husky cuts 2-3" sideways, then binds

[ohgood]

Well looking at the Bar Stamp, you have an .050 gauge bar, and I don’t recall any.325 pitch chain in a narrower gauge, so that isn’t the likely problem

I’m stumped without seeing it myself, the 445 Husky is a better saw than I expected it to be IMO. My Wife wanted her OWN chainsaw, so that’s what she got for Christmas in 2017. I felt the 445 was a good balance of Price, Power and Weight for the kind of cutting that I expected for her to be doing.
Her 445 doesn’t have a lot of hours on it, but I got a great deal on it from Extreme Powersports in Okanogan, WA $305 NIB w/18” B&C, out the door Tax Exempt for Oregon Buyers. $24 more for 3 cans of premix fuel to double the warranty, and still $10 under MSRP at the time. It has impressed me for what it is. For just over $300, it has performed very well, and been very Reliable.

Just curious, is that the earlier 45.7cc version, or the later 50.2cc model?

I Hope that you get it figured out, that saw should give you many years of good service.


Doug

I bought it about 12 years ago to clear brush off a property I rented. the only size I see is "42" in the cylinder head
don't think I've ever changed the plug, come to think of it.

 

[ohgood]

That is a standard spur sprocket, which is what the 445 comes with stock. I prefer a rim drive, but didn’t change out the one on my wife’s saw, if/when the spur sprocket wears out probably, but no reason to before then

If the chains are new, it shouldn’t be raker height.

without going back, did you try a new bar?
A worn bar groove can get sloppy like a narrow gauge drive link in a wider gauge bar, how much use/wear is on your bar?


Doug

I bought new chains and a bar before I started cutting this week.

I cut a 8" section about 8-10 times before it went sideways. all the cutters were elevated, not in the ground. I went back and bought another new bar/chain, thinking I did something wrong, defect, etc with the exact same effect. a few cuts and bang it's going sideways again.

I've used Oregon chains/bars in it before, without issue. these are husky products this time

 

[Husky Man]

I bought it about 12 years ago to clear brush off a property I rented. the only size I see is "42" in the cylinder head
don't think I've ever changed the plug, come to think of it.
View attachment 949380

There should be a yellow decal that would give the cc info, possibly on the Serial # tag also, that is before they changed them IIRC, sounds like it has given good service until now, and something has changed


Doug

 

[user 172763]

How bad do Husky chains stretch? Maybe the chain is getting loose. 8-10 cuts may be about right before you would need to retighten?

 

[ohgood]

There should be a yellow decal that would give the cc info, possibly on the Serial # tag also, that is before they changed them IIRC, sounds like it has given good service until now, and something has changed


Doug

I don't see another tag anywhere, but you're right, it was pretty simple up until this.

I'm afraid it's going to end up being one of those "pushed into a corner" things that I never figure out. that's really annoying, because it's worked great up until this. the engine starts and rubs fine every time, but at $100/10 cuts, it's pretty expensive to keep running.

 

[ohgood]

How bad do Husky chains stretch? Maybe the chain is getting loose. 8-10 cuts may be about right before you would need to retighten?

i usually cut one or two on a new chain, then check its tension. arrive 4-5 I cleaned it out, let it cool, and tension was good. it's hard to trust "new" things when they're flying that fast and full of sharp teeth. it seemed fine at 8-10 when it went sideways.

 

[user 172763]

Don't give up, the answer is there somewhere

 

[trains]

they all are sharp. both sides. this is 3 bars, 3 chains. the cheap harbor freight electric saw dropped through it, no issue ?

Ok, you may feel that the tooth is sharp, but we can see, and its been commented on that the cutting edge of that tooth on the rhs has hit something, and its damaged the cutting edge of the tooth.
once dull, the saw will cut to the side that has the sharpest teeth, ie its now bowing over to your left when cutting.

it could have been a bit of rock thrown up, and lodged in the bark, that was enough to take the edge off the tooth, but your going to have to now correctly re sharpen the cutting teeth on the rhs of the chain till they are correctly sharp, and then make sure the rakers infront of the cutting tooth are set to the correct depth for the newly sharpened tooth, as your going to have to do more than 3-4 passes with a file to remove the damage.

