Pole saw problems

[variant22]

I recently purchased a Honda 4 stroke powered pole saw to do some cleaning up over Christmas. I finally got around to firing it up today. Unfortunately when I go to cut branches on green wood (say 40mm diameter soft wood) it kicks back and bounces around rather violently. I have never owned a chainsaw so do not know what the issue is. I tightened the chain as it was loose (hanging down 10mm under the saw). Now when I pull the chain, it sits about 2mm off the guide. It gets warm when running. The chain oiler is working and making a nice little mess. I have no idea what to do next. It seems very dangerous bouncing around as I make the cut. It never sinks in and cuts. Just bounces and takes chunks out of the wood.

The chain also spins when the saw is at idle (not under any throttle). I am also not sure if this is right.

Any ideas?

[DJ’s Timber]

The chain isn't on the wrong way is it?

[NCArcher]

That would be my guess too DJ. Either that or it's running backwards which is probably impossible. :doh:

[Kidbee]

Do you know about kickback which is caused by cutting at the point of the chainsaw bar?
It maybe caused by the way you are presenting the saw to the branch.

[malb]

Looking at issues one at a time.

Bouncing, not holding and cutting.
As mentioned, chain on correctly or backwards? If the chain is installed facing the wrong way, the back (blunt) edge of the teeth would be presented to the limb and would be more likely to dance than grab and cut through the limb. On chainsaws there is normally some sort of embossed diagram of the chain on the sprocket housing showing how the chain should be oriented as it leaves the housing at the top of the bar and returns at the bottom.

Are you trying to cut limbs with the top of the bar or the bottom. Again referencing chainsaw practice, you cut with the chain on the lower edge of the bar so the teeth are being drawn back to the sprocket. This pulls the limb into the spurs (log gripping teeth) on the front edge of the saw body stabilising the cut and giving the operator something definite to manipulate the saw against to execute the cut. If you attempt a cut on the other edge of the bar, the teeth engage the limb and kick back toward the operator, an extremely dangerous situation. Having a few metres of tube/drive shaft between the operator and the bar would give some seperation but make controlling kickback much harder.

No prior chainsaw experience.

I would suggest collapsing the pole as much as possible and getting familiar with the unit near ground level so you can switch off and go look at what is happening. Got to be a lot easier than having a problem 4m up in the air with no way to get a close up look at what is happening. Better still, if you know someone with a normal chainsaw and the reasonable experience, get them to show you basic techniques at ground level and give you some practice, then extend this basic knowledge to the pole saw.

Chain running at idle.

The unit should have a clutch built in at the motor, which should not drive at idle. I run a number of brushcutters with the same general arrangement and find that the line head wants to spin at idle due to some friction in the clutch mechanism carrying drive through the clutch. But the drive is minimal and the head can be stalled with a firm grasp with a leather gloved hand if I need to feed line. However the correct approach is to reduce the idle speed to minimise this. I have two petrol and two electric chainsaws, and the petrol ones have the idle set so that there is no carry through at idle. These units also have chain brakes that can be used to prevent the problem if the idle speed creeps up while working. I would definitely be refering the issue to a service person ASAP as I would consider it a safety issue, particularly given the remote mounting of the chain and bar.

[variant22]

Thanks for all the responses. I spent some time today working on the saw. I managed to cut quite a few branches. I tightened up the chain and removed the extension so I could work with it closer (per the suggestion). When I did this the first branch I cut was perfect. I then put the extension on and it bounced quite a bit. It may well be that there is too much flex in the poles. It also seems that the angle of attack matters in that I need to cut at a 90 degree angle to the branch, rather than a somewhat diagonal slice which keeps the pole square but induces bounce. For the record I am always cutting with the chain on the bottom of the bar. I persevered quite a bit today and got down some branches that needed removing. Unfortunately it is still far from perfect however. The chain now only runs at idle (I adjusted the idle) when the throttle has been used.

I am not sure if the chain is running the the correct direction. The little symbol on the bar showing the chain direction is a basically symmetric image. This makes it near impossible to tell if it is running in the right direction. I will post up a photo of the bar with chain soon for review.

[joe greiner]

If the diagram is ambiguous, consider how it actually works: The cutters on the BOTTOM of the bar face toward the motor, so that they tend to pull the saw to the work. Therefore, on the TOP of the bar, they should face away from the motor.

Cheers,
Joe