Bent bar? Crooked cuts

[August76]

You never commented on how much wear you found on the bar, particularly if there is any side-to-side flop with the chain. If you had significant burs on the edges, it is quite likely that your bar groves are worn or spread too. That can be fixed too, but it is somewhat more complicated than just dressing the rails. Regular bar dressing will prevent this problem by lowering the edges a little each time, and that removes the most worn inner part too, but if you have a lot of flop now, you have to grind a lot off to get back down to straight groove walls. If the inside of the groove is notched on either side instead of just spread in a V shape, you do not have any choice - you MUST grind off enough of the rails to get down to the bottom of the notch.

There is a special tool that uses rollers to squeeze the rails back together, but I do not have that. I have learned how to repair that type of wear with a hammer and vice - it is not hard, but it does take a while, and you have to have some finesse; if you just start wailing on the bar with a hammer you will ruin it real fast!. I have also heard of some folks putting on a thicker gauge chain to use with a worn bar instead of trying to repair the groove shape.

I thought i posted back. The bar cut me while trying to dress it. It had burrs all over. Wear from a loose chain i guess.
I would say its pretty sloppy so the chain is walking. I didnt think to check side to side but im sure its going to be bad.
This makes me wonder if this is why i get wavy cuts on my chainsaw mill now.

 

[Mauser]

Yeah, I saw you mention the burs, but not how tight the groove was.

I have never actually tried to measure the wear inside of a bar groove . A feeler gauge cannot tell you much except the tightest point, but it might give you a visual idea if there was a noticeable gap between the gauge and the top of the bar rails (V shaped wear).

If I had to know for sure, I might try melting a big glob of solder into one spot on the bar - I doubt if it would stick to the bar metal, and if you pulled it out you could actually measure the width in different locations. Of course I'd test the solder on the side of the bar first to see if it did stick, and then you still have a slight risk of the groove being worn into an hour-glass shape, where the blob of solder can't be pulled out at all!

 

[Huntaholic]

MOST of the time, you can see a bend in the bar, and Ive had decent luck straightening them with a flat surface and a hammer. I don't waste a lot of time fooling with it though. Time is money to me when Im using a saw and if it takes longer than 10 minutes to repair a bar, I throw that bar away and grab another saw. As far as pinching a rail goes, I normally can get a bar back in service with just a flat screwdriver and a hammer. Again, if its too bad it gets trashed and replaced.

 

[August76]

I took a short video clip of the chain wiggling around

 

[August76]

I took a short video clip of the chain wiggling around

Too much slop?

 

[huskihl]

Too much slop?

It could be the bar. Could also be the chain drivers. See if a new chain fits tighter.

 

[Mauser]

Not the greatest video, but the slop looks about medium wear to me - I have certainly seen worse. But I'd still want to close up that groove a bit. Maybe the bottom side is more heavily worn? It often is if you do not regularly turn the bar. Perhaps the dressing you have done already made a significant improvement in the slop by lowering the rails enough to allow the bottom of the drive links to fit into virgin groove space and reduce the slop that way?

But with your explanations about how it is cutting, I still assume it has significant wear inside the grooves - probably notched if not heavy V shaped. If all is good, a saw should not veer off just because it found a knot.

If you ever threw a chain, one or more of the drive links could have been damaged, and a bur on a drive link can quickly cut some metal on a groove wall. If you have a "groove in the groove" that can be as bad as a notch worn into the top of the rail. Maybe if you dress the rails down a bit further you will get past the damage. But make sure you carefully inspect all the drive links for damage and burs too if you have not thrown that chain away. Good luck

 

[August76]

It could be the bar. Could also be the chain drivers. See if a new chain fits tighter.

Ive tried another chain that works good on my other saws bar. Same issue

 

[August76]

Not the greatest video, but the slop looks about medium wear to me - I have certainly seen worse. But I'd still want to close up that groove a bit. Maybe the bottom side is more heavily worn? It often is if you do not regularly turn the bar. Perhaps the dressing you have done already made a significant improvement in the slop by lowering the rails enough to allow the bottom of the drive links to fit into virgin groove space and reduce the slop that way?

But with your explanations about how it is cutting, I still assume it has significant wear inside the grooves - probably notched if not heavy V shaped. If all is good, a saw should not veer off just because it found a knot.

If you ever threw a chain, one or more of the drive links could have been damaged, and a bur on a drive link can quickly cut some metal on a groove wall. If you have a "groove in the groove" that can be as bad as a notch worn into the top of the rail. Maybe if you dress the rails down a bit further you will get past the damage. But make sure you carefully inspect all the drive links for damage and burs too if you have not thrown that chain away. Good luck

Anything is possible. They (home depot tool rental) sold it with a new chain on used bar and saw. It cut weird from day one.
I haven't looked at bars but where would be a good place to look? I just want another 20" bar. Nothing fancy.

