Water cooled chainsaw chain

[matildasmate]

Water cooled chainsaw chain was mentioned on another site and I tried it today on my setup , cutting up the last of this years Blackwood logs , a small 4' log . I slapped up a real rough water cooler to try it out , works bloody great , chain stays cool , almost no stretching and shrinking , you can touch the chain immediately after using it , I need to come up with a better dripper or a flat spray to control the dust better , the water actually works well also , as a lubricant , as well as keeping the chain clean . A mate of mine asked me about White Blackwood , which is the sapwood , I ended up with a peice today , white one side and normal the other . Cheers all MM

[echnidna]

Its not uncommon for orthodox mills to use water for cooling/lubing blades and washing away debris.

The PITA is that it encourages rust

How about some pics of your setup

[journeyman Mick]

Might be worthwhile to add a bit of that water soluble oil that's used in metal machining as a coolant/lubricant. This may avoid any corrosion problems.

Mick

[BobL]

Might be worthwhile to add a bit of that water soluble oil that's used in metal machining as a coolant/lubricant. This may avoid any corrosion problems.

Mick

Here's my plan for a water cooling line. I already have 2 holes drilled in the bar nose for my aux oiler and only use one hole at any one time for the aux oiler. The other hole could be connected to a hose, or 2-3 L pressurised water container.

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=57091&stc=1&d=1191380495

The problem with the metal machining oil is it really stinks when it goes rancid !

Cheers

[matildasmate]

Its not uncommon for orthodox mills to use water for cooling/lubing blades and washing away debris.

The PITA is that it encourages rust

How about some pics of your setup
Yep it promotes rust , Rp7 takes care of that problem , its no worse than cutting wet or green wood in the rain , which I have done . plus I still use bar oil as well , not just water . Cheers MM .............. pics coming soon I hope , lighting is a problem , the shed , the sawmill is in , is open ended , suns a real pain with digital camera .

[BobL]

Found a bit of brass rod to play with this evening and made up that water cooler connection to the CS bar.

My bar has 2 aux oiler holes, so that when I flip the bar I change holes. The water connection bolts to the unused aux oiler hole and squirts out over both side of the chain. Instead of holes for the water exit onto the bar I went for simple slots cut with a fine kerf metal cutting blade. Plenty of water seems to come through even though its only a 3/32" hole running down the middle of the bolt.

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=57231&stc=1&d=1191507363

With Labels
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=57232&stc=1&d=1191507363

With hose turned on just a touch.
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=57233&stc=1&d=1191507363

Close ups
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=57234&stc=1&d=1191507363

Another View
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=57235&stc=1&d=1191507363

I can't really try it until Saturday - will report back later. If it seems to work I might make a more precise one on the lathe, maybe with on board flow control?

Cheers

[matildasmate]

Looks great Bob , It should work like a champion . Regards MM:D

[BobL]

Looks great Bob , It should work like a champion . Regards MM:D

It does and I recommend it to anyone who is milling within hose reach.
Some benefits I can see are:
- Definitely reduces dust.
- Keeps the chain and bar very clean
- Seems to reduce strain on the engine - uses slightly less fuel
- Can touch chain and bar immediately after turning of engine
There's a perception that it cuts faster but I won't really know until I try some really resinous logs.

Some drawbacks
- Have to remember to turn off the water when finished or the side of the ground alongside log can turn into a quagmire. It's opposite to the milling side so is not that big a deal.
- Uses water - not much, just a slow drizzle seems to be as effective as a full jet, which then covers everything withing a 3 yard radius in wet sawdust.

Cheers

[scooter]

...who is milling within hose reach.



Have been reading the thread, it's a great idea Bob :2tsup:

Occurred to me you could use other methods of delivering the water, depending on how much it uses and where/how you are milling.

Gravity fed might work from a drum suspended nearby.

A 12v pond pump powered by a car battery or one of those portable jump start units could help with the portability. What about a 12v car fuel pump?


Cheers..................Sean

[BobL]

Have been reading the thread, it's a great idea Bob :2tsup:
It's not my idea, it's MatildasMate's, I've just run a little further with it than others for the moment.


Occurred to me you could use other methods of delivering the water, depending on how much it uses and where/how you are milling. Gravity fed might work from a drum suspended nearby.

Yep - all darn good ideas! I reckon you could get away with as little as 100 ml/min (I'm using about 250 ml/min) so even a two litre placky bottle would be good enough for most cuts. A 20L drum on a vehicle roof rack would cut a lot of wood.


A 12v pond pump powered by a car battery or one of those portable jump start units could help with the portability. What about a 12v car fuel pump?
Pond pumps probably deliver too much water but I like the idea of a small volume high pressure pump because I think the prime purpose of all this is to blast dust and resin off the chain. Too much water pooling around gets it pulled into the kerf and makes too much sawdust mud - someone on arboristesite who ran a full flow hose onto their bar reckons it slowed their saw down.

