What on earth is happening to blount products

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Little Al

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My neighbor brought his chain to be sharpened, Looking at it I pronounced it dead, he went to the local shop & returned with a "deal" by buying 3 chains 56 dl 3/8 x 1.3 Lo Pro guess 91 VXL tried all 3 & it was like using a jack hammer had to file about a 1/4 of the cutter to get to what I consider acceptable cutting & smoothness this problem has been ongoing for a while but they seem to not be willing to solve the problem I have a recently reintroduced Windsor version of the size of chain & it cut from new & it is still performing well any one else having trouble.
 
91VXL is the only Oregon chain I've been OK with. Jackhammer? Na. Smooth as Stihl picco? Na.
 
Just got two loops of 91vxl, it does seam a bit grabby, I wonder if the guides are set too low on new chain? Should be .025" right?

As long as I don't push our let it get pinched and keep speed high it does not seam to be a real problem. It cuts well with just saw weight.

If I push hard enough in large enough logs it will bog my 40cc saw down,

I never noticed any bogging with the original dolmar bumper drive link chain, but I only ran a few tanks with it.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
 
raventai said:
Just got two loops of 91vxl, it does seam a bit grabby, I wonder if the guides are set too low on new chain? Should be .025" right?

As long as I don't push our let it get pinched and keep speed high it does not seam to be a real problem. It cuts well with just saw weight.

If I push hard enough in large enough logs it will bog my 40cc saw down,

I never noticed any bogging with the original dolmar bumper drive link chain, but I only ran a few tanks with it.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
The VXL I bought for my buddy's saw was very grabby also. After the first time it was sharpened and the rakers were set right it cuts real well.
 
raventai said:
Just got two loops of 91vxl, it does seam a bit grabby, I wonder if the guides are set too low on new chain? Should be .025" right?

As long as I don't push our let it get pinched and keep speed high it does not seam to be a real problem. It cuts well with just saw weight.

If I push hard enough in large enough logs it will bog my 40cc saw down,

I never noticed any bogging with the original dolmar bumper drive link chain, but I only ran a few tanks with it.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

If when you sharpen the chain
sunfish said:
I've bough a dozen or so loops of Oregon LGX, BPX, DP & LPX over the last year or so and it has been fine.
Click to expand...
The problem seems to be with Lo Pro chains, he bigger sizes seem OK. A guy I was having a yarn with ( a Faller of many years standing ) reckoned it could be dependent on the size /weight & power output of the saw small less power =grabby, he could be right but it's not a good selling point The Blount rep took away a bad "Grabby" VXL chain but to date we haven't heard anything or had a chain returned, Seems strange that the Carlton & Windsor eqiv models don't have the same problem.
 
Could someone define "grabby" and "smooth" to me? I believe that I'm noticing the same issue but am not sure. I want to order some Stihl picco for comparison.
 
A saw will pull into the cut with the bottom of the bar and when the top of the bar is used it will push towards you, usually this force is smooth and predictable, with a nice linear relation between cut load and reactive force

with the grabby 91vxl this reactive force is stronger and not smooth with sudden increases in push/pull force and occasional vibration, it is almost like the chain is taking too much of a bite and is almost getting stuck in the wood.

I am learning to work with it, and I do like the cut speed, it will cut faster than I need. And from what I hear it will calm down a bit after sharpening and the tooth gets lower behind the rake and takes smaller bites.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
 
Interesting. I did note that my stock Dolmar chain really ripped and my 91VXl chains are good but not as good as the stock chain was when it was brand new.
 
My only complaint with the stock dolmar bumper chain is that it did not like to plunge cut, I use plunge cuts on anything large enough to do so. It was fast and smooth otherwise.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
 
LittleLebowski said:
Could someone define "grabby" and "smooth" to me? I believe that I'm noticing the same issue but am not sure. I want to order some Stihl picco for comparison.
Click to expand...
When you offer the saw to wood to start cutting instead of a smooth/ constant feed it cuts with a series of grabs & chatters it's way through the wood feeding in with a series of jumps in worse cases almost as though the saw is misfiring. The Blount rep advised us on VXL chain to file ( relieve )the back edge of the cutter top plate at an angle of approx 45 degrees filing from the top .It cured the problem but it should not be necessary to have to do this as it's a new chain
 
Little Al said:
When you offer the saw to wood to start cutting instead of a smooth/ constant feed it cuts with a series of grabs & chatters it's way through the wood feeding in with a series of jumps in worse cases almost as though the saw is misfiring. The Blount rep advised us on VXL chain to file ( relieve )the back edge of the cutter top plate at an angle of approx 45 degrees filing from the top .It cured the problem but it should not be necessary to have to do this as it's a new chain
Click to expand...
So just so I understand we are trimming off a bit of the trailing corner, not cutting the whole cutter at 45 degrees? This is in azmith not elevation correct?


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dsell said:
Where are you finding Windsor chain? France?
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Several of the local dealers that stocked/sold Carlton chain & bars about 18 months ago, changed to stocking Windsor Kit most of the boxes are printed ( Translated Product of Belgium ) so if I require a Lo Pro chain I just pick 1 or more up, local prices for 50DL 3/8x 1.3 all in Euro's, Oregon 18 50/20 00 Carlton same price Stihl 21 00/ 25 00 Windsor 17 00 /19 00
 
raventai said:
So just so I understand we are trimming off a bit of the trailing corner, not cutting the whole cutter at 45 degrees? This is in azmith not elevation correct?


Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
If you look directly down on the cutter top plate the complete trailing edge width basically needs the square/sharp edge filing to an approx 45 degree angle.
 
I am going to assume the gullet cut and leading corner should remain the stock 30 degrees.

I will give it a try and report back

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Is this what you mean? Picture borrowed from member MCW on another thread.

mcw.PNG mcw.jpg
 

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