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Chain grinding and filing thread

Skeans1

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Is chain shot the scars i see around guys forearms from when broke chains wrap around them ?

If you want to call it that, at least one guy has had one driver take his life. AR2 is the bullet proof lexan glass that forestry equipment comes with.


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Wilhelm

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When are you gonna do a loop for that big R2 bar you have?
No need to tinker on my 115DL chain, the teeth are still long and make a wide kerf.
I did customize one 115DL loop into hillbilly/sorta-skip with scoring teeth (Patent Pending LOL).


Sounds like a good way to get hurt or find out real quick what chain shot is, if a harvester chain from 20’ can shoot through roughly 1/2” AR2 windows what’s a driver going to do to you?

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Chainsaw chain is not driven by as much power as a harvester chain is!
When a harvester chain gets pinched or stuck the harvester will not stall but rather rip the chain to pieces.

The few chainsaw chains that snapped on me broke in a way that the chain was stuck full length in the log and the ends were dangling down on both sides of it.
No individual pieces of the chains were missing that could have come flying.
It were always the tie straps that snapped.

If there were a significant percentage of getting severely injured by a chainsaw chain breaking there would be much more chainsaw racers with scars and missing limbs.

Like with everything in life, if You are afraid of getting Yourself hurt by doing it You're better off not doing it at all!
Right now I'm not afraid of using my chainsaws, but I am always aware of the potential danger these tools carry with them!

I am much more concerned about kickback, but I'm not constantly afraid off it.
I'm fairly big/strong but keeping control over a 5-7HP power head running ~13k rpm kicking will make my joints hurt.

I'm not a pro and I don't consider myself all knowing - on the contrary!
I'm just a homeowner firewood hack who enjoys running chainsaws.


And since we all love saw porn:
Dolmar PS-7900 Iggesund Forest - 31.JPG
 

Skeans1

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No need to tinker on my 115DL chain, the teeth are still long and make a wide kerf.
I did customize one 115DL loop into hillbilly/sorta-skip with scoring teeth (Patent Pending LOL).



Chainsaw chain is not driven by as much power as a harvester chain is!
When a harvester chain gets pinched or stuck the harvester will not stall but rather rip the chain to pieces.

The few chainsaw chains that snapped on me broke in a way that the chain was stuck full length in the log and the ends were dangling down on both sides of it.
No individual pieces of the chains were missing that could have come flying.
It were always the tie straps that snapped.

If there were a significant percentage of getting severely injured by a chainsaw chain breaking there would be much more chainsaw racers with scars and missing limbs.

Like with everything in life, if You are afraid of getting Yourself hurt by doing it You're better off not doing it at all!
Right now I'm not afraid of using my chainsaws, but I am always aware of the potential danger these tools carry with them!

I am much more concerned about kickback, but I'm not constantly afraid off it.
I'm fairly big/strong but keeping control over a 5-7HP power head running ~13k rpm kicking will make my joints hurt.

I'm not a pro and I don't consider myself all knowing - on the contrary!
I'm just a homeowner firewood hack who enjoys running chainsaws.


And since we all love saw porn:
View attachment 131877

I’ve snapped a 115 driver chain before and thought hey I got lucky when I went to fix it but I was short a driver. A saw is spinning a heck of a lot faster then a harvester with 404 or 3/4, the main point is you guys are worried about clipping a tie strap but will gladly file rivet heads down just like you would to replace a driver or cutter. This profession is dangerous enough so why add another why for it to get you.


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Chainsaw Jim

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I’ve snapped a 115 driver chain before and thought hey I got lucky when I went to fix it but I was short a driver. A saw is spinning a heck of a lot faster then a harvester with 404 or 3/4, the main point is you guys are worried about clipping a tie strap but will gladly file rivet heads down just like you would to replace a driver or cutter. This profession is dangerous enough so why add another why for it to get you.


