Bar fubared?

[Jumpsuit]

Long story short. I went to a metal shop to get the holes drilled in the bar for the granberg aux. oiler screw. Metalworker convinced me a punch press was the way to go.. We made a test punch in the center of an old bar..it worked great. The punches in the good bar though pinched the bottom of the groove, since that screw it supposed to just kiss into the groove. I figured this wouldn't be good for the powerhead to run chain that could rub that pinched part.. so i used the tools i had on hand to grind away the dimple in the groove bottom.. Got carried away, and now the groove is grotequely widened for about three quarters of an inch of the length of the bar near the holes, 5 inches from the tip.. Near the bar edge at worst it measures to almost .09 (.063 bar)

My question, please understand in retrospect I understand there was a better way to do this in the first place and a better way to attempt repair..(i'm thinking mill or drill press).. And i've become a proponent of simple drip for the aux. oiler.. But my question is will this widening of the bar groove put undue strain on the powerhead if that part of the bar is NOT in wood? I'm wondering if the chain will kind of pull itself along well enough.. Or if that groove needs to be absolutely evenly worn.

Give me a piece of mind or tell me it's trashed, i'm open to opinions.. And hopes this helps someone contemplating using a punch press for this task... If you do that don't punch into the groove.. Thanks. Josh

 

[BobL]

Oh dear - thats a bummer especially because drip oil delivery works just fine.
It looks to me like you have removed too much of one of the bar rails to fix anything.

The rails need to support the chain all the way along, even out of the wood because chains don't sit flat on the bar rails but pulse and porpoise up and down in waves along the bar. Sometimes you can see the wave perpetrating backwards against the cutting direction out as far as the nose. If the chain is unsupported it will cause even more wear on that side.
I would ditch the oiler bolt, use the drip method and flip the bar and use the other side. Having the unsupported side on the non-cutting side wobn't be as critical.
You can occasionally try to use the damaged side and monitor how it goes.

 

[Blisters]

I do t think 3/4 of an inch would allow the chain to drift or flop. I would try it and check your bar after each cut. Also check to see if it makes a difference in the cut itself, but I don't think it will. It will hold oil in that spot but won't make a difference in luberecation. It may however stain your wood in that area of the cut.

 

[JDP]

Bummer! Sorry to hear about your mishap, it looks like a nice bar too (Woodland Pro?). My two cents worth (and that's about what my amateur opinion is worth), would be to carefully give it a test run out of the wood at half throttle or so. It looks like the issue is too much clearance now, so as long as the chain runs smoothly and stays where it's supposed to I'd run it. You're not cutting there anyway.

 

[BobL]

. . . . . . It looks like the issue is too much clearance now, so as long as the chain runs smoothly and stays where it's supposed to I'd run it. You're not cutting there anyway.

If you look at old milling bars you will see wear very close to that point or maybe just a little further out closer to the nose even though there is very little wood cut out that far. This is cause by the chain wave I've referred to in my post. But like JDP says, give it a try and see how you go.

 

[Jumpsuit]

Thanks all. Will field test And report back.

 

[Jumpsuit]

We opted to not use this bar because of the ? And time constraints. We used the other bar I have without holes in it.

+1 for drip method auxiliary oiler. It pools on the bar end and has nowhere to go but into the bar groove. Nice and simple.