Chain saw drive link teeth broken on chain

[davidmsem]

I'm curious why the drive links teeth, three of them, broke my chain today. The chain jumped off the bar as a result. The chain was relatively new and had been sharpened by a local shop and was just using it for the first time. Did I leave the chain to loose on the bar? Wondering what in the world would cause that? Never happened to me before.

 

[dougand3]

You sure it's your chain and shop didn't mix up? What is the pitch & gauge of bar vs chain? Did chain spin freely by hand? I can envision an .050 chain in an .063 bar leaning and bouncing so much that DLs break.
Or a .325 chain in a 3/8 bar - be quite awful.
Hunk of metal stuck in bar sprocket.
Or as simple as a defective batch of DLs.

 

[davidmsem]

You sure it's your chain and shop didn't mix up? What is the pitch & gauge of bar vs chain? Did chain spin freely by hand? I can envision an .050 chain in an .063 bar leaning and bouncing so much that DLs break.
Or a .325 chain in a 3/8 bar - be quite awful.
Hunk of metal stuck in bar sprocket.
Or as simple as a defective batch of DLs.

When I put the chain on there were moments when it wasn't moving freely by hand and moments when it was tight . I do recall thinking that I've never had a chain go on this hard. Now you got me thinking they may have bent a couple teeth or something when they were sharpening it . Ugh.

 

[zrock]

could have been a small stone that got jammed in the chain causing it to break the drivers and jump. If you got the wrong pitch of chain you probably would have noticed that. When i grabbed the wrong chain for my saw i could not get it to the tip of the saw or even make it spin by hand.

 

[blades]

Look closly at the gullet area of the teeth- deep they grind too deep weakening the tie straps- Very typical of some. additionally are the teeth all the same size. moves and then binds =bent chain- there is only a few thousandths clearance in the bar groove vs the drive link thickness just having a few drive links burred up will cause a sticking problem - dremel style tool fastest way to clean those up

 

[davidmsem]

Thank you. I think the chain might even loose. That is what the shop told me. I will try to be more mindful of having the chain tight enough .

 

[blades]

note that as you use a chain it will stretch with heat needing additional tensioning, but when through using you need to reduce the tension other wise as the chain cools it will stay streched out which can lead to breakage and / or insufficient tensioning adjustment. Also make sure to clean your bar grove and pay attention to cleaning out the oil port near the rear of the bar dry running chains so not last long and also increase the wear rate of the bar.

 

[davidmsem]

note that as you use a chain it will stretch with heat needing additional tensioning, but when through using you need to reduce the tension other wise as the chain cools it will stay streched out which can lead to breakage and / or insufficient tensioning adjustment. Also make sure to clean your bar grove and pay attention to cleaning out the oil port near the rear of the bar dry running chains so not last long and also increase the wear rate of the bar.

Thank you.

 

[duramaxman05]

I have had teeth actually break off a new Oregon chain before. Didnt.hit anything in the wood. Sometimes you just get a defective chain. That's not saying I have never hit anything before