You only had ONE job

[cmendla]

I had a bunch of 80' trees come down over the winter in my front yard. Since I don't go to the gym, I try to take an hour a day to turn them into firewood.

I have a 20" gas chainsaw that has been ridden hard and put away wet. I was carving up some 20" Norway maple and it seemed that something wasn't right.

I shut the saw down and took a closer look. It has a three point suspension. THe point in the back has a 1" spring that is screwed into the PLASTIC for the frame and inner parts. Yep.. Freaking #10 screws into freaking plastic.. What could possibly go wrong there.?

Uh wait, does one of three suspension points failing while running a 20" chainsaw at full bore count?

Nothing like a blade of death getting all wobbly like.

Also, the one screw wasn't big enough to retain the spring reliably.. I had to add a washer to it.

Since one screw had disappeared under 2" of sawdust and chips I grabbed the handy dandy screw kit and found a 1" #10 self tapping screw. I added a liberal dose of superglue to the threads and tightened both screws. (And kept checking after every cut)

Now, am I a crotchety old fart for expecting a company that does nothing but make chainsaw to make a chainsaw that doesn't depend on a screw in plastic to hold the suspension together? Is it too much to ask to NOT have the bar and chain wiggling like a pole dancer?

Chris

[not2easy]

That is truly scary. I looked at over a dozen brands of cheaply made chainsaws last year and wondered what they were thinking.

I needed to buy a chainsaw last year when the utility guys cut down a lot of perfectly nice old trees and felled them along my fence.. (Thanks, guys!) It was a long hard look at a lot of brands before I decided not to order one like that and went for a factory refurb on a better brand that cost me about the same as those poorly made things. Very pleased with the one I got.

[LifeinAsia]

company that does nothing but make chainsaw

Do they still make them themselves, or do they outsource/offshore it?

[thecoalman]

Chainsaw manufactures usually have two lines, one for the box stores intended for consumers and one targeted at professionals that are usually available through dealers. The professional saws will have a higher power to weight ratio and will be built far better. You can expect to pay about double.