 

[Mauser]

When I start looking, my first stop is the Oregon catalog (or their web site "Find a Part", and then Amazon. Most often, something will show up on Amazon, then I use that to compare with what I can find from other sources.

I will say that I think that Oregon has made it VERY complicated to make an intelligent choice on which bar or chain or sprocket to buy. For example: They use stupid names like "AdvanceCut" (their base homeowner grade product) and ControlCut (better mid-range quality product) without any rational explanations or clear compare and contrast capability. Then to make matters worse, they make both ControlCut chains, and ControlCut bars, implying that you really should match them up (seems like BS to me), but then sometimes they recommend a ControlCut chain for a specific saw where they do not even make a ControlCut bar, so they match it up with an AdvanceCut bar! WTF?? And then they even sell the exact same product in both big-box stores and dealers with totally DIFFERENT designations. so if you are looking for one, you may not find the other if available!

Their name-game garbage also makes it really tough to do an accurate comparison with the same item from different brands. If you plan on doing that, expect to do some study time with the fine print in their catalog.

OK - Rant off.

But at least you can see what is generally available and work from there.
What is your current bar length, chain size and link count?

 

[Mauser]

You mentioned a 20" bar and a Husky 372XP in previous posts. A quick look at Amazon shows they have a VersaCut 200VXLHD009 bar for $45. That is a 20" bar for 72 links of 0.050.

That may or may not be the correct gauge or chain that you want; I did not look for other options.

 

[Mauser]

I'm just killing time while I finish my pot of coffee before going out to split logs, so here are some other options I found on Amazon - Oregon b&c combos: 20" in both .0050 and 0.058
Listed by part numbers:

109118 Pro-Lite bar .058 with chain $57
109121 Pro-Lite bar .050 with chain $56
580121 VersCut bar .058 w chain $67
580120 VersCut bar .050 w chain $65

I imagine they have just a .058 bar alone too, if that is what you need. Use the Amazon prices to compare with Bailey's or other options. As I understand it, Oregon bars are generally good to average in quality; I'm sure you can go both up and down from there.

 

[SawTroll]

...…. I have also heard of some folks putting on a thicker gauge chain to use with a worn bar instead of trying to repair the groove shape.

That can work as a temporary "stop-gap", particularly for cutting straight down in reasonably knot free wood - but likely not for much more, because of the "V" (0r "timeglass") factor.

Regardless, it will help a little, once it fits - particularly if the rails are dressed.

It is not something I would bother with today though, unless it just was to give a collectors item with an old worn bar a spin now and then.

 

[August76]

You mentioned a 20" bar and a Husky 372XP in previous posts. A quick look at Amazon shows they have a VersaCut 200VXLHD009 bar for $45. That is a 20" bar for 72 links of 0.050.

That may or may not be the correct gauge or chain that you want; I did not look for other options.

Its the right one. 20 inch d009 mount same as husky

 

[grizz55chev]

Its the right one. 20 inch d009 mount same as husky

.063, .058, or .050 gauge bar?What gauge chain?

 

[PogoInTheWoods]

^^^^^^
Bingo.

 

[August76]

I just went into Tractor Supply and noticed that they sell several different bars that are 3/8 pitch .050 20 in but none of them say they fit Husqvarna or dolmar. some say they fit Stihl some say they fit McCullough and poulan. They sure look the same to me for the most part except for the one for Stihl looks like it is for bigger bar nuts

 

[August76]

I found the original Makita bar for less than anything I have seen so far but I don't know if that's the best bar to put on it. This is the bar they recommend it is a d009 mount but I see other bars don't use the same number mounting system
https://www.makitatools.com/products/details/445-050-665

 

[PogoInTheWoods]

As others have said, it is not your chain...,

Are we sure about the gauge? Could be the 'problem' bar is .058 or even .063 trying to run .050 chain. That'd certainly help explain the crooked cutting. May want to dbl check the bar and chain combo you're running in order to get a bar that matches the chain..., or the correct chain for the problem bar if it's a different gauge than the setup that seems to cut straight.

 

[August76]

It's possible because when Home Depot gets the saws they take the chain off of it and put some kind of Pro-Line whatever the hell safety chain on and an aftermarket bar

Are we sure about the gauge? Could be the 'problem' bar is .058 or even .063 trying to run .050 chain. That'd certainly help explain the crooked cutting. May want to dbl check the bar and chain combo you're running in order to get a bar that matches the chain..., or the correct chain for the problem bar if it's a different gauge than the setup that seems to cut straight.