FYI - Northern Chainsaw Sharpener

[Urbicide]

A 511a Oregon has the same type of stop if you look at one of those. If you have any more questions I can post a pic for you let me know. Believe me it works good hth

Kansas

I am surprised that the Chinese did not copy that feature off of the Oregon grinder when they reverse engineered it. Someone should send them a note about that. Perhaps they could also manufacture their own shim & washer kits. Then Rob could have some peace & quiet. Heck, let's just send them a link to this thread.

 

[Kansas]

I am surprised that the Chinese did not copy that feature off of the Oregon grinder when they reverse engineered it. Someone should send them a note about that. Perhaps they could also manufacture their own shim & washer kits. Then Rob could have some peace & quiet. Heck, let's just send them a link to this thread.

Yeah isnt that the truth! Now if the japs had built it would be very high quality with no feature left out fact they would have made a good product even better probably.

Strange looking at prioritys put into certain products how cultures differ on engineering and design when they are in primary control of the product as to what they feel is necessary to operate properly when they are not bound by ISO.

Kansas

 

[Merlin636]

I have read all 46 pages, and was wondering if the gentleman is still doing the shim kits and washers. If he is, please pm me. If not, does anyone have the dimensions of all the pieces. I have a machinist friend who could probably make them for me.
BTW great site as I just joined.

 

[Philbert]

A 511a Oregon has the same type of stop if you look at one of those.

My 511A doesn't have that stop - must have changed over the years. Chinese must have copied my model year.

Philbert

 

[William Balaska]

511A's have been coming down in price, almost no reason to buy one of these.

 

[whitedogone]

What does this do?

Isn't that the flux capacitor? WDO

 

[Philbert]

BTW great site as I just joined

Welcome to A.S.!

Philbert

 

[Kemper]

On super sale. Look Here! Looks like it might be the Tecomec 136/Oregon 511A unit, in which case $100 is a freakin' steal.

Thats the one i have,i bought it a year ago and it works great! it will adjust to any angle you would need and comes with 3 grinding wheels, you won't be disapointed.

 

[tawilson]

511A's have been coming down in price, almost no reason to buy one of these.

If they were only twice as much, I'd have bought one instead of the Northern. But they still are more than triple the price.

 

[William Balaska]

If you look hard enough you'l find one for about $260 to your door, the Northern is now around $119 plus another fifteen to ship. You get what you pay for. I like deals to however I have no interest in supporting the number one exporter in the world.

 

[Moss Man]

If you look hard enough you'l find one for about $260 to your door, the Northern is now around $119 plus another fifteen to ship. You get what you pay for. I like deals to however I have no interest in supporting the number one exporter in the world.

Buying only consumer goods that are made on American soil has become a challange indeed. Start looking at labels every time you buy and see what you find. I have a Northern Sharpener.

 

[Only2cylinders]

My $.02 on the NH grinder

Just found this site and it is great. Purchased my NH grinder about 2 months ago. I hade made some modifications before finding this site. The ring and spacer were the first mod. Made mine from plastic (milk jug). Easy to cut using scissors. One thing I noticed about the metal shim on post 187 is that the ends fall on each side of the casting boss. I think this may allow all clearance to toward this boss and not exactly center on all the bosses. I too had the problem of the shim spinning. But a dab from the old hot glue gun stopped that, allowing me to put the ends of the shim between the bosses. I think the hot glue would work for the steel shim also. One thing I did notice that my plastic shim did shows signs of wear after two months of use. (I just made a couple the last time the milk got all) Maybe I should try the steel one.
I also filed the top of the guide rails. As for the rail spacers, I made some of different thickness. They are "hooked" kind of like a candy cane so I can change them without disassembly of the rails. I put a dab of the old hot glue on the rail mounting nuts (just so they would not fall out when loosing the mounting screws. I can now quickly change the rail gap to fit the chain I am working on.

One more modification I made was to the chain stop. When adjusting the chain stop left and right (so I would not grind the stop) the outer mounting hole fell onto the threaded part of the stud. (the stud is what I call the part the chain finger is mounted on) This allowed the chain finger to cock. Also, the stud was only fixed on one side of the bracket (using two nuts and a lock washer)
I used a 1/4 diameter bolt and threaded one end, careful not to thread too far allowing the chain finger to have full diameter when adjusted to the outside. The other end I tightened a nut against the first side of the bracket and the other side used two nuts as the original. This help take up the clearance the stud passed through the hole. (hey, every little bit helps)
Depending on the spring you use (I put a bit heaver spring on) you may need a small spacer sleeve on the outside of the stud. I had to use a wing nut to replace the plastic knob on the stud, as it was metric and I did not have a metric die to cut the treads.
As for centering after all the modifications, I can hold about .015 in max difference from left to right cutter length.
Thanks for a great site

 

[parrisw]

