Saw chain cleaning?

[Sidecarflip]

Pellets work for drain cleaner but about it. I believe TSC has the powder however. I have a large USC. Lots of stuff gets cleaned in it including my match pistols (after removing the grip panels and the optics (if any). Solution all depends on what I'm cleaning. Berryman's B12 Chem tool on carbs to Lye to Simple Green industrial cleaner. Mine has a ball valve drain on it so changing cleaner is easy. Bought it some years back when they were fairly cheap.

Because I do customer's loops, they need to be free of crap or they foul my CBN wheels.

 

[Philbert]

Because I do customer's loops, they need to be free of crap or they foul my CBN wheels.

A lot of guys get their undies in a bunch, when mentioning ’chain cleaning’. And, in many cases, it is unnecessary, for a light, basic sharpening.

But I have worked with a lot of used, abused, and damaged chains. And the first step in those cases is to clean off the gunk to see what I am working with.

Sometimes it reveals damage, or improvised repairs. Sometimes rust. Brand markings. Lots of interesting things.

It does make for a nicer looking chain, and helps oil get to the center of the rivets, which act as bearings.

I have posted most of that in my ‘Chain Salvage Challenge’ thread:

https://www.arboristsite.com/threads/philberts-chain-salvage-challenge.245369/
Tried a number of things. Lots of ways can work, depending on preferences and what is available.

My current preferences are Super Clean (or equivalent), to clean, along with old toothbrushes and an old, plastic, kitchen cutting board (protects the chain and concrete wash tub).

Citric acid (food grade powder, on line, 1-2 Tablespoons per gallon of water) for surface rust. I use a fine, stainless steel ‘scratch brush’ (looks like a toothbrush) from a local welding supply shop. About $1/ each. Work better than the $3-$4, brass, ‘refinishing brushes’ from the home centers.

Philbert

 

[Sidecarflip]

My cardinal rule is... If the drive dogs have corrosion on them, they get scrap canned. I usually get loops in a wad as in many and various pitches as well.. My customers save them up, especially now with the inflationary cost of new loops. Back in the day, arborists and tree removal companies just tossed a dull loop and replaced it with a new one. don't work that way today.

The one exception is, no square cut chains around here at all but some carbide tipped ones that I don't fiddle with either.

 

[Sidecarflip]

My USC is pretty small. And the ‘Super Clean’ works pretty fast - usually soak less than 5 minutes.

The ‘pure lye’ (drain cleaner) I tried was in the form of hard pellets, that were slow to dissolve. If I tried it again, I would buy the ‘food grade sodium hydroxide’ powder available on line.

Philbert

In reality, I use Purple Power but I've discovered that the ZEP concentrated degreaser / cleaner is a bit less expensive and comes in 5 gallon totes that can be repurposed for used motor oil...lol I used to wash down my farm tractors and implements with PP but it always leaved a white film on everything. Zep don't. Once the PP is gone, I'll be using Zep.

 

[pdqdl]

I'm kinda mystified by this "clean the chain" concept. I've never cleaned a chain. If it isn't rusted up and won't move, I sharpen it and use it.

The wood doesn't care if the chain is clean, nor does the saw.

 

[Sidecarflip]

If you grind them (like I do) in quantity, your vitrified or CBN grinding wheel certainly do care, especially vitrified wheels. Once they load up, all they do is take the temper out of the tooth.

Of course I prefer CBN wheels for a couple reasons, one, they never need radius dressing, two, there is very little chance they will ever explode, unlike a vitrified wheel. If a vitrified wheel cracks, it can grenade at speed. CBN wheels have the Cubic Boron Nitride plasma coated to a balanced aluminum rim so they run vibration free, never need dressing (just an ocassional cleaning with a soft stone plus they last and last unlike vitrified wheels. Of course the initial cost is more but in the long run, the cost negates itself.

 

[Philbert]

I'm kinda mystified by this "clean the chain" concept. I've never cleaned a chain. If it isn't rusted up and won't move, I sharpen it and use it.

Makes a difference if it’s your chain or an unknown. I’ve gotten some chains that look like they were encased in asphalt.

Again: inspection, oiling, etc. Personal preference. I don’t like that stuff (gunk, rust, etc.) running through my saws, sprockets, etc., either

Philbert

 

[pdqdl]

CBN wheels have the Cubic Boron Nitride plasma coated to a balanced aluminum rim so they run vibration free, never need dressing (just an ocassional cleaning with a soft stone plus they last and last unlike vitrified wheels.

You will find that brake cleaner does an excellent job of cleaning them. I'd never use them against any kind of stone.

Clean 'em with a squirt or two of brake cleaner, and then reverse the mount so that they go the opposite direction. A reversible motor is quite helpful if you have it, just because they cut better for both sides of the chain.

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

...then reverse the mount so that they go the opposite direction. A reversible motor is quite helpful if you have it, just because they cut better for both sides of the chain.

