Brush Ape
The Port Authority
I like sharp tools. No, I demand sharp tools. But nobody seems to listen. So what do you do then? Do it yourself.
The older I get, the less I like noise. I'll still grind chain, but you know in many respects filing is best. Most of all, it is almost silent. It reminds me of snapping green beans because your mind can relax and ya just get in the groove and do it. Filing chain on the saw has its drawbacks. Besides getting tired of handling the chain with a greasy torn up glove, it presents a logistic concern as with a bench mounted setup, you gotta flip the saw to get at the opposite cutters. And doing depth gauges, (more pain than gain on the grinder in the first place) requires switching hand tools and too much verification to really get it right with the saw dogged in a bench mounted vise. You only do them from the opposite side, the vise gets in the way---you know what I'm talking about. For a professional grade chain, some filing is always done after the grinding process anyway.
So I designed this jig and sent it along with a friend; a senior machinist who tends to cut pistons for me and such when I can get the old boy interested in a good plan......
The heart and soul of this baby is really the crank shaft for the drive unit which is a stepped and threaded section of steel dowel to which is mated a used drive sprocket for the chain pitch in question.
The crank is housed in this steel block which we line bored and pressed in a bushing. It has an oil hole now, but I will tap the hole for a grease fitting soon.
It is retained with a circlip which seats in an annular groove at the end of the shaft.
At first, I was going to mate it to a chain driven foot pedal to advance the chain, but settled on simplicity to keep the prototype moving forward. Later prototypes include plans for pedal-switched foot controller, then a arduino-based voice activated step motor with length limits programmed in.
I was also going to make a swivel base with a lock to do opposite cutters, but found that a rigid old pipe stand I made twenty years ago from recycled ductile iron pipe and plate from a 1945 Viking grain truck floor was more than adequate. Getting ready to bolt it to the concrete with Redheads.
Future plans include an improved length clamping mechanism. Now there is two 1/4-20 5mm allen caps through a slotted plate into a threaded block. Works OK.
And I'm gonna fab an inside spacer identical to the outer bar retainer plate with gaskets in and out so I can feed a grease fitting through the bar retainer plate with a gun and lube the drivers as I work.
I'm also fitting hooks to hang dull and sharp chains from the stand and developing ways to drop the bar into the stand to save shop floor space.
The older I get, the less I like noise. I'll still grind chain, but you know in many respects filing is best. Most of all, it is almost silent. It reminds me of snapping green beans because your mind can relax and ya just get in the groove and