using a dremel to sharpen chain?

[Kneejerk Bombas]

How long do the little grinding wheels last?

 

[GASoline71]

my cousin who logs daily only hand files w/o guide. he is good. i am not. i need all the help i can get. i file by the numbers. he files by the feel.

I file the same way... without a guide. However I do use a raker gauge to get the raker depth correct.

Gary

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

There must be something, because after one cutter, there was a noticeable grove in my grinding wheel.

 

[Trigger-Time]

I use a file on the cutters and raker's, after the raker's are
filed I use the dremmel with the sanding drums to round off
the raker's, It is very quick and the drum seems to last,
you can get the factory profile of the raker's back and I think
it makes a smother cut and less feed back through the B/C

 

[ciscoguy01]

Not for me either

I hate to say it, but I had some really bad experiences with the dremel on sharpening chains. Not sure how much wood you cut, but if it's any amount you'll be using it all the time. Couple of things I noticed about using it to hand filing. You get alot more use out of a chain when hand filed, i.e. less is taken off each time. The Dremel sharpened chains always seem to dull quicker for me, maybe it's just me, but they absolutely do. The biggest reason I do not like the Dremel is that whether or not anyone believes it, they heat the he11 out of the cutters, that bluish color they get, then they lose their tempur and whamo, it's dull and your sharpening again. I've ruined a few chains with Dremels, the stones were getting too old before I noticed it, and could never get the chain to cut correctly again, i.e. ran hard right in larger wood, I even thought it was the bar but nope, chain was just ruined... My .02 for ya. If you can keep your chain cool enough while your sharpening, you should be ok, but watch it, at $20 a pop for a chain, I'll handfile till I can't now... opcorn:

 

[woodfarmer]

i'm gonna try the dremel, i can't seem to get a good hand sharpening on the backside cutters, i guess i'm not ambidexterous enough

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Try mounting your saw upside down in the vice, with the power head to your right. This way you can stand at the tip of the bar and get almost the same angle of your body to the cutters.

 

[ASEMASTER]

never ever

Try mounting your saw upside down in the vice, with the power head to your right. This way you can stand at the tip of the bar and get almost the same angle of your body to the cutters.

after thirty years of hand filing i never thought to turn the d saw up side down to get the same body english on the back cutters DAM GOOD IDEA

 

[yawning_dog]

diamond stone

I use a dremmel occasionally when I need to take off "a lot" of material. I don't think it works all that great, but it seems to beat hand filing for speed. The stone I use is a diamond impregnated thing that I got from ebay. I got 3 of them for $10 or so. It really shows no signs of wear after many sharpenings. You guys might try something like this if the stones you use wear out after one or two sharpenings.

A couple complaints I have: The more you sharpen a cutter, the more it leaves a burr on the top and side. I try to remove this, but then the cutting edge kind of stinks. In general, I don't think the dremmel gets the chain nearly as sharp as a good hand file and/or grinder wheel. But I can only compare it to a hand file and I'm not so swift at that either.

 

[woodfarmer]

mike

after many years of higher education, i can't believe i never thought to turn the saw upside down. i'll go give it a try:yoyo:

 

[livewire]

I have a couple questions for the dremel guys.

Granted, I have not tried dremel grinding but it seems that it would be tougher for me to control and too agressive using it free hand. ie; rotating stone being inserted hitting the cutters edge..., or inserting, lining up, and trying to mainain proper angles while its turned on to the proper speed...

1) Is there a reason why you'd pick up a dremel over a more forgiving, bench mounted sharpener...besides price?

AND,

2) What kind of life are you getting out of a chain before it's toast? 5 filings? 10 filings 15? 20? More?

Again, I've never tried it so I don't know.

 

[twoodward15]

I'll use it when out in the field and using my chainsaw mill. I only have the one chain because I just made it. It'll clean it up enough to get through the tree I am cutting. When I get home I sharpen with a file and guide system for the next run.

 

[bigbadbob]

View attachment 43241

I have a 12 volt craftsman that was made for saw sharpening. It about 25 years old runs at 24,000 rpm and has a diamond bit. Works great, I use it more for a touch up than a good sharpening.

 

[jab6]

dremel

i bought a cheap sharpener from lowes....30 dollars and some change...works great...12v .its a dremel style..i can run it right off my log splitter battery..i think it china made but it does work good...

 

[2manytoys4me]

the first time i tried the round file in the drill, it worked so good i got carried away and had to file rackers way down. the spiral grooves will cut in a drill, best to run in reverse, now i like my northern grinder.

 

[Lonnie]

I use a file bout thats just me i was told that using something like grinder or a dremal tool will get the chain hot and brake the temper....

 

[Pablo26]

Until I found this site, I had been using "Bruiser Bob's Grinding Stones" in a dremel. The stones are only good for a couple of sharpenings. Even with a light touch, you will grind through a chain a lot faster than a manual file. Having been educated by ya'll, I am now using regular round files, and saving the stones for damaged chains where I need to remove more material. I have found that the Woodsman Pro/Carlton RC is easier to hand file than the hard chrome of Stihl chain. I like having a witness mark on the cutter though, as I go freestyle without any guides so far.

 

[Xtra]

Before getting serious into the tree business I used a Dremel (I wasn't any good at hand filing). You should use the special guide to set up the angle and depth correctly. Also you should use Kool Kut or Cool Lube to keep the heat down on the cutters.

Hand filing and dremels work great in the field, but with neither can you get all the cutters the same size, so a bench grinder is a must to even out all the cutters.

We now probably go thru 5 to 10 chains a week. I'll hand file once or twice in the field and then once a month clean them all and use the bench grinder and raker grinder is set everything correct.

 

[timberrat]

the dremels suck

i tried one of the d##### dremels the other daythis is the result-- >
my chinees made bench grinder takes off less metal and is a he***alot more precise!