Just found this site and it is great. Purchased my NH grinder about 2 months ago. I hade made some modifications before finding this site. The ring and spacer were the first mod. Made mine from plastic (milk jug). Easy to cut using scissors. One thing I noticed about the metal shim on post 187 is that the ends fall on each side of the casting boss. I think this may allow all clearance to toward this boss and not exactly center on all the bosses. I too had the problem of the shim spinning. But a dab from the old hot glue gun stopped that, allowing me to put the ends of the shim between the bosses. I think the hot glue would work for the steel shim also. One thing I did notice that my plastic shim did shows signs of wear after two months of use. (I just made a couple the last time the milk got all) Maybe I should try the steel one.
I also filed the top of the guide rails. As for the rail spacers, I made some of different thickness. They are "hooked" kind of like a candy cane so I can change them without disassembly of the rails. I put a dab of the old hot glue on the rail mounting nuts (just so they would not fall out when loosing the mounting screws. I can now quickly change the rail gap to fit the chain I am working on.

One more modification I made was to the chain stop. When adjusting the chain stop left and right (so I would not grind the stop) the outer mounting hole fell onto the threaded part of the stud. (the stud is what I call the part the chain finger is mounted on) This allowed the chain finger to cock. Also, the stud was only fixed on one side of the bracket (using two nuts and a lock washer)
I used a 1/4 diameter bolt and threaded one end, careful not to thread too far allowing the chain finger to have full diameter when adjusted to the outside. The other end I tightened a nut against the first side of the bracket and the other side used two nuts as the original. This help take up the clearance the stud passed through the hole. (hey, every little bit helps)
Depending on the spring you use (I put a bit heaver spring on) you may need a small spacer sleeve on the outside of the stud. I had to use a wing nut to replace the plastic knob on the stud, as it was metric and I did not have a metric die to cut the treads.
As for centering after all the modifications, I can hold about .015 in max difference from left to right cutter length.
Thanks for a great site

Could you post some pics of your mods?

Thanks

 

[micoyote1]

Are there any of the shim and washer kit still available....if so how do it get them?

Thanks:greenchainsaw:

 

[7oaks]

Could you post some pics of your mods?

Thanks

:agree2:

 

[Moss Man]

:agree2:

 

[Moss Man]

I finally got to sharpen a few chains with mine the other day and even though the chains were acceptable, things just didn't seem right with the sharpener. I commenced to sit down and read through the pages in this thread to capture the secrets of others. I had already done a couple of the "sanding" mods, but haven't got the washer and shim kit yet.

The 10 degree tilt on mine was nothing short of a nightmare and this is what I found when I dug in:

I ground that casting hump down and sanded the whole area. It now tilts smoothly in both directions.

The second issue was that the vice just wouldn't tighten down well, I added a flat washer over the cupped one that came with it and that didn't allow it to tighten either. I ended up adding 3 flat washers and it tightens nicely now, I have to assume that a spacer was missing when I got the sharpener?
The spring is in there:

Another sore spot was the play in the mount for the motor where it attached to the base. I had already filed the back like recommended, but didn't take off the 4 small posts shown in this photo:

What a difference that made, the mount now tightens down much more securely with the added surface against the base plate. Those 4 posts must have been put there to make the motor mount swivel easier? I see no need for them, the things swivels better without them.

The last item was to perform what another person here recommended, put a bolt in the chain rails out on the long end where the gap was too wide and the chain would bind:

The chain glides smoothly now that the gap is uniform all the way across.

The next chains should come out better and the whole operation should be a little quicker.

The rig is a cheaper knock off, but I am on a budget at the moment and look forward to this speeding up the sharpening process. The firewood processor dulls a chain at least every cord and a half and sometimes alot quicker than that, so this is a big time saver for me!

Thanx to all the others who have taken the time to post their fixes. I hope these help someone else. Pay it forward.

 

[tree md]

These grinders are back on sale for $90

These grinders are back on sale for $90. I am ordering one. I bought one back when they were on sale for $100 and gave it to one of the guys who worked for me at the time as a gift. He couldn't leave the bottle alone after work long enough to ever put the thing together. We are no longer on good terms so I decided to buy one for myself. Cost to send them out and have them ground has gone up here and they burn them up and take too much off anyway. I decided to just bite the bullet and grind my own. Reading though this entire thread for the second time to see what mods I need to do. Great thread!

 

[Kansas]

I have been real happy with my grinder its still working great no complaints and worth every penny.

Kansas

 

[Moss Man]

These grinders are back on sale for $90. I am ordering one. I bought one back when they were on sale for $100 and gave it to one of the guys who worked for me at the time as a gift. He couldn't leave the bottle alone after work long enough to ever put the thing together. We are no longer on good terms so I decided to buy one for myself. Cost to send them out and have them ground has gone up here and they burn them up and take too much off anyway. I decided to just bite the bullet and grind my own. Reading though this entire thread for the second time to see what mods I need to do. Great thread!

Once you tinker on it for a couple hours, you'll love it! You can still burn teeth even taking the smallest amount off, you just have to be patient and have a light touch bringing the wheel down ever so slowly. After a few chains you'll be singing right along, good luck with it! $90. is a steal really, what other tool like it can you buy for that price?