Is anyone using this chain grinder???

Our shop is talking about purchasing one of these Robotic chain grinders. Is anyone using one and what are your likes or dislikes????
http://www.franzen-maschinen.de/e_pages/e_schaerftechnik/SA_6_e.php



Scott

I use it all the time, and it works great with no trouble for a year now. At 19k you need to do 8 or 10 chains a day, and charge what it is worth, which I feel is more than 5 donuts. 10 chains a day at 7 is 70, times 5 days a week, 350, times say 50 weeks a year, 17,200, so it will pay off in just over a year.
However, if a tech is sharpening chain now, is he making shop labor rate? At 5 per chain? Probably not. So with the Franzen and someone other than a tech running it, like maybe the parts guy, then the tech is on the bench doing billable hours at shop labor rate, so if you add that in it will pay for itself in a year. And once you learn how to use it, it is fast and consistent, so the customer will be pleased with the job.

I wish we could get one of those. I spend 3-5 hours a week sharpening chains.
I just wonder how well it handle really dull chains, if it blues the hell out of them.

Stihl #1 said:

I use it all the time, and it works great with no trouble for a year now. At 19k you need to do 8 or 10 chains a day, and charge what it is worth, which I feel is more than 5 donuts. 10 chains a day at 7 is 70, times 5 days a week, 350, times say 50 weeks a year, 17,200, so it will pay off in just over a year.
However, if a tech is sharpening chain now, is he making shop labor rate? At 5 per chain? Probably not. So with the Franzen and someone other than a tech running it, like maybe the parts guy, then the tech is on the bench doing billable hours at shop labor rate, so if you add that in it will pay for itself in a year. And once you learn how to use it, it is fast and consistent, so the customer will be pleased with the job.

Click to expand...

Neat setup. Have you considered giving a volume discount, say have 5 sharpened and pay for 4? That would not only encourage customers to bring their chains in together, it would encourage them to buy more chain.

I came up with a punch card like gas stations do for coffees. Get 10 chains sharpened and get a free chain.

BloodOnTheIce said:

I came up with a punch card like gas stations do for coffees. Get 10 chains sharpened and get a free chain.

Click to expand...

Now that is a great idea.
We do offer discounts if someone brings in 5+ chains at once.

I have used it, and know Mr. Franzen, I have a thread on it, called my
new partner, or something like that. I would elaborate further, but I am now on the hotel computer in the Holiday Inn in fabulous Mt. Vernon, Ohio.

2 weeks too late for the Ohio GTG. I will be glad to elaborate when I get
back to hillbilly country.

Stihl #1 said:

I use it all the time, and it works great with no trouble for a year now. At 19k you need to do 8 or 10 chains a day, and charge what it is worth, which I feel is more than 5 donuts. 10 chains a day at 7 is 70, times 5 days a week, 350, times say 50 weeks a year, 17,200, so it will pay off in just over a year.
However, if a tech is sharpening chain now, is he making shop labor rate? At 5 per chain? Probably not. So with the Franzen and someone other than a tech running it, like maybe the parts guy, then the tech is on the bench doing billable hours at shop labor rate, so if you add that in it will pay for itself in a year. And once you learn how to use it, it is fast and consistent, so the customer will be pleased with the job.

Click to expand...

I'm not trying to be a wise guy, but your "pay back" calculations are based on zero labor cost for operating the equipment and processing the transaction. I would assume a tech would have a labor cost to his employer of AT LEAST $30.00 per hour including fringes, and the parts guy AT LEAST $20.00. The question is how many chains can someone take in from the customer, sharpen, and collect payment for in an hour. That cost must be included in any payback calculation-unless one assumes that all saw shops have techs and parts guys who are sitting around doing nothing for a good part of each day, which I woudl find hard to believe.

Well I am back from Ohio, I will start my thought process on the "Franzen".

The beer is starting to chill, so myfull posting potential is still a way off.

We don't have any problem making shop rate ($60 per hour) sharpening chains... in fact, at $10 per chain we can double it... and hand file (or finish off if they needed to be ground) pro chains.

Our sharpening rate is based on our shop rate. It takes about 10 minutes to do a chain, our shop rate is 60$ an hour and we get 5.50$ for 14" and under chains, 6.50$ for 16 & 18" and 20" and larger is 7.50$ we're higher than most shops but NO ONE around locally takes down the rakers besides us, so we figure it's worth it.

Hey Fish! You're building suspension. When will we get the story?

dig up his old thread....

spacemule said:

Hey Fish! You're building suspension. When will we get the story?

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It's called foreplay................................


The first time I met Mr. Franzen, he was passing through town visiting
owners of his machine, he was escorted by the Stens rep, who distribute his
machine here in the states. He had just sold one to Stihl in Va. Beach, so he was quite elated.

After he came by and fine tuned the machine, and tutored Eddy, the
primary operator, we had better results. But with a rocked out chain, we
ran it several cycles, which was very often. But the shop charged $10 plus,
so they were not losing money. Eddy did say that the sharpening business
did slow down after they bought the machine, which did not bother the bosses, as they considered the sharpening gig a money loser anyway.

The Franzen was my baby when Eddy was gone, and I kept threatening
to bring in my Efco, because I am quite picky, and hate turning out crappy work.
But the owner would have frowned on that, as he only wanted to hear only positive things about his $20,000 robot...........................

But the 61pmmmn chain would not run on it, as well as the cheap oregon
double skip, it had no adjustments for full chisel, and occaisionally a
wheel would grenade for no reason, which kept life there from being
totally dull.

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM



Well I have my doubts about the quality of the sharpness......... The sales rep will be here wednesday to demonstrate it?????? I guell I will see if it lives up to the hubub......... Thanks Fish......and all others who replied. Ill keep you informed.....

Side note; I'd rather invest the $19,500 into a addition to our shop........
Or maybe the Robotic Mower Blade Grinder Setup I saw online.....



Scott