I do a lot of repair and changing lengths of chains for my harvester which takes 404 pitch chain with the 18H drivers. And of course I have a spinner and press along with a grinder. And I do usually have some new presets on hand. But I admit that I mostly just find a reasonably good used preset on the bench and respin that instead of using a new one.
Ya, I know you are not supposed to do that, but I've never had a problem with a used one. All of the chain breaks I have are either the drivers being bent, broken or the rivet holes being pulled out. And when I do throw or wreck a chain, it does not fly anywhere. It just falls to the ground and sometimes, especially in the snow, good luck finding that chain.
So does anyone else admit to reusing presets? The tie straps are a no brainer as they never seem to get damaged or worn.
I'll have to try that, it might not work on smaller chains with less metal. Steve
I don't have a punch but rather grind the heads off with a die grinder so reuse is not an option . Now on some of the antiques I have made rivits because the pre sets are non existant or rare as a hens' tooth .
I own a excellent quality bench mounted Stihl chain breaker. A Grandberg hand held breaker/ spinner, but never owned a bench mounted spinner. I only use a small ball peen hammer to mushroom my presets.
Now when I say presets I mean "used" presets. Those brand new bagged ones that come along with a roll of chain, I got a bin full of them never used.
When I make a loop of chain off a roll I reuse the links I break out when I cut my section of chain. There is plenty of metal left to make a strong rivet head. Every loop made you save 1 link of chain, no waste.
Just make sure the breaker point is in the exact center of the rivet head and the bottom sidelink is square and tight in the anvil. Sometimes I have to use the smallest socket from my 1/4" drive to tap the side link onto the deformed preset rivet.
Have done this for years, just wouldn't advise replacing a cutter this way, but then I can't remember the last time I replaced a cutter on a work chain.
Now a carving or race chain is another story.
Willard.
I've done it a few times but I much prefer using a new preset. I've taken a few apart as well and you would be amazed at how little pressure it takes to press out a reused link. Just barely touch it and it falls out. Fortunately when put into service the stress on the links are perpendicular to the rivet head. There's virtually no side pressure at all so it will hold until something goes wonky and side loads the chain in that exact spot.
I never had to press out a re-used preset. Never had a re-used preset fall apart even on my 40 h.p. Yamaha bikesaw which with it's 3/8" chain it uses.
Willard.
I used chainsaws and fixed chains for years before I found out there was such a thing as new pieces..never had a problem..
I've seen race chain where the rivits were ground down so much it would have scared me to death to run it .Surprisingly they seldom come apart .
I never use new for myself, but do when fixing a chain for a customer.
chain saw maybe harvester no i am sure you have read the stuff on chain shot and how it wiil go through half inch lexan
I reuse presets regularly. I have a good spinner and breaker and have never had one come unglued.
I did fix a chain for a fellow a while back, no charge BTW. The guy came back in a few hours with the chain broken and wrapped around the saw. Of course I thought the chain came apart where I spun it, so I gave the guy a new chain, told him I was sorry and felt like I needed to get some presets.
A few days later I noticed the chain hanging there on a nail and gave it a close look. It was missing a few cutters and cut in two on a diagonal, nowhere near where I spun it. The fellow must have hit some metal in the log or something.