Chain Sharpener - Cutter supposed to look like this??

[barton174]

Got the $90 sharpener from NT. Seems to work fine, but I'm not sure if this tooth shape is right. I know it's a much deeper notch, left to right, than when I hand sharpen like I've done for years. All 3 angle settings were what the book said for this chain (Stihl chisel .325) Maybe I didn't dress the wheel profile round enough?

 

[Philbert]

You are going way too deep, and grinding with the side of the wheel, instead of the profiled edge.
That chain has a very aggressive hook, and will pull into the cut, but will delay the entry of the side plate cutting edge, which does the heavy work of severing the cutters.
If that is something that you want - OK. But you should go for the same profile with a grinder as you would with a file.

Philbert

 

[barton174]

Aaahhh! OK, thanks!

Mike

 

[Philbert]

You may have your grinder angles set up correctly, but not the depth.

I have said this in other posts, but it bears repeating: if you know what you want your cutter to look like after sharpening, you can use pretty much any method to get there with a little practice. If someone expects 'the file' or 'the grinder' to do all of the sharpening, then you get what you get.

You might also want to check the height of those depth gauges. Hard to be sure from a photo, but they look a little high for a chain ground back that far.

See how that chain cuts. Wash. Rinse. Repeat! You will keep getting better.

Philbert

 

[barton174]

You may have your grinder angles set up correctly, but not the depth.

I have said this in other posts, but it bears repeating: if you know what you want your cutter to look like after sharpening, you can use pretty much any method to get there with a little practice. If someone expects 'the file' or 'the grinder' to do all of the sharpening, then you get what you get.

You might also want to check the height of those depth gauges. Hard to be sure from a photo, but they look a little high for a chain ground back that far.

See how that chain cuts. Wash. Rinse. Repeat! You will keep getting better.

Philbert

Thanks!

They should be right, at least for the tip height. I set them with the Husqvarna raker (depth gauge) gauge on their roller tool that I normally sharpen with.

Mike

 

[trboxman]

You are going way too deep, and grinding with the side of the wheel, instead of the profiled edge.
That chain has a very aggressive hook, and will pull into the cut, but will delay the entry of the side plate cutting edge, which does the heavy work of severing the cutters.
If that is something that you want - OK. But you should go for the same profile with a grinder as you would with a file.

Philbert

Great graphic!!

 

[a. palmer jr.]

I don't think it's possible for me to get the sharpening consistent. I have to set my grinder up for every chain and it seems sometimes I take too much off sometimes too little. I'm getting better at it though..

 

[Philbert]

I don't think it's possible for me to get the sharpening consistent. I have to set my grinder up for every chain . . .

Which model grinder are you using? One of the main advantages a grinder is 'dialing in' angles, depth, and length to get consistent cutters. If you run the same cutting angles on each chain, you should only have to adjust the cutter length, with minor adjustments for the depth of cut as the wheel wears.

If you run lots of different pitch chains, you might need a few more adjustments, but not much. I run LOTS of different chains, but setting a different vise angle and grinder head angle take 2-3 seconds each.

I eyeball the length and depth; run a trial grind, make minor adjustments / corrections in length and depth to get the profile I want; then run all the cutters on one side. Rotate the vise; trial grind on the other side; make any minor adjustments / corrections (not always centered); then run all the cutters on that side. So, that involves some fussing, but I am fussy about chains! I inspect each cutter to make sure that it is right, just as I would do with a file, rotary tool, etc.

. . it seems sometimes I take too much off sometimes too little.

The 'official' way is to start with the shortest cutter, and grind all the others back to match. This can look like you removed a lot. At a minimum, you have to grind back past any damage, which can also look like a lot ***especially on full chisel chains***. But this is really something that you need to do with a file, etc. If you don't care if all of your cutters on a loop are the same, you can adjust the length for each tooth (easy on most full sized grinders) and take off the minimum needed.

I just 'evened up' a large batch of hand filed chains from one group. Many Right cutters were half the length of the Left cutters. Cutters on one side were around 30° and closer to 35° on the other side. I could just 'touch up' the cutting angles, by constantly adjusting the grinder settings, but evening up the cutter lengths, and bringing them back to consistent angles requires removing some metal. A lot of people blame that on grinding, but the same amount of metal really needs to be removed by any sharpening method - guys are reluctant to do that with a file, because it is a lot of work. The shorter teeth are not the 'fault' of the grinder, but of the guys who filed the chains unevenly.

Philbert

 

[a. palmer jr.]

Mine's an EFCO and seems pretty good. I get these chains that have different length cutters, mostly right handed people take more of one side than the other and lefties just the opposite. Yeah, the length was what I was referring to, not a huge problem, the chain cuts pretty well when I get done with them.

 

[Philbert]

. . the chain cuts pretty well when I get done with them.

That's what matters!

Philbert

 

[alderman]

I hand sharpened one the other day. It looked to me like I held the file too high and I wasn't expecting it to cut well.
Surprisingly it did very well when I put it to the wood.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Husqavarna Guy]

Got the $90 sharpener from NT. Seems to work fine, but I'm not sure if this tooth shape is right. I know it's a much deeper notch, left to right, than when I hand sharpen like I've done for years. All 3 angle settings were what the book said for this chain (Stihl chisel .325) Maybe I didn't dress the wheel profile round enough?

I can't see your picture on my end?

 

[Philbert]

I can't see your picture on my end?

(!?! You have it tattooed on your but?!?)

Photo has disappeared on my browser too.

Philbert

 

[barton174]

Yeah, I'm not sure what happened. Google/Picasa are having troubles, today. The permissions are all set right and everything. I attached it to this post.

 

[barton174]

Yeah, I'm not sure what happened. Google/Picasa are having troubles, today. The permissions are all set right and everything. I attached it to this post.