Angled bar oil holes

[Tony Snyder]

Anyone share my disgust with those tiny angled oil feed holes on some bars.

Had another guy today with a Husky 51 with those hole plugged so harn I had to drill out the crap. He also had a stripped oil pump gear, badle stretched chain, worn bar rails, etc.

This was about a week old bar, (Oregon bar branded Husqvarna) He didn't bring his earlier bar. He had thrown it away. But he said his problems started after he bought the new bar.

I showed him my Total Bars were made differently, as I expect his original bar was.

I looked at the Husky dealers bar display. All the bars they had to sell him in that tail pattern were that design. I just had to tell them they were making business for me.

 

[Crofter]

Tony, I'm not suggesting that the size of the oil hole is not the problem, but the other symptoms; stretched chain, worn bar rails could have come about before the plugged oil hole if the fellow kept on cutting with a very dull chain, making powder chips to soak up the oil and heat to bake it in the groove. I have had to make a chisel to get out stuff that was like plastic. The manufacturers have a story obout the small angled hole and venturi action being wonderful, so it shoould be interesting to see what the chainsaw jury decides.

Frank

 

[jokers]

Hi Tony, not saying that the small oil hole doesn`t contribute to the problems, but I think Crofter is on to atleast a few clues as to what is happening. I`ve run quite a few of these Oregon/Husky bars since they started the angled hole and I haven`t had any real trouble because of the hole size or shape. It is harder to clean out, and I agree that it is more prone to plugging, but if the chain is kept sharp, the bar groove is cleaned, and attention is paid to ensuring the off side oil hole isn`t plugged when the bar is flipped, there shouldn`t be a problem. The only holes that I had plugged were the ones on the off side where the oil isn`t flushing it out as you cut. I have seen a few that were plugged as solid as you describe but the chain was thouroughly rocked out and the bar groove was so packed with crud that the drive tangs were dragging and the sprocket tips were bound with crap. Signs of abuse or neglect in my opinion. Meanwhile, if your Total bars are better for the average rock mechanic, Oregon has provided you with a niche market haven`t they, just got to get the word out. You will probably see this feature of Oregon bars fade away since I`m sure that your observations are not unique, the company cannot afford to let misconceptions caused by misuse ruin their reputation. Russ

 

[daveb]

angled bar holes

I haven't had any trouble with the small angled holes either. Like Russ said, they're a little harder to clean out. My thinking is that they are using the small hole to create a higher oil velocity, like a jet action you could say, to actually have less trouble with plugging.

 

[rahtreelimbs]

Oregon claims: The size of the area where incoming oil contacts the drive linksis increased by 500%....and...oil-hole plugging is reduced by 80%.

Go figure on this one. Personally I haven't had a problem with the oil-hole plugging. I am also fortunate in that I do my treework mostly on the weekends. I have the luxury to have the time to pull the bar off and clean the bar groove enough that is doesn't get clogged. When you are working full-time, time gets more limited.

 

[NevadaWalrus]

I think the stripped oil pump gear is the clue as to what caused the other problems in this case.