Bar rail groove repair

[Loony661]

I’ve seen rails dressed on a table saw with a cut off wheel. Works well.

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

I’ve seen rails dressed on a table saw with a cut off wheel. Works well.

THAT I can do. (Or at least attempt and possibly mess up.)

 

[Stump Shot]

I have a rolling rail closer. Never got it to work well.

You have to move it back and forth.

I have an Oregon Bar Tender rail grinder, however it's without wheels and not much use for anything.

 

[Maintenance Chief]

I use the rail closer and draw file to rehab some worn out bars.
I have a right angle sanding disk That I've used on some really bad ones.

 

[footstep]

The rails likely aren't worn evenly.


If you're talking about the place in Portland on Johnson Creek blvd, they're out of business. Bill passed away a while ago.

That place was great, I use to stop in everytime I was in the area, indeed Bill was a very good guy and fun to shoot the $#!# with, it was a sad day when I found out he was closed & had passed on, he use to sharpen chains for me & my dad and would only charge $5 per chain. I didn't realize there was so many local guys here in my area.

 

[Woodwackr]

Id love to have a good bar repair machine. I do what I can and have repaired many bars that lasted a bit longer but could do a lot more with the right tools.

 

[sawfun]

Pacific Trail Manufacturing is still around - they do bar repairs and custom bars, they're in Portland.

I stopped in at Chainbar Repair a couple times in the late 90's/early 2000's and chatted with Bill quite a bit. He was a great old boy. I think he was in his late 70's when he passed.

Bill was a pretty cool, I'm sorry to hear of his passing. I was there before and when he was was in the process of closing. He had said that he had bought some acreage in Mississippi with a catfish pond on it to retire to. I live just over a mile from where is shop was and still drive by it almost daily. Actually he had to have a strong set of lungs as inside his place had a constant haze of grinding wheel and the taste of it was always pretty strong in the air. He had a helper from Wasington that worked there and his Logosol stuff went to a place in Amboy or Yacult. We lost another, last of the guys that did that specialty type of work.

 

[Skiptooth Fred]

Chainsaw bars are consumables same as chains.
I have worn out dozens of chains, but only one AM bar.

I run the factory original Dolmar branded Oregon laminate bar on my 2006. purchased Dolmar PS-6400 and she is my main go to workhorse.
I did deepen the groove at the bars tail section twice.
It is a .058" gauge bar, I can run a .063" chain in it.

Smart people run .058 for this very reason, when it wears you can throw an .063 on, double the life and halve the cost

 

[bretts]

I made my own bar grinder, I machined an aluminium disk and put stick on sandpaper on it. I then found a 1hp electric motor and made a frame and table with the disk at 90deg to the table. Works for me.

 

[srcarr52]

I made my own bar grinder, I machined an aluminium disk and put stick on sandpaper on it. I then found a 1hp electric motor and made a frame and table with the disk at 90deg to the table. Works for me.

I use a 12" disk sander.

 

[bigbadbob]

Belt sander with a fence ,,, a zip disc to get the burr off the edge,,, use it lighly.

 

[pbillyi69]

buy a new bar throw that one in the river

 

[Wilhelm]

buy a new bar throw that one in the river

That'd make a magnet fishing person happy!

 

[Wilhelm]

 

[davidwyby]

Shows no signs of wear…I almost wonder if it wasn’t originally .063” and mislabeled or something.

 

[Loony661]

Shows no signs of wear…I almost wonder if it wasn’t originally .063” and mislabeled or something.
View attachment 415876

Entirely possible.

 

[Wilhelm]

Mislabeled on purpose more likely!

Make only .063" gauge and label them whatever - as if the customer will check it or notice the difference.

 

[pbillyi69]

if it was an .063 and someone kept using 050 it would had bad wear like you are talking about it having. 050 chain on an 063 bar works but the chain moves all over the place they fly off easier too. someone once gave me a few loops of new 050 chain that i ran on my 063 bar because that was all i had at the time. it was kind of a pain in the ass because it didnt ride like it should it was really easy to make crooked cuts too. if leaned on either side of the handle bar it would cut crooked

 

[davidwyby]

I tried running 050 on the bar at first because that’s what was on it. I didn’t pay attention enough to notice the slop until I went to cut.

I couldn’t get a pic but the groove looks pretty good inside.

I bet it will be fine with 063 and maybe a little tap tap

 

[davidwyby]

Just got a square grinder and gonna try some square 063 semi skip from @MG2186

Legit west coast setup