Impalervlad
ArboristSite Member
I have a 450 Husky with a 16" bar that seized up in the middle of a cut. I'm just trying to figure out what happened and whether I should trust that bar again.
My 450 came with a 20" bar and I picked up an extra 18" and 16" bar for it. I had some wood to buck up and ran the 16" bar for about a half hour last week through mostly fresh cut oak.
This week I started out cutting up some smaller stuff with an Echo 310 and switched to the Husky 450 for some bigger but not huge stuff. I use my 460 Rancher with a 24" bar for big stuff. I started a cut in a piece of maybe 14" oak and got 90% through it when the saw stalled out. I tried starting the saw, checked the chain brake and tried to see if I could lift the chain from the bar to see if the chain was too tight. I couldn't pull the chain out of the bar even when I took the bar off the saw. It was like it was jammed in the groove all around. The end sprocket also wouldn't turn. Once I got the chain out, I put the 18" bar on the saw and continued cutting. Bar oil was spraying off the tip of the 18" chain so I'm pretty sure I don't have an oiler problem.
I took the bar, chain and saw to the shop and they said the bar was full of "sawdust". They freed up the bar sprocket and got it spinning pretty free. I wasn't sure if I could trust that 16" bar so I picked up another one. What I noticed in the new 16" bar and the new (I never used that bar before) 18" bar was that they both had a sprocket that would barely move. The shop said sometimes they have so much paint on the bars that it takes a while to wear it off and get the sprocket spinning freely.
All of these bars are Husky brand. The shop ran the saw with the bar that was acting up and the new 16" bar. They did say and I could feel it that the acting up bar seemed a little warm from just starting and revving a bit but I never paid attention to how hot a bar gets before because I never had a problem like this.
So, what do you think happened to the 16" bar that cut fine before and couldn't finish the cut this time? Did it overheat somehow? It wasn't pinched and the bar is straight and the grooves have returned to normal width. I check for chain tension everytime I cut and it seemed fine when I started the cut. The reservoir for the chain oil was full.
Anybody want to take a shot at solving the mystery?
My 450 came with a 20" bar and I picked up an extra 18" and 16" bar for it. I had some wood to buck up and ran the 16" bar for about a half hour last week through mostly fresh cut oak.
This week I started out cutting up some smaller stuff with an Echo 310 and switched to the Husky 450 for some bigger but not huge stuff. I use my 460 Rancher with a 24" bar for big stuff. I started a cut in a piece of maybe 14" oak and got 90% through it when the saw stalled out. I tried starting the saw, checked the chain brake and tried to see if I could lift the chain from the bar to see if the chain was too tight. I couldn't pull the chain out of the bar even when I took the bar off the saw. It was like it was jammed in the groove all around. The end sprocket also wouldn't turn. Once I got the chain out, I put the 18" bar on the saw and continued cutting. Bar oil was spraying off the tip of the 18" chain so I'm pretty sure I don't have an oiler problem.
I took the bar, chain and saw to the shop and they said the bar was full of "sawdust". They freed up the bar sprocket and got it spinning pretty free. I wasn't sure if I could trust that 16" bar so I picked up another one. What I noticed in the new 16" bar and the new (I never used that bar before) 18" bar was that they both had a sprocket that would barely move. The shop said sometimes they have so much paint on the bars that it takes a while to wear it off and get the sprocket spinning freely.
All of these bars are Husky brand. The shop ran the saw with the bar that was acting up and the new 16" bar. They did say and I could feel it that the acting up bar seemed a little warm from just starting and revving a bit but I never paid attention to how hot a bar gets before because I never had a problem like this.
So, what do you think happened to the 16" bar that cut fine before and couldn't finish the cut this time? Did it overheat somehow? It wasn't pinched and the bar is straight and the grooves have returned to normal width. I check for chain tension everytime I cut and it seemed fine when I started the cut. The reservoir for the chain oil was full.
Anybody want to take a shot at solving the mystery?
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