So you have a correctly matched chain in pitch (length/ distance between drive links), and gauge (think railway width of rails ie how thick the drive link is and how wide the rail is in the bar), they are correct, and the drive spur is ok, so its just back to the chain.

Yes, un even bar rails can cause a cut to wander, but the most common issue is hitting something, taking the edge off the cutting edge, and then the chain cuts to the sharpest side.

There are many good guides here if you look for them for sharpening, I would suggest since you have a husky and husky chain, get the husky roller guide, and use that, it has a progressive raker guide on it too, so take away the damage, set the raker height, and take pics, and report back.

 

[ohgood]

Ok, you may feel that the tooth is sharp, but we can see, and its been commented on that the cutting edge of that tooth on the rhs has hit something, and its damaged the cutting edge of the tooth.
once dull, the saw will cut to the side that has the sharpest teeth, ie its now bowing over to your left when cutting.

it could have been a bit of rock thrown up, and lodged in the bark, that was enough to take the edge off the tooth, but your going to have to now correctly re sharpen the cutting teeth on the rhs of the chain till they are correctly sharp, and then make sure the rakers infront of the cutting tooth are set to the correct depth for the newly sharpened tooth, as your going to have to do more than 3-4 passes with a file to remove the damage.

So you have a correctly matched chain in pitch (length/ distance between drive links), and gauge (think railway width of rails ie how thick the drive link is and how wide the rail is in the bar), they are correct, and the drive spur is ok, so its just back to the chain.

Yes, un even bar rails can cause a cut to wander, but the most common issue is hitting something, taking the edge off the cutting edge, and then the chain cuts to the sharpest side.

There are many good guides here if you look for them for sharpening, I would suggest since you have a husky and husky chain, get the husky roller guide, and use that, it has a progressive raker guide on it too, so take away the damage, set the raker height, and take pics, and report back.

ok I'll sharpen one of them.

you saw the part where I've been through 3 chains/bars, right ?

I'm thinking there is something on the saw causing this, but I don't know enough about saws that are misbehaving, to know what it could be.

 

[arathol]

they all are sharp. both sides. this is 3 bars, 3 chains. the cheap harbor freight electric saw dropped through it, no issue ?

Just because they are new doesn't mean they are sharp. You hit something and damaged the chain, period, which is why its cutting crooked. Nothing at all to do with the bars, the saw or anything else. The electric saw is cutting straight because you didn't hit anything with it.
In this picture you can see bluish stains in the wood, circled in yellow. This is often caused over time by something made of iron such as a nail embedded in the wood. In the red circles are what look to be some sort of inclusions in the wood - dirt, small stones or something else that doesn't belong there. Those might have something to do with the damage to the chain.

The front corner should be razor sharp, in the pictures posted the corners are gone...

Get the Husky guide to restore the chain and the saw will cut straight.

 

[scottr]

for whatever reason, i can't upload pictures via mobile anymore. View attachment 949306View attachment 949307View attachment 949308View attachment 949309View attachment 949310View attachment 949310View attachment 949311View attachment 949312View attachment 949313View attachment 949314

The picture of the bar shows the narrow kerf symbol .
Is the chain also a narrow kerf chain ?

 

[arathol]

The picture of the bar shows the narrow kerf symbol .
Is the chain also a narrow kerf chain ?

The picture clearly shows the bar to be 18", .325, .050 gauge. Same as the chain.

 

[scottr]

The picture clearly shows the bar to be 18", .325, .050 gauge. Same as the chain.