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The whole point of this thread is to educate folks on how to file their chains for racing. There's no reason for anyone to get all worked up over applying such methods to commercial felling and processors. Look at the picture of the rivets I filed. You'll notice they're not gone. I file my rivets to punch chains apart and I've never been able to punch one loose until I've taken them all the way down into the straps. A couple controlled cuts on a saw horse ain't gonna be causing much of a problem and that's why so many racers have done it that way for years. They're throwing chains, but they ain't breaking them like you imagine.
 

Terry Syd

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One of the chainsaw racers I know in Oz has used a NK chassis for his race saws for about 20 years. He takes the full chisel cutters off a standard .325 chain and puts them on the NK chassis.

The Oregon chain pulls apart at the forward hole in the drive links. The drive links are the same for standard and NK chain, thus they both pull apart at the same point and tension (800+ lbs).

He considers it a lot safer to use the NK chassis as he doesn't have to file the rivets or 'dog bone' the links. He's never had a failure with the NK chassis and that is on piped 77cc saws. He has seen guys break chains that have been dog boned.
 

Chainsaw Jim

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Picco chain has very thin shoulders on the drivers and I learned that the hard way. This one didn't break when testing in cottonwood, but then it came apart when trying it out in oak.
One thing this taught me is it isn't a bad idea to set aside an extra drive link and tie strap from the type of chain you're grinding to have for size reference.

20180708_215732.jpg 20180708_215904.jpg 20180708_215551.jpg
 

Moparmyway

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Picco chain has very thin shoulders on the drivers and I learned that the hard way. This one didn't break when testing in cottonwood, but then it came apart when trying it out in oak.
One thing this taught me is it isn't a bad idea to set aside an extra drive link and tie strap from the type of chain you're grinding to have for size reference.

View attachment 132114 View attachment 132115 View attachment 132116
Guilty of the same thing ................ @Cut4fun had enough experience to be carefull when running it in his chain shootout
 

Cut4fun

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Cut4fun

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@Moparmyway nope my stupied azz wasnt wearing the chaps when it broke. I got lucky. But wore them from there on.

Found the post. - Had to walk away just now
shocked.gif
. Settle my nerves and stupidity for not wearing my chaps.

Your work chain that was filed all the way back on cutter. Broke in 3rd cut. Thank God above it wasnt on a stronger faster saw. The chain stayed in the cut and slapped around. Will load video with 2 good cuts and then broke in 3rd.

Broke on the stock saw 39cc rd1 testing.
 

Philbert

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"Risk = (Probability) X (Severity)"

The probability (likelihood) that a chain will break goes up when you file / grind away all of that 'extra' material that the engineers designed in.
The severity (consequences) depend somewhat on the type of sawing, technique (e.g. standing to the side), PPE, etc.

In those videos above, the large cants loaded up the chain with a lot of resistance, but they also worked to hold / dampen some of the larger pieces when they broke free. But flying pieces of metal can have severe consequences.

Per the comments on 'chain shot', here are a few links that explain it better:
https://www.lni.wa.gov/safety/hazardalerts/chainshot.pdf
http://www.oregonproducts.eu/en/customer-service/harvester-chain-shot.html
https://www.tigercat.com/safety/btb-test/

Philbert
 

Chainsaw Jim

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"Risk = (Probability) X (Severity)"

The probability (likelihood) that a chain will break goes up when you file / grind away all of that 'extra' material that the engineers designed in.
The severity (consequences) depend somewhat on the type of sawing, technique (e.g. standing to the side), PPE, etc.

In those videos above, the large cants loaded up the chain with a lot of resistance, but they also worked to hold / dampen some of the larger pieces when they broke free. But flying pieces of metal can have severe consequences.

Per the comments on 'chain shot', here are a few links that explain it better:
https://www.lni.wa.gov/safety/hazardalerts/chainshot.pdf
http://www.oregonproducts.eu/en/customer-service/harvester-chain-shot.html
https://www.tigercat.com/safety/btb-test/

Philbert
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Wilhelm

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Is this a racing chain thread ? Or work chain ?
I initially thought it's a work chain thread, but too many posts go the other direction so I guess it is a race chain thread!? o_O

I only do work chains, but some of them are quite fast.
 
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