Rotatec Guide bar and chain

[cessna]

Any update on this thread would be appreciated .

Would you buy a Rotatech chain or bar again?

Or is it as always you get what you pay for?  

I noticed that the Rotatech chain and bar I used on my Japa2100 firewood processor seemed to create a lot of sparks compared to other makes of  bar and chain I have used,giving me the impression that Rotatech chains are made of inferior quality metal.

[doobin]

7 hours ago, cessna said:

Any update on this thread would be appreciated .

Would you buy a Rotatech chain or bar again?

Or is it as always you get what you pay for?  

I noticed that the Rotatech chain and bar I used on my Japa2100 firewood processor seemed to create a lot of sparks compared to other makes of  bar and chain I have used,giving me the impression that Rotatech chains are made of inferior quality metal.

Only things that would create sparks are dirty wood, a lack of oil, or bad tolerances between the chain drive links and bar slot. Sparks would generally indicated a harder (rather than inferior quality, softer) metal.

 

I find the chains bob on for the money, but I like a decent light bar and when I tried a Rotatech bar on a cheap saw it wore quickly.

 

But yes, have just ordered reels of the chains, they can't be beat for value for money. 95% as good as the big brands for half the cost, compared to brands like Archer which are 45% as good for half the cost, which doesn't stack up.

 

Keep the chains and change the bar, see if that solves your issue.

Edited March 7, 2022 by doobin

[trigger_andy]

7 hours ago, cessna said:

Would you buy a Rotatech chain or bar again?

I bought two chains for my 034 as I had a bunch of dirty wood to clog up and for £10 each delivered I was not that fussed if they went in the bin right after.

 

I found they held their initial sharpness very well, had a full day out of both of them before they needed a sharpen. Virtually no stretch and found all the cutters sharpened nicely. 

 

Not tried a Rotatech Bar and dont intend to but I'll happily continue to but Rotatech chains for clogging up. Will stick to Stihl for Milling though. 

[gdh]

I did an experiment with our processor last December and kept a record of chain use. 10 rotatech 84 link chains did 606 cube of hardwood firewood without being sharpened. I'm still counting how far they'll go with sharpening but it will be 2000+.

[peds]

I bought a handful of rotatech chains a couple of weeks ago specifically for trimming stumps closer to the ground, and other filthy jobs.

[trigger_andy]

15 minutes ago, gdh said:

I did an experiment with our processor last December and kept a record of chain use. 10 rotatech 84 link chains did 606 cube of hardwood firewood without being sharpened. I'm still counting how far they'll go with sharpening but it will be 2000+.

Thats mad! 

[AHPP]

I did an experiment with our processor last December and kept a record of chain use. 10 rotatech 84 link chains did 606 cube of hardwood firewood without being sharpened. I'm still counting how far they'll go with sharpening but it will be 2000+.

Wow! Was that an especially clean batch of wood or do you wash/debark it first?

[gdh]

1 hour ago, AHPP said:

Wow! Was that an especially clean batch of wood or do you wash/debark it first?

We just put it through as it comes. It was mostly clean ash but some dirty oak and bits of other stuff so it averages out. It is a 24inch bar so 60cube to a chain is very good but only like getting 40 out of a small processor.

[Dan Maynard]

23 hours ago, peds said:

I bought a handful of rotatech chains a couple of weeks ago specifically for trimming stumps closer to the ground, and other filthy jobs.

I've done this, now they do semi chisel which is much better for the job.

[peds]

Yeah, annoyingly they only had full chisel for my size bars, but at that price, feck it. Just have to keep checking the website I guess.