smoking. Let cool off for a few minutes and it repeats the action...

btw, back to the oiling question. The saw will put oil through the bar if I just spin the chain by hand. I didn't think it would do it.

 

[danl]

I put the narrow kerf bar and chain on. Cut a bunch of hickory and oak with no problem.
I think something is wrong with the original bar, I bought the narrow kerf combo because it was the cheapest way to narrow down the problem I could think of.
The original bar lays flat doesn't seem pinched and the nose sprocket turns fine by hand.