It arrived today

[woodfarmer]

Finally fixed my bosch chainsaw. Bought one direct from Ikra. I had a previous saw from them and it survived about 10-12 years doing about 20 cu metres of firewood plus other jobs a year. It arrived today, with just a cross cut chain, Monday will order a ripping chain for it. However it split 3 Acacia logs into three bowl blanks, plus some other things just like it should, performing as well as my friends big petrol Stihl. It is 2400 watts, electric with a 45cm bar. I can see I will be busy with the sealer
As well as the acacia have attacked a walnut log with some interesting features at one end. Will try to post a few pics on Sunday, but will be up early tomorrow to go halfway across France with the trailer to buy/collect a plough.
Really happy because I can pick it up with one hand without tripping the kickback device which means you then have to put the botche back down, reset the brake and then pick it up with both hands. and the chain did not come off once, despite using it for ripping. Just like a real saw should work.
Ikra are a small independent company in north Germany who make a small range of tools in house, in Germany and they are as good as anything I have seen. You can order off their website, as they primarily sell direct from factory to user.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Nice one Larry...though the bit where you talk about the chain "not coming off once" worries me a little

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes... I've used one off and on for forty years and in some horrible situations, and I've only known a chain come off once.

 

[woodfarmer]

Nice one Larry...though the bit where you talk about the chain "not coming off once" worries me a little

The chain on the Bosch will come off the bar when it is not cross cutting at exactly 90 degrees, despite the manual saying it is for cross and rip cutting. It is by far the worst power tool I have ever had the misfortune to come across. I have been using my petrol saw indoors as it is much less hassle than using the electric Bosch.. but now I have another Ikra, and all is well with the world as it works like it ought to.

They are a very underrated company..

 

[woodfarmer]

Yes... I've used one off and on for forty years and in some horrible situations, and I've only known a chain come off once.

On the Bosch it will run off several times on one cut if you ripping or encounter anything other than clean cross grain, eg a knot. Horrible thing. I too have never seen this before and I am now on my fifth chainsaw.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I owned 2 McCullochs, one electric and one petrol. They both worked (for 30 years) but the petrol was a bit of a Princess to start. A few years back I treated myself to a brand new 18" bar Stihl and I've never once looked back. Its the best chainsaw I've ever used by a zillion miles in every single aspect of chainsaw functionality I can think of. Love it.

 

[woodfarmer]

I owned 2 McCullochs, one electric and one petrol. They both worked (for 30 years) but the petrol was a bit of a Princess to start. A few years back I treated myself to a brand new 18" bar Stihl and I've never once looked back. Its the best chainsaw I've ever used by a zillion miles in every single aspect of chainsaw functionality I can think of. Love it.

Yes a friend has one, he was here with it today helping me to slice up some tree trunks. Interestingly, my new electric Ikra is an even match to his stihl ripping acacia. Not sure how they will compare when I get a ripping chain for the Ikra.

It seems to me most petrol chainsaws are a bit touchy starting and restarting, even his sthl which is 15 years old is fussy when hot for restarting..

 

[JimB]

That Bosch sounds as if it has a serious and dangerous design flaw. Did you take it any further?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I've Stihl 16" petrol that I bought second hand in 1989 for £70 - it was obviously stolen but I bought it in a reputable second hand shop (so in my mind he'd taken the risk not me). I've still got it and it's a gem. I may be needing an electric one next winter though so I've kept Ikra's details.

 

[woodfarmer]

That Bosch sounds as if it has a serious and dangerous design flaw. Did you take it any further?

I live in France now and they wont send or receive to France. they have offered to look at it and I will send it back to them in the autumn when I visit the UK. but the worst most annoying thing is if you pick it up by the carry handle with one hand it is so out of balance the bar swings skywards and it trips the kickback safety brake. you then have to put it down, reset the kickback brake and pick it up with two hands to use it. They may be able to fix the chain coming off because the drive sprocket has lots (1/4 inch) of play, but they only way to fix the balance would be to fit a heavier bar or glue a brick on the front of the body. I have a distinct impression it was designed for a bigger .053/1.3mm bar/chain and they cost reduced it to a .043/1.1 mm bar/chain. This would explain both problems.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I reckon Stihl have finally ironed out the warm start gremlins, either that or I just got lucky because mine beats the pants off the McCullochs I've used. Cold start...everything on....3 pulls and she's there. Warm start....everything off and I don't even drop it to the ground, just pull where I'm standing and she's away. One nut to remove the side cover and one nut to chain tighten which is accessible from 90 degrees to the blade ie through the side cover ie ruddy easy to get to. Its a dream to use, including for ripping. In fact I was seriously considering getting a ripping blade (which is mostly as cross cutting except the teeth are ground to 10 degrees) but the cross cut blade rips so well I don't think its worth the extra cost. I rip logs into the side grain, down the length. If you rip them standing up ie into the end grain and down, its much much harder.

 

[JimB]

Thanks Woodfarmer, it shows how easily a company can lose a good name.

