proper chain tension??

[irishcountry]

Ok I have been cutting wood and milling for a bit now. My question is how do you know how much tension to put on the chain I have always tightened it till I can still turn it by hand but if I pull straight up I can't get the drive links out of the track but it seems to rob some power and maybe will make more wear on my bar and overall system than needs to be. Any info would be appreciated!! Thanks

 

[oldsaw]

Eventually, you will get a feel for it. You need to tighten the chain so you can gently pull on the middle of it and not see the bottoms of the drivers. When you let it go, it will snap back in place with a little bit of slack on the bottom of the bar. Learn that sound. You are getting it too tight.

Mark

 

[BobL]

You need to tighten the chain so you can gently pull on the middle of it and not see the bottoms of the drivers. When you let it go, it will snap back in place with a little bit of slack on the bottom of the bar. Learn that sound. You are getting it too tight.

+1

 

[irishcountry]

Pull on the top or bottom of the chain? Thanks for the info I figured it was too tight and I know that will wear out my bar and maybe sprocket quick.

 

[woodshop]

Not to confuse anybody, but with my 36 inch bar on the csm, I generaly make the chain a bit tighter than the chains on my other chainsaws because I find on the csm, the chain tends to get hotter faster and take on a little slack faster. Especially with a brand new chain, I will make it pretty tight initially, to where I can pull it around the bar, but not as easily as my other chainsaws. I find in that situation, after only 10 minutes of milling, the chain has gotten to where it should be already, and I can easily pull it around the bar. Others are right though, you kinda get a feel for this after milling or using the saw a while, hard to explain in print here.

 

[BobL]

On Stihl chains I use the oil holes in the drivers as a guide.
Pull from the middle of the bar.
Cross cutting - can see bottom of drivers
Slabbing - I like to see the bottom half of the oil hole or maybe a wee bit tighter.
On longer bars go a wee bit tighter again.

 

[irishcountry]

Thanks guys I appreciate the info. I was milling a walnut this weekend and noticed after I took the time to loosed the chain a bit it increased my cutting speed a bit and didn't have as much tendency to bog down like when the chain was really tight. I will get the pics as soon as they are e-mailed to me! Thanks again.

 

[stevethekiwi]

this is all relative to bar size

mine range from 14" on the small saws to 84" double enders. on 84" i can pull the links outside of the bar, and yet the chain is almost impossible to move.

I think the resistance theory works well when working on big bars, as long as you keep in mind a chain expands with heat. once you get some practice, you will know what works