Chain length on a bar

[Boon]

Good to see we are back after losers who wouldn't know how to use a screwdriver tried to make a name for them selves....who were they? I forget now.........any way

Got me a 60 inch GB bar that has never had a chain on it so I do not know how many drive links to make up, the person who sold the chain roll was not forth coming in revealing too much on how many extra D/L's or how to calculate the final chain length.

Can any one give advice on this and how to get the job done without a chain breaker or rivet spinner

On the bar I see the markings 43193 & H860 63RQ.

Running a 3/8 .063 on a 880 Stihl

 

[BobL]

I'm using 190 3/8 DLs on a 60" GB pro-top bar. But I would not take my word for it.
The way I measured it up was to put the saw on its side and put the bar on about half way along the length adjustment and then unrolled and wrap the chain into the top bar groove around the nose and drive sprocket and just estimated what I would need. If you have chain to spare it's best to go too long and cut and drop off (rather than add) a DL afterwards.

If you don't have the chain and need to measure up the chain length, then once again I would put the bar on at half way adjustment and run a not too stretchy wire around the bar and sprockets and loosely twist tie the. Don't leave the wire in the bar groove but pull it out of the groove and place a number of 3/16' or 4 mm diameter bolts under the wire and across the bar groove and under the wire. The 3/16" offset is needed to support the wire at the height equal to the height the middle of the ties are above the bar. It's easier to do this with the saw on its side and actually attach the bolts to the edge of the bar using the nut. Then firm up and measure the wire length and divide by 2 times the chain pitch and that should give you the number of DLs. Now here's the important thing about so called 3/8" pitch. 3/8 should be 0.375" but it is not 0.375 but 0.365"
So for 3/8" chain the number of DLs should be length of wire x 2 x 0.365.
Once again if it's not close to an integer value best to add an extra DL.

If you have no breaker you can use an angle grinder to grind off the rivet head and push the tie straps out with a punch - in place of a spinner you can use a small ball pein hammer to round over the rivet. I did this a couple of times but then I went out and got a breaker/spinner as it is faster and easier to do it this way.

 

[Boon]

Got the chain so I'll give it a go.

Thanks BobL for the advice