I guess I'm lucky I have a hose about 20 m away from where I'm milling.

[Cliff Rogers]

....I like the idea of a small volume high pressure pump ....
Like a windscreen washer maybe. :think:

[BobL]

Like a windscreen washer maybe. :think:

Yeah, but would a windscreen washer run OK continuously for 5-7 minutes?

[DJ’s Timber]

Yeah, but would a windscreen washer run OK continuously for 5-7 minutes?

Well, why don't you try it and lets us know :q, that way we won't start pulling washer motors out off our cars :doh::U

[echnidna]

Gravity feed works well on a bandsaw mill

[matildasmate]

Yeah I ran some more test's today , end result's were great , started off pretty crap though , I slabbed up some pine that was supposed to be done last year , not real good stuff , definitely not worth a photo , anyway I re-jigged the water system today , I connected it up to the hose this time , it's heap's better , to start with , I put the water flow on the chain at the power head end , on the return or cutting side of the bar , this was crap , ended up with a large build up of saw dust and crap going everywhere , I made a minor adjustment and moved it over to the other side of the bar the non cutting side , which made a huge difference , this worked really well , allowing the water to be dragged through the kerf , any excess just get's flicked off when it get's to the tip , I ran the water slow to start with , but ended up running the water quite fast , worked very well , can't say that I noticed any speed difference , well worth the effort . Cheers MM

[matildasmate]

My conclusion on water cooling , now that I have used for a while , works well during the hot weather , keeps everything cool , but I noticed a fair bit of extra wear though , no big deal though just means I have to dress the bar a little more often . Cheers MM

[BobL]

My conclusion on water cooling , now that I have used for a while , works well during the hot weather , keeps everything cool , but I noticed a fair bit of extra wear though , no big deal though just means I have to dress the bar a little more often . Cheers MM

Yep I agree if the water is supplied as a spray it squirts the oil off the chain. What I found is, using a dribble and increasing the oil feed on the aux oiler allows the chain to stay cool and there has been no apparent increase in wear.

[Arthur Dyason]

It does and I recommend it to anyone who is milling within hose reach.
Cheers

I adapted one of those manual pump presure backpacks normally used for weed control. Benefit is NO power required, adjustable nozzle built in and a on/off trigger. When you let go of the trigger the water flow stops.

The flow is not as fast as a hose but more portable. You do need the extra hand for the trigger though.

I dont use the oil hole in the bar just position the nozzle on the back of the bar close to the teeth engine end.

This seems to reduce the chain and bar temp and clear the sawdust which has got past the bar.

No noticable increase in speed but a definite increase in the life of both bar and chain.

To counter the rusting problem I just use WD40 on the chain and bar at the end of the day.

Recommend Gulf Western Bar Oil. Not cheap but worth the extra.

arthur

[weaver]

Its been about a year since anyone has posted to this thread. Are people still experimenting with using water in CS mills or have they reached a conclusion one way or the other?

[BobL]

Its been about a year since anyone has posted to this thread. Are people still experimenting with using water in CS mills or have they reached a conclusion one way or the other?

I mucked about with it over summer. It does keep the chain and bar cool but as Matildasmate says is seems to increase bar and chain wear, I think it is because it washes oil off the bar and chain. The best way to keep the chain and bar cool seems to be; run a razor sharp chain, let the saw cut at it's own pace and use plenty of bar oil.

[Sigidi]

I second that BOB :)

[bulloak]

g"da mate, this water cooling and lubricating is a great idea. i have been doing this for some time for other reasons ie cutting tree roots and the like in trenches and post holes. and it works fine . i have braised some copper pipe to two old bars welded side by side and run twin chains with water being fed top and bottem of chains through an old garden pressure spray with a tap for flow control.:2tsup:

[BobL]

g"da mate, this water cooling and lubricating is a great idea. i have been doing this for some time for other reasons ie cutting tree roots and the like in trenches and post holes. and it works fine . i have braised some copper pipe to two old bars welded side by side and run twin chains with water being fed top and bottem of chains through an old garden pressure spray with a tap for flow control.:2tsup:

I'd like to see a pic of that setup !

[bulloak]

hey bobl , will do next time i have it set up . and will post some pics.:)

Bulloak.

[BobL]

hey bobl , will do next time i have it set up . and will post some pics.:)

Bulloak.

Thanks - that would be great!

[artme]

Just came across this thread. When I was a teenager - we are talking 45+ years ago - dad had a Danarm chainsaw that was used regularly for cutting up logs into lengths for firewood.

After the first 12 months or so of use he set up a water cooling system. A 5 gallon kero tin full of water, a short length of 1/2"copper pipe soldered in the bottom, apiece of clear tube attached to that and me sitting on the log dribbling water onto the bar and chain.

Worked a treat! Less sharpening and longer run time. Productivity went up quite a bit.