Aren't you also supposed to turn the bar upside-down so the chain still runs the same way and pulls the saw into the cut?

 

[pdqdl]

That only works when you mount the clutch cover on the starter pulley side, and vice-versa with the starter. Then you can run it backwards for that safer-than-usual use of the top of the bar for cutting.

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

That only works when you mount the clutch cover on the starter pulley side, and vice-versa with the starter. Then you can run it backwards for that safer-than-usual use of the top of the bar for cutting.

Wouldn't that reverse the chain direction a THIRD time, making it cut "unusual" again? If so I'd probably want to flip the sprocket to get it cutting "normal" again.

Help me out on this one: When you reverse the engine so it runs the other direction, do you need an external drip oiler for the chain because the internal one runs backwards and now pumps oil in?

 

[pdqdl]

Almost certainly.

 

[thenne1713]

Good use for gas thats getting a bit old too

Extreme fire risk and health risk, too... wife suffers nerve damage from Methanol/ wood alcohol, we suspect, from the fluid duplicator used in old schools copy methods... (recall the old purple ink papers?)

 

[J D]

Extreme fire risk and health risk, too... wife suffers nerve damage from Methanol/ wood alcohol, we suspect, from the fluid duplicator used in old schools copy methods... (recall the old purple ink papers?)

Agreed...
Personally I use a kerosine based cleaner that I have a big drum of. I have used the sodium hydroxide in the past too

 

[fields_mj]

I'm kinda mystified by this "clean the chain" concept. I've never cleaned a chain. If it isn't rusted up and won't move, I sharpen it and use it.

The wood doesn't care if the chain is clean, nor does the saw.

Generally speaking, I'm in the same boat. That said, I bought a used saw last year that came with several chains. They looked like they had been used to first cut limestone, and then pine. They were solid black. Those chains I cleaned before I did anything with them. I prefer using white gas myself.

 

[pdqdl]

Eh. Sharpen em up, then cut some wood. They'll get cleaned.

You might argue that it will be a big mess to sharpen a grungy chain. My argument is that cleaning them will be a bigger mess, and wasteful of a bunch of solvents and/or cleaners.

In the final analysis, the grunge on those saws exists, and the bar oil and sawdust that get created by cutting wood are as good a place for the disposal of that grunge as anywhere else. Cleaning the chains does nothing more than move the grunge from one tiny point to another somewhat larger spot, increasing the volume of the waste to be disposed during the process.

From my perspective, the only reason to clean chains would be if somehow the cleaning would cause the chain to last longer than if left dirty, or it somehow improved the cutting speed or longevity of the saw. I don't believe that would work out that way, so I work with the dirty chains.

 

[Philbert]

From my perspective, the only reason to clean chains would be if somehow the cleaning would cause the chain to last longer than if left dirty, or it somehow improved the cutting speed or longevity of the saw.

A lot of guys assume that bar and chain oil is only to let the bottom of the tie straps slide along the guide bar rails.

But the center of each rivet (‘flange bearing’) is a larger diameter, and hardened as a bearing (harder than ‘rivet hubs’).

If oil cannot get to this bearing, it causes additional wear, and leads to what folks call ‘chain stretch’.

Crud interfaces with oil flow to this center rivet area.




Philbert

 

[Philbert]

Visiting @heimannm‘s chainsaw museum, I found this in an old McCulloch manual (1960’s?).

Not a new idea.



Philbert

 

[Rotax Steve]

I've had very good results spraying them with engine degreaser, let them sit for about 15 minutes then spray them down with water. I make sure and hit them with compressed air and get them thoroughly dry as quick as possible. I then wipe them down with an oily rag.

 

[Sidecarflip]

Way too much handling for me actually. Just as easy to give them a swim in the ultrasonic cleaner and then drip dry over the tub followed by sharpening and a dip in light lubricating oil followed by another drip dry and back to the container they came in. Like I stated earlier, if the drive dogs show any corrosion, they go in the scrap can and eventually off to the recycler along with the scrap I generate almost every day. The issue with drive dog corrosion is, corroded drive dogs will accelerate bar groove wear exponentially and while not my saws or bars, I don't want my customers destroying their guide bars any faster than normal wear makes them unusable. My cleaner can handle about 25 average 20" loops at a time and like Sean, I've found that Purple Power removes and debris on the chains pretty quick, especially when heated up a bit.

I would never clean any loops with spray brake cleaner as it's not 'financially prudent' for me. Stuff isn't cheap to begin with. Purple power as well as ZEP cleaner in 5 gallon totes is. How I buy it, in 5 gallon plastic totes and they make dandy used motor oil containers to go to the recycler as well.

I generate a ton of used (and recycleable) motor oil as well as hydraulic oil with the farm tractors and vehicles. My local Tractor Supply takes used motor oil and hydraulic fluid, 5 gallons a day at a time now, no charge. I have no issue 'giving' it to them. I di 'save' a little as accelerant for my brush piles however.