Anyone made their own sprocket noses/bar tips?

[KiwiBro (deleted)]

Would it be too difficult for the average shop to make 3/8LP sprockets that will fit a conventional bar tip? Are the sprockets heat treated? Is it just about getting th eright metal and making sure the sprocket will fit?

Anyone else keen on some 3/8LP noses to fit quality bars like Tsumura or GB, seeing how they won't do such an option? Or perhaps they won't do it because nobody wants it (as opposed to liability issues).

Just keen to see if anyone else has wondered about running picco on a larger bar and struggled finding a picco tip. As far as I'm aware, only logosol do longer bars with picco tips, which I think stihl make for them exclusively?

Without really knowing if it could be done or looking into it in any detail, I'm wondering if it's as simple as just buying a few Tsumura/GB/Sugi tips, pulling them apart, adapting a picco sprocket shape to make sure they fit, buying the right material, cutting it out on a CNC laser/jet type machine, and reassembling the tips and seeing how long they last.

 

[Chainsaw Jim]

The bar sprocket doubles as a bearing race and it's definitely hardened steel.

Regular 3/8 tips will run picco if you flat file each side of the teeth down thin enough to fit the narrower chain. Only problem after that is the bar is thicker than the chain and the chips won't clear worth a chit.

 

[KiwiBro (deleted)]

Hmmm. Have never even considered the bar thickness being a problem with the lower kerf, thanks. Will compare thickness of picco and regular bars.

 

[cobey]

Hmmm. Have never even considered the bar thickness being a problem with the lower kerf, thanks. Will compare thickness of picco and regular bars.

You can make a cheap ao41
3/8 lp bar fit a small Husky mount
By drilling oil holes

 

[KiwiBro (deleted)]

Thanks. Haven't found any cheap ones that last and I'm sick of sub-standard gear.

 

[Terry Syd]

I put a 20" Husky NK bar on a Stihl 029/390 I built up. It makes a nice lightweight, quick handling saw out of a overweight homeowner saw. Cuts fast too, but the lightweight is what attracts me the most.

One of the issues of the thinner bar can be resonance in the bar under certain cutting situations. If the bar goes into resonance, it opens up the kerf to where it can be wider than with a 3/8 chain. The Husky bar has a bit more 'belly' than other NK bars and doesn't have the resonance problem. I think a 24" bar would be pushing it as to excessive flex.

I've heard of guys using NK chain on standard long bars for milling. I asked them if there was any problem with the wider bar or with unusual wear on the rails and they said it worked fine. The difference in width of the chain is only .5mm, so apparently the kerf is wide enough to allow the bar not to hang up. (I've never tried it myself.) If you had a .325 bar (.50 groove), you could try a loop of NK on it and see if the combination worked for you.

 

[KiwiBro (deleted)]

Thanks for that. Food for thought. Will be a week or so before I can get back to my saws to tinker. Looking forward to it.

 

[Terry Syd]

I don't know about the issue of chip clearance with NK on a long regular .325 bar. For milling it is a ripping chain and the chips are more sawdust than chips. For me, a 20" NK bar, with a cutting angle of 6.4 degrees (big chips) did not present a problem with the bar buried in an old pine tree. However, I have no idea if the lower cutters could handle the chip clearance on a 24" bar.

If you experiment with the combination, please post your results as I think others may want to hear about your results.