Anyone buy chain in bulk (25-100 ft) to make their own chains? Harbor Freight sells a combination tool for about $75. And Northern Tool has 25ft of Oregon chain for about $135. Just curious if its worth it since I'd only use about 1 25ft roll a year.
Might not be the best idea taking advice on buying stuff from Screwloose. Next thing you know you will have a fog horn from the titanic in your yard!
I think it can be a good way to go, at the very least you didn't do something stupid. Best possible down to the penny investment, who knows but it's a hair splitter. As for tools the old style Oregon ones are the best value in my opinion. They cast other names on the side for big orders and mine say Homelite for instance. I see them on ebay pretty cheap sometimes and you get 2 single purpose tools. Chain I buy in 100' rolls in a buy once cry once way of thinking. You will forget that money but knowing you have yourself covered for years you'll remember. And I don't think the price of Chain will go down over the years so there's that. You can buy presets and then buy cheap off size new chains of your brand/type choice off eBay ect. and make them your size. When long bar chains are sharpened down to where they don't move chips as well you can shorten them to fit other saws. Stuff like this
Carlton A1LM-100U Chainsaw Saw Chain Kind of depends on what type of chain you are looking for. Amicks has decent prices & so does Frawleys Oregon chainsaw chain and guide bar for sale bulk saw chain in stock Just buy the 100’ roll & keep it oiled up.
If you buy a 100’ roll of chain usually you get presets with it. I have seen 25’ & 50’ rolls advertised with resets. Presets are generally brand specific. https://www.jackssmallengines.com/equipment/list/chainsaw/Saw-Chains/Tie-Straps-and-Presets This place has Carlton presets
The nice thing about making your own chains is , aside from cost savings. You can play around with different bar lengths. And if you kink a chain getting hung or something , you can punch out the ruined drivers and put a new section of chain in their place. For more than 20 years. The only chain loops I got were the ones that came with a new saw. After that it was all chain I bought in the hundred foot roll. Also, if you want to switch to a different pitch or guage . Just buy a roll of chain and spin up the loops you want. If a person is using a saw a lot. I can't see not having a breaker and spinner.
If you run out of new presets you can get by very well with ones you punch out from an old chain of the same pitch. Drivers of course are guage specific but repair links and straps aren't necessarily. Biggest thing when spinning up a new chain, DONT GET THEM TOO TIGHT ! You don't want any gap between the strap and the driver . But you mostly don't want them sticky tight. The preset and strap joints must be the same as the rest of the chain. If you get one too tight, and you will if you make up a bunch of chains. You need to punch it out and put in a new one. It's best not to make up chains when your dead tired and have other things on your mind. I usually made mine up on Sunday afternoon after my lunch and a nap when I would do any extra stuff on my saws , bars and chains.
As Cold Trigger Finger said don't overdo the spinning. Very, very little force is on the spun part anyway. it needs space for oil.
Search for "presets" on eBay. A roll comes with a bunch, to many for long chains and not enough for little ones. And keep in mind that done properly you are quite fine with peening the heads. Also I highly recommend grinding off the heads of the rivets you are punching. Yeah I know the tool will pop them.