Electric hot saw

oil pan 4 · 07-20-13, 03:08 AM

I have cobbled together an electric chain saw that can compete with a lot of gas saws.
I bought a used 4hp craftsman electric chain saw off ebay for $50.
The seller had very good pics and I could tell the chain sucked. It was a skip link safety chain.
I started searching around and found a much more aggressive low profile chain made by Oregon called the VXL, it had advisories in red that said "danger", "warning" and "not a low kick back chain". Ordered 2 of those.
So the saw and its first mod were both on their way to the house.
I ran that setup for a while (craftsman saw with Oregon VXL chain) with my varrac compensating for extension cord voltage line drop and I could tell the saw still had tons of torque.
It was easily cutting twice as fast with the VXL chain and boosted voltage, over the OEM configuration.
It had no problem far surpassing a 2hp and 2.5hp gas saws.
After a short while the spur sprocket (chain driver gear) started to wear a little, so I lathed it down and welded a 7 tooth stihl chain saw sprocket on to the 6 tooth electric saw sprocket. My broke in stretched out 62DL chains worked, brand new 62DL chains did not fit so I added a link now my newer chains are all 63DL. So I bought a few more chains, taking a 62DL plus a 64DL chain and making two 63DL chains.
Side by side cutting its on par with my modified 4hp echo 440CS. Only modification is I swapped the warn out bar and sprocket to accept the Oregon VXL chain, as luck would have it the echo accepts my custom 63DL chains. Broke in 62DL didn't fit so I eventually turned them all into 63DL chains.

Its a great saw for around the house. You cant go too far from the outlet.
Its perfect for down by the wood pile or chopping block, its always ready to go. It always runs, take it out of the box, plug it in and go, I never have any problems getting it started.

Safety wise its pretty nice. Pull the trigger it turns the chain, let go of the trigger and it totally stops. You can set the bar and chain on the cut and pull the trigger and use all that starting torque to start cutting from a complete stop. You cant do that with a gas saw, you have to spin it up to speed before putting it to the wood.
I also modified the kick back stop to make it a little more sensitive, any time the chain pops the chain safety trips and instantly stops the chain. I don't mind, the saw will usually suddenly stop once or twice during normal cutting and all I have to do is smack the anti kickback and it screams back to life.

It goes for a long time on a tank of bar and chain oil. That's perfect when you are cutting clean green wood. Only problem is it does not clean the bar and chain if you get it in the dirt or if you are cutting dry dirty wood. So I keep a half full paint can of bar and chain oil near by when cutting dry dirty wood and dip the tip every 2 or 3 cuts.

07-20-13, 03:08 AM	#1
oil pan 4 Land owner Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NM Posts: 1,026 Thanks: 12 Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts	Electric hot saw I have cobbled together an electric chain saw that can compete with a lot of gas saws. I bought a used 4hp craftsman electric chain saw off ebay for $50. The seller had very good pics and I could tell the chain sucked. It was a skip link safety chain. I started searching around and found a much more aggressive low profile chain made by Oregon called the VXL, it had advisories in red that said "danger", "warning" and "not a low kick back chain". Ordered 2 of those. So the saw and its first mod were both on their way to the house. I ran that setup for a while (craftsman saw with Oregon VXL chain) with my varrac compensating for extension cord voltage line drop and I could tell the saw still had tons of torque. It was easily cutting twice as fast with the VXL chain and boosted voltage, over the OEM configuration. It had no problem far surpassing a 2hp and 2.5hp gas saws. After a short while the spur sprocket (chain driver gear) started to wear a little, so I lathed it down and welded a 7 tooth stihl chain saw sprocket on to the 6 tooth electric saw sprocket. My broke in stretched out 62DL chains worked, brand new 62DL chains did not fit so I added a link now my newer chains are all 63DL. So I bought a few more chains, taking a 62DL plus a 64DL chain and making two 63DL chains. Side by side cutting its on par with my modified 4hp echo 440CS. Only modification is I swapped the warn out bar and sprocket to accept the Oregon VXL chain, as luck would have it the echo accepts my custom 63DL chains. Broke in 62DL didn't fit so I eventually turned them all into 63DL chains. Its a great saw for around the house. You cant go too far from the outlet. Its perfect for down by the wood pile or chopping block, its always ready to go. It always runs, take it out of the box, plug it in and go, I never have any problems getting it started. Safety wise its pretty nice. Pull the trigger it turns the chain, let go of the trigger and it totally stops. You can set the bar and chain on the cut and pull the trigger and use all that starting torque to start cutting from a complete stop. You cant do that with a gas saw, you have to spin it up to speed before putting it to the wood. I also modified the kick back stop to make it a little more sensitive, any time the chain pops the chain safety trips and instantly stops the chain. I don't mind, the saw will usually suddenly stop once or twice during normal cutting and all I have to do is smack the anti kickback and it screams back to life. It goes for a long time on a tank of bar and chain oil. That's perfect when you are cutting clean green wood. Only problem is it does not clean the bar and chain if you get it in the dirt or if you are cutting dry dirty wood. So I keep a half full paint can of bar and chain oil near by when cutting dry dirty wood and dip the tip every 2 or 3 cuts.