 

[bobham]

I have a Poulan electric saw that sounds as though it does the same thing. If I try to use it for ripping where the wood is coming out in long streamers they bind up inside the sprocket cover, tangle in the chain and pop the chain off the sprocket. The chain basically stays on the bar but stops moving because it is off the drive sprocket. It is very aggravating but not really a safety issue. I bought a Remington and it does not have that problem but neither is it "robust" enough to handle the hard work of ripping. I burned the brushes off the motor after a very short time of using it for ripping. It was cheap enough to repair the motor but I reserve both of those saws for crosscutting or trimming the corners off half logs after I have ripped them with the Stihl electric I bought to do the work I had intended to use the other saws for....


Bob

 

[dickm]

Surely NO reputable saw could/should throw the chain off the sprocket? Grandmothers, eggs and all that, but was the chain properly tensioned? And the right gauge (thickness) for the bar? Have used Danarm, Frontier, Stihl, Dolmar, Maculloch (not nice) and Black and Decker (really not nice) saws and never seen a chain come off.

 

[woodfarmer]

Surely NO reputable saw could/should throw the chain off the sprocket? Grandmothers, eggs and all that, but was the chain properly tensioned? And the right gauge (thickness) for the bar? Have used Danarm, Frontier, Stihl, Dolmar, Maculloch (not nice) and Black and Decker (really not nice) saws and never seen a chain come off.

I have had 4 other chainsaws without any problems. The boshe has been like this since I bought it new last august. The first time i used it it made me so irritated I got careless and ended up in hospital, was more than a couple of months before I had the use of my hands. I dont let it get to me now, but I dislike using it so much I just paid a guy £70 to rip some logs for me rather than use it.

 

[bobham]

In the case of my Poulan the chain is the one that came on the saw and I tension it the same as I do all my other saws. I have tried tightening it further but the chain still pops off the sprocket when it encounters long, stringy shavings. I believe the shavings get pulled in between the chain and sprocket and there is enough flex in the motor shaft/mounting that the leverage caused by the clump of shavings pinched between the chain and sprocket is enough to pop the chain off. Can't say for sure since I have never run the saw with the sprocket cover removed to see what is going on. I did see a video on Youtube by another turner who was using the exact same saw I had and asked him in the video comments section if he had any problem with the chain popping off and he said it happened all the time if he got cutting too parallel to the grain. It doesn't actually happen to him in this short video (which surprises me because he is cutting parallel to the grain) but it does show the saw which is same as the one I have: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiHPBcfQ5bg

Take care
Bob

 

[YewTube]

I have a Bosch electric chainsaw and do not have problems with the chain jumping off. I use it as in the video clip above. I you notice he is cutting with the grain but not parallel. He first cuts down close to himself and then brings the bar to parallel. He is never cutting a shaving which is continuous grain from end to end.

Works for me plus clear any build up between logs.

Bill

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I do a lot of log ripping and on some fairly big logs too. Bill's point about "see-sawing" the orientation of the bar is critical. What happens otherwise is the shavings bung up the works and the chain either stalls or as in your case actually leaves the sprocket. On two occasions I've had very long shavings get jammed behind the front sprocket which took about 30 minutes with a bradawl to shift. Most annoying.

In either case, the cause is the same ie too many (long) shavings in the kerf. The saw cant remove them as fast as they're being created. By using that see saw motion it allows the shavings to exit the kerf. Every few seconds or so I lift the bar out and run it freely in air to encourage any trapped shavings to leave the guard assembly area.

 

[woodfarmer]

I do a lot of log ripping and on some fairly big logs too. Bill's point about "see-sawing" the orientation of the bar is critical. What happens otherwise is the shavings bung up the works and the chain either stalls or as in your case actually leaves the sprocket. On two occasions I've had very long shavings get jammed behind the front sprocket which took about 30 minutes with a bradawl to shift. Most annoying.

In either case, the cause is the same ie too many (long) shavings in the kerf. The saw cant remove them as fast as they're being created. By using that see saw motion it allows the shavings to exit the kerf. Every few seconds or so I lift the bar out and run it freely in air to encourage any trapped shavings to leave the guard assembly area.

I do all of that Bob, it is just this saw an awe35s. The Ikra has been fine cutting big bits of Acacia. The Bosch will run the chain off cross cutting if it isn't dead 90 degrees or if it hits a knot or any twisty grain.

I have a frame where I mount the short logs at about 30 degrees off vertical so it cuts bits but not dust or long shavings, then see saw it and turn it around. truth is the botche is just rubbish. (I did not use the word rubbish, in French it would be Merde)

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

LOL....I have a sister in Paris. I understand Merde only too well .

It sounds like the mechanism that supports the front sprocket has too much play in it. I have to say Larry, the notion of a chain regularly leaving the bar would trigger the bin it for me. Just the idea of all those teeth flying off at high speed is not a risk I would be trusting on safety clothing to entirely mitigate.