Yes that is true but there are narrow kerf chains and bars in .325 pitch , .050 gauge .
Also there are regular kerf chains and bars in the .325 pitch , .050 gauge

 

[arathol]

Yes that is true but there are narrow kerf chains and bars in .325 pitch , .050 gauge .
Also there are regular kerf chains and bars in the .325 pitch , .050 gauge

Not going to make a difference unless its a regular bar with a narrow kerf chain.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

It's dirty wood.

 

[singinwoodwackr]

It's riding on the outside edge of the sprocket you can see it curling over and the drive marks on the teeth. Also, where it first makes contact with the bar it looks like it's tilted outward. There's a little damage to the bar right there if you zoom in.

If that's the case that would account for cutting sideways. If the bar isn't true the thing will wander in the direction of the excess wear.
However, that doesn't explain the how...how did that happen?

In the past 40 yrs of cutting wood I've seen this type of issue solved by grinding the bar rails true. But, that's with a well worn bar, not a new one.
If that sprocket is out of wack and deflecting the chain to one side the bar rail on that side will wear much faster than it should.

Very hard to diagnose this without seeing it

 

[arathol]

If that's the case that would account for cutting sideways. If the bar isn't true the thing will wander in the direction of the excess wear.
However, that doesn't explain the how...how did that happen?

I don't see anything in the pictures that shows it did happen....Which picture or pictures shows a problem with the sprocket or bar?

 

[buzz sawyer]

Has it been mentioned yet which way the saw cuts - left to right or right to left? It does look like the right cutters are hitting something.

 

[ohgood]

The picture of the bar shows the narrow kerf symbol .
Is the chain also a narrow kerf chain ?

I don't know where to look for this. is there a number on the packaging, it do I just measure the tooth width ?

 

[Mauser]

Guys, I am no where near as experienced as most of you, so I was really hesitant to jump in here, but I can think of one thing that nobody has mentioned. I just read the whole thread from the beginning, and if we are getting straight info from the OP, it is REALLY hard to ignore the fact that he says he has tried THREE brand new chains and multiple bars (at least one of them new) with the identical results. Even with dirty wood, it becomes very hard to believe this is just coincidence. Add to that the test with a different saw that did not develop the problem.

Of course, the key to long distance troubleshooting is knowing that you are actually being told only true facts (and all of them). I do wonder a bit about the total number of cuts that have been made on one tree, considering 10+ cuts on each of at least four tests, and still most of the tree is available for pictures? Sure, he could have just been cutting wafers, but is that likely? But I'll ignore that for now. There is no doubt that the cut end shown is about the most horrendously botched cut/re cut/re re cut piece of wood I have seen, so there is no doubt that something is borked here. I know all the previous replies are just people truly attempting to help, but there are only so many times you can tell a guy that his chain just ain't sharp when he has bought three new ones in a row to test.

So I am left to conclude that the problem HAS to be something specific to that saw, and it cannot be just a dull chain or incorrect bar based on the provided info. What about a problem MOUNTING the bar? I do not own a Husky, but I do have multiple brands, and different saws have different mounting plates and such. And of course there is always an issue with foreign debris in the mounting area on a used saw. Crap under parts of the bar can cause it to be out of alignment either vertically or horizontally. I suggest that the entire area needs to be closely inspected, ESPECIALLY the bar and sprocket alignment. Not only does the end of the bar have to be in perfect position for the sprocket, but the full bar needs to be exactly perpendicular to the sprocket and not canted. I had a cheap Poulan that would regularly loosen the bottom motor mounting bolts, allowing the motor to twist and cause an incorrect alignment. Has this saw ever been taken apart, where something in the motor or motor mounting could have been done wrong? Are all the mounting bolts tight? Is the chain tensioner pin properly positioned in the bar? Is there any play in the sprocket or bar when pushed, pulled, and wiggled? If that chain is indeed hitting something, the evidence around the sprocket and bar mounting area should be rather obvious (and don't forget to examine the inside of the case cover too). Can the OP find a friend with another Husky to actually pull off the bar and carefully compare just exactly how it is mounted, side-by-side with his own saw?