Custom Bar. Anyone ever try making their own chainsaw bar?

[McLeach]

I've considered making my own bar. I want a fat elliptical for essentially a hot saw build I'm doing.

The way I figure I'll do it is order 1095 spring steel strip. You can get it in quite a few thicknesses ranging up to .063 thick from places like mcmaster carr. A strip 6 inches wide and 6.5 feet long would give you enough material for two sides of a sandwiched bar. 100 bucks, as-hardened with polished finish quality "blue hardened." Its nice stuff. I'd expect it to be flat enough. Probably 60 or so HRC.

I might go with a non-ferrous core, or at least a steel core with big lightening holes in it, to drop the overall weight. Has to handle heat.

Would have my bud cnc plasma the shapes. I can grind them nice, square, and smooth once its all riveted together. I've got machining equipment, so the holes and stuff is easy. No steel is too hard for carbide.

If you make the sides symmetrical, you could actually flip them around when they slop out. Now you have fresh sides again. Another cool thing about a separate core, is you could run an internal oil journal to the nose ofthe bar if you wanted to get razoo.

Tough choice is to give it a standardized mount pattern, or do my own with more oomph.

Expecting to put 15hp and some serious chain speed through it. Not a competition saw, but more of a fun, wild, still usable saw. It'd be cool to pull off a custom bar.

 

[Bill G]

I hope it works out

 

[konstantin87]

hi guys! after reading this it seems way harder thank i first expected. i have a pretty tall truck, and i always get it hit and f*$#&d up when i go trough the woods. i was contemplating on putin a horizantal bar and two verticals and run the chains with a 4kW electric motor from an audi steering unit. would it be possible to have just sprockets and a tensioner, the same sort of arrangement one has on a bike?

 

[McLeach]

Alright. I didnt want to jump the gun before completing it, but the parts came back from idaho laser cutting and they look so dang good.Preston was great to work with, and I'll certainly use them again.

The material used was 1095 tempered spring steel. Mcmaster carr # 9036k313

I'll be on the road, so I won't get to putting it together till next week. The saw is slowly coming together. I only get a an hour on it a day, during lunch, but it's looking more like a saw every week.

Here's the bar pieces.

 

[Bill G]

Looks good to me

 

[Bill G]

What are you using as a tip?

 

[McLeach]

Its actually a tip cannon uses. Or at least that's what the ebay ad said...

Says made in taiwan on it, so whatever. Theyre replaceable with three rivets, so no big deal. Its something around 3 inch if i remember correctly. 2.8 actual. I can measure it again.

 

[Bill G]

Is it a roller or sprocket

 

[McLeach]

Thats a roller

 

[Bill G]

I figured so but it was not shown in the pics

 

[J_Ashley]

Alright. I didnt want to jump the gun before completing it, but the parts came back from idaho laser cutting and they look so dang good.Preston was great to work with, and I'll certainly use them again.

Fellow machinist here. Reading this thread from start to finish, my mind kept leaning towards laminate construction.

Love the design & work that you have there.

May I ask - What material are you using for the center?

And what length is that bar?

 

[McLeach]

The center is just some random steel the lazer folks had in 062. It doesnt need to be hard or anything, so it saved me a little bit. The mcmaster carr stock strip is 6ft, only enough to make the sides.

Total length of bar is just shy of 36" will probably have a cut length of 30

 

[Captain Bruce]

I hope it works out

Yikes!!! What can possibly justify saving money, over 100 yr. old technology? Start with the wheel.....and let us know how that works out for you?

 

[Bill G]

Yikes!!! What can possibly justify saving money, over 100 yr. old technology? Start with the wheel.....and let us know how that works out for you?

That is a incoherent post

 

[Husky Man]

That is a incoherent post

Incoherent, Debbie Downer posts are Captain Bruce’s Specialty


Doug

 

[Bill G]

Incoherent, Debbie Downer posts are Captain Bruce’s Specialty


Doug

Well it sure seems that way. Not sure what his/her/its problem is but he/she/it seems to want to tail me around

McCleach,

if I was not clear (which sometimes I am not) I have a TON of respect for what you are doing. I asked a bunch of questions so I could gain some knowledge. I took the McMaster number you listed and looked it up Thursday afternoon. I know Cannon probably charged a few bucks on the the tip but they are fair and I do mot know what Idaho laser charged but I really think you should be into a very nice handmade bar at a good price. Sometimes price is irrelevant when it comes to the satisfaction of completion of a project

 

[McLeach]

Idaho laser charged me basically 400, including the material. Cant remember what the shipping was, not much. Pretty good price on an 6" wide eliptical. Man, I only wish I had thought to have them etch a huge "yamaha" down the length of it! Silver in blue, Cause its a yamaha motor.

Also, I wanted half inch mounting studs in it, not some pittly-ass 8mm crap.

Havent finished it yet, need a carbide countersink for the brads. HSS wont touch it. Its pretty dang hard stuff, literally a big flat spring.

Yeah, pretty excited. I know I could've just paid for a bar, but theres fun in making stuff yourself. I could've bought a ms881 for about the amount I'll have spent building this saw, sure, but thats not the point.

This is for a completely homemade saw. If you just need a bar for a factory saw, yeah, not much point in doing a homemade bar.

 

[McLeach]

Just an update. Finally got the bar all riveted together. Took me long enough to get around to it!

Wow, it really stiffened up once all together. Feels like a solid bar. I had been really worried about cracking at the rivets on the nose, but they're only aluminum, easy peasy. I imagine it will have a very long wear life. As hard as it is.

I did order a NOS cannon bar for the saw as well. This eliptical will be for fun. While the cannon will be for work. An eliptical is not the right choice if you plan on turning the saw on its side. I'll match the oil port on the homemade to the cannon. I haven't milled one in yet.

You know, I never did ask who else will make you an eliptical other than cannon. Also, who makes the widest off-the-shelf bar anyway?

 

[Bill G]

That looks plain awesome. There have been folks on the site over the years that ran down guys that talked about building a bar. The absolute awesome work you did proves it is possible.

 

[j-jock]

CNC and "special" heat treatment LOL. I make all my own 60" bars out of old lawnmower blades MIG welded together. I shape them and cut the groove with an angle grinder and heat treat them with a propane grill and a bucket of rainwater. They are hard nose of course and when they wear out I forge them into hunting knives. When the hunting knives have been sharpened down to nothing, I use the remaining metal to forge into tips for my homemade lawn darts. When the tips are worn off of the lawn darts, I bring them to the lathe and turn them down into ball bearings for my skateboard wheels. When the bearings go out of my skateboard wheels I use the bearings as slingshot ammo for hunting squirrels. If I ever find one lodged in a dead squirrel I save it on a magnet that I keep out in the shop for scrap metal collection.:jester:

After all those steps, I take the remaining steel, and using my mini lathe, turn them into sewing needles for my wife.

I had a constant source of old bars from a friend that was in the bar rebuilding business. I would straighten and adapt these bars to fit my other saws, and have even joined bars together to make milling bars to use with dual power heads.
I found I could do an excellent job of grinding the new channels, by mounting a thin cutting wheel on my radial arm saw, and turning the saw to the 90 degree position, so I could accurately adjust the height.
I screw a jig to the saw table, to lift the bar off the main table, which allows excellent control of the bar. I screw down a couple of wood blocks to limit the depth of cut. I found this method was more accurate than attempting to adjust the saw.
As with any grinding and cutting, take small cuts, and don't allow the heat to build. If any place on the bar turns blue, that means it has become hot enough to aneal the bar, at which point it has to be re-tempered. This can be done by immediately quenching the bar in cold water. (Some people might insist on using oil, but water works ok for me).
It is amazing, what can be accomplished with a grinder, the right abrasives, and a little patience.
Bob