I searched for the answer but every tube video and forum post kept telling me how to fix or upgrade (upgrade!) the oil pump. It was driving me crazy so I thought I would post the answer here incase some other poor soul needs to know.
Since I don't use his 25 year old saw often, it took quite a while to ruin the new chain. The problem started when I fitted the new Archer bar, so I kicked myself for being a cheapskate and bought an Oregon bar. When the chain sparked I stopped half way through my first cut and took a careful look at the mechanism. It turns out that the oiler hole on the bars were out of register with the oiler groove on the saw. The Archer bar was way further out than the Oregon bar. To improve the register, I drilled the Oregon bar and smoothed it off with a broken-off micro chain file in the drill bit (pictured below). The bar material is hard and brittle so wear safety glasses if your going to do this.
I would have thought that the position of the oiler hole would be universal. The local saw shop agreed that this was so for small saws like this one. My modification seems to be working but if I ever need another bar, I'll take the long drive to the shop and get the right one instead of getting it delivered off of eBay.
Since I don't use his 25 year old saw often, it took quite a while to ruin the new chain. The problem started when I fitted the new Archer bar, so I kicked myself for being a cheapskate and bought an Oregon bar. When the chain sparked I stopped half way through my first cut and took a careful look at the mechanism. It turns out that the oiler hole on the bars were out of register with the oiler groove on the saw. The Archer bar was way further out than the Oregon bar. To improve the register, I drilled the Oregon bar and smoothed it off with a broken-off micro chain file in the drill bit (pictured below). The bar material is hard and brittle so wear safety glasses if your going to do this.
I would have thought that the position of the oiler hole would be universal. The local saw shop agreed that this was so for small saws like this one. My modification seems to be working but if I ever need another bar, I'll take the long drive to the shop and get the right one instead of getting it delivered off of eBay.
