Making Chain Loops

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

Way late to the game on this, but finally got a nice Tecomec breaker and spinner and a 25 yard roll of lo pro ripping chain and starting to make my own 3/8LP loops. Man, it's ridiculously easy. Don't know why I put it off so long. Can repair my two broken 36" chains as well. Mainly got it due to lack of availability of affordable lo pro in the US, but will likely get some 3/8" and .404 rolls as well. If I can take on milling jobs with my ideal setup of 5 sharp chains on hand for the day, I'll do so much better a job of knocking out things quick.

Almost spoke too soon, didn't close up the link that well on my first loop and had a hard time doing so, the spinner kept binding up. Finished that one with a ball peen hammer. Read somewhere about it being a bit of a three hand job because of need to keep the tie strap pinched tight while spinning with one hand and tightening the spinner with the other. I used some curved long needle nose pliers on the next one to hold the link together while I spun and it went off like clockwork. Repaired one of my broken LP chains nicely.

 

[Lightning Performance]

Way late to the game on this, but finally got a nice Tecomec breaker and spinner and a 25 yard roll of lo pro ripping chain and starting to make my own 3/8LP loops. Man, it's ridiculously easy. Don't know why I put it off so long. Can repair my two broken 36" chains as well. Mainly got it due to lack of availability of affordable lo pro in the US, but will likely get some 3/8" and .404 rolls as well. If I can take on milling jobs with my ideal setup of 5 sharp chains on hand for the day, I'll do so much better a job of knocking out things quick.

Almost spoke too soon, didn't close up the link that well on my first loop and had a hard time doing so, the spinner kept binding up. Finished that one with a ball peen hammer. Read somewhere about it being a bit of a three hand job because of need to keep the tie strap pinched tight while spinning with one hand and tightening the spinner with the other. I used some curved long needle nose pliers on the next one to hold the link together while I spun and it went off like clockwork. Repaired one of my broken LP chains nicely.

Bread tie.
You don't need special tools to make chain. Any file or grinder, presets and a hammer or rock is about all you need. You had the tools for years.

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

Bread tie.
You don't need special tools to make chain. Any file or grinder, presets and a hammer or rock is about all you need. You had the tools for years.

I know, you told me that and I found I sucked at doing it with normal tools. Could have gotten the hang of it sooner or later, I'm sure, but worth it for me for how easy a decent quality breaker and spinner make the job. Also could have tightened up my rails with normal tools but damn that cheap bar tightener I got made it easy to do.

 

[Lightning Performance]

I know, you told me that and I found I sucked at doing it with normal tools. Could have gotten the hang of it sooner or later, I'm sure, but worth it for me for how easy a decent quality breaker and spinner make the job. Also could have tightened up my rails with normal tools but damn that cheap bar tightener I got made it easy to do.

What bar rail closer did you order?

I bought an old cast iron and aluminum Oregon breakers years ago. The spinner is much newer now with a bearing and lage round chain guides. Sold the old ones and moved up. Stamped steel seems to be working fine. It does 404 harvester chain no sweat. Don't forget to use oil when spinning the preset.

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

What bar rail closer did you order?

I bought an old cast iron and aluminum Oregon breakers years ago. The spinner is much newer now with a bearing and lage round chain guides. Sold the old ones and moved up. Stamped steel seems to be working fine. It does 404 harvester chain no sweat. Don't forget to use oil when spinning the preset.

I got a generic stainless one from Aliexpress for about $29 all told and seems to work fine, seems plenty beefy. The Forester may be as good and hardly any more but I just don't trust Forester at all as a brand, if I want something inexpensive and Chinese I'll get it generic straight from there, I won't get a branded version that may well be worse. A tree service friend bought the Forester and immediately broke one of the bearings on it. I ran my closer pretty hard on my 42" Stihl bar and the bearings held up fine.

Been using oil when spinning, definitely helps. Making do decently with the cheap HF grinder still for sharpening since I've learned to use it within its limitations, but still on the lookout for something a lot more solid that doesn't flex every which way.

 

[Lightning Performance]

I got a generic stainless one from Aliexpress for about $29 all told and seems to work fine, seems plenty beefy. The Forester may be as good and hardly any more but I just don't trust Forester at all as a brand, if I want something inexpensive and Chinese I'll get it generic straight from there, I won't get a branded version that may well be worse. A tree service friend bought the Forester and immediately broke one of the bearings on it. I ran my closer pretty hard on my 42" Stihl bar and the bearings held up fine.

Been using oil when spinning, definitely helps. Making do decently with the cheap HF grinder still for sharpening since I've learned to use it within its limitations, but still on the lookout for something a lot more solid that doesn't flex every which way.

