SSU 200 chainsaw not making much progress.

[jjowen]

[attachimg=1]

Am I meant to burn through the wood? I found that either Festool, or the premium retailer, had already fitted the chain and put in a tiny amount of oil. It otherwise appeared to be untouched. Great! I put more oil in and proceeded with my first test cut. Only problem was that it made no progress through the wood and started smoking...

Problem quickly solved, but it leaves the question, how can I purchase a Festool from a premium dealer with the chain on backwards? Is it normal for the chain to be fitted? Perhaps this was on static display. Chain and oil is in scope of delivery here in Australia.

No problems with the saw itself!

 

[jjowen]

Oh, and the downloaded PDF manual at one point stated that I must only cut insulation with it, not wood! Cut and paste problem from the SSU 300 manual perhaps.

 

[Tom the Remodeler]

Is the chain on backwards?

 

[aloysius]

To be fair, your retailer may not necessarily be familiar with saw-chain equipped power tools.  It's surely a more specialised field than circular saws, etc.  Now if s/he'd supplied your new plunge saw with an inverted sawblade..... well I'd consider changing suppliers.

Chainsaws are funny things.  The bar is symmetrical, meaning there's actually no "right way up".  A bar can be easily & effectively installed "upside down" or "backwards" & still be correctly, perfectly functional;  providing the actual chain is installed facing the correct way in relation to that installation.  Yes, it's a silly, stupid mistake, but not all that impossible to achieve.  Even after over 50 years of use it's not unusual for me to absent-mindedly do the same.  In that 50 years I have also - twice to my eternal embarrassment - fuelled a saw with pure petroleum, all but instantaneously overrevving & destroying 2 sets of expensive piston rings!

As for attempting to cut with an inverted chain.... the horrendous noise of ill-fitting drive links attempting unsuccessfully to mesh with a drive sprocket should've alerted you immediately that there was summat seriously amiss well before the first cut.

 

[jjowen]

.... the horrendous noise of ill-fitting drive links attempting unsuccessfully to mesh with a drive sprocket should've alerted you immediately that there was summat seriously amiss well before the first cut.

This is the first time in my life that I have been within 20m of an operating chainsaw, so any additional noise would have only confirmed my opinion that they are loud. With the user manual being 93% warnings about loss of limb etc, I had a high degree of trepidation anyway.  [blink]

Actually, it is not too loud, and, on a rail at least, quite easy to use.

If the chain was put on for static display, then it is understandable someone in the shop might have put it on incorrectly. Otherwise, if the process is deliver the tool with the chain fitted, then it should be done correctly - or don't do it!

I won't name the retailer here, but I will mention it to them and they can pass it back up the line.

The problem I have now is that it makes me feel that all of my other tools are redundant.

P.S. Sorry about the photo being rotated on some devices. I did check and was fine on the iPad.

 

[Michael Kellough]

I’d like to see a picture of a cut, both with and across the grain. Don’t worry about picture orientation.

 

[jjowen]

I’d like to see a picture of a cut, both with and across the grain.

I only have this post-cut photo at the moment. This cut had no scoring. I did a second cut with scoring which controlled the tear-out on the top and exit surfaces. The wood is horrible cheap pine which has been described as 'compressed straw'. The rail was clamped to a second post to the right of the photo to make it secure. I have left this photo higher resolution so hopefully you can see the vertical teeth marks. Neater cut than I might have imagined.

View attachment 1

 

[Michael Kellough]

Thanks for the pic. That cut isn’t bad at all considering the blade.

That wood though, it really grew fast didn’t it.