My spinner is no name brand used 45 bucks. The breakers were 60 and 75 with broken anvils. The old cast iron one with a new good anvil knocks out bar nose rivets with easy bolted to a bench.

 

[Lightning Performance]

Is there a pic?
Seen one on Amazon with double bearings much nicer than the old ones for cheap. The ones on Ebay were 40 shipped. I have no experience with new ones at all.

 

[singinwoodwackr]

Is there a pic?
Seen one on Amazon with double bearings much nicer than the old ones for cheap. The ones on Ebay were 40 shipped. I have no experience with new ones at all.

I got one…tried it on a 28” bar…no joy. Maybe I just don’t have the needed strength, don’t know… I went back to just using the vice, worked fine.

 

[blades]

spin the preset down a bit on one side so it stays on the shoulder but not tight then do the other and go back to the first to finish, only 2 hands needed. no other tool needed either.

 

[Del_]

I have a bench punch but I always grind some of the peened side of the rivet off with a dremel tool. Goes much easier when breaking chain.

When I was in the biz sometimes I'd spin up a whole 100ft. spool into 72 drive links of 3/8 RS.

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

Is there a pic?
Seen one on Amazon with double bearings much nicer than the old ones for cheap. The ones on Ebay were 40 shipped. I have no experience with new ones at all.

Didn't look like much in the photo but was happy when I got it that everything was larger than it looked in the pic and really solid. Initially I didn't feel like I was doing anything when I just messed around without the bar clamped well. But once I got it set up with the bar clamped tight and went at it with some force it didn't take much time or effort to overclose a really sloppy rail. Helps to use pliers or a little extender to keep tightening the adjuster, just hand tightening it doesn't put enough force on it. I also found the bearings would ride up off the rail when I had them pretty tight unless I pushed down on the front as I pushed it along. .

 

[singinwoodwackr]

Didn't look like much in the photo but was happy when I got it that everything was larger than it looked in the pic and really solid. Initially I didn't feel like I was doing anything when I just messed around without the bar clamped well. But once I got it set up with the bar clamped tight and went at it with some force it didn't take much time or effort to overclose a really sloppy rail. Helps to use pliers or a little extender to keep tightening the adjuster, just hand tightening it doesn't put enough force on it. I also found the bearings would ride up off the rail when I had them pretty tight unless I pushed down on the front as I pushed it along. .

When I tightened it up to put enough pressure on the rails to do much of anything I was no longer able to pull or push it along the bar. Is there some trick I’m missing?
and, yes, it rides up as you pull/push…very annoying

 

[Del_]

When I tightened it up to put enough pressure on the rails to do much of anything I was no longer able to pull or push it along the bar. Is there some trick I’m missing?
and, yes, it rides up as you pull/push…very annoying

The trick is to tighten it so you can get it moving and then keep tightening up a little bit as it gets easier and easier but keeping the level of difficulty high. I have a six inch length of the same gauge chain I'm looking to gap as my goal. I'm sure the steel in the bar work hardens as it bends so keep the level of difficulty as high as possible but short of not being able to move the gaping tool.

Always remove burrs on the bar before attempting.

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

When I tightened it up to put enough pressure on the rails to do much of anything I was no longer able to pull or push it along the bar. Is there some trick I’m missing?
and, yes, it rides up as you pull/push…very annoying

Entirely possible some are just made better than others - my buddy broke a bearing on his Forester in short order. I might have gotten lucky that the cheapest Chinese one available was well made. I never tried to get it too tight at first, just decent pressure, roll it til it got a little too easy, tighten a bit, repeat, til I eventually got there. Not sure what I started doing different aside from maybe more repetition of rolling, at first like you say, nothing happened, and then when I went at it awhile I found I'd gone too far. Like anything in working metal, if there's any give in what you're applying pressure with, say, lousy bearings that are too weak, it's not going to do much of anything.

 

[singinwoodwackr]

Entirely possible some are just made better than others - my buddy broke a bearing on his Forester in short order. I might have gotten lucky that the cheapest Chinese one available was well made. I never tried to get it too tight at first, just decent pressure, roll it til it got a little too easy, tighten a bit, repeat, til I eventually got there. Not sure what I started doing different aside from maybe more repetition of rolling, at first like you say, nothing happened, and then when I went at it awhile I found I'd gone too far. Like anything in working metal, if there's any give in what you're applying pressure with, say, lousy bearings that are too weak, it's not going to do much of anything.

Have plenty of worn bars to play with so will try it again. I wasn't getting it to do much so went back to my old method so my guy could get his bars back

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

Have plenty of worn bars to play with so will try it again. I wasn't getting it to do much so went back to my old method so my guy could get his bars back

From the videos and what I read before I tried it, most people seemed to find it took a lot of work, sometimes more than seemed worth it, so I was surprised when I got results in less time than I thought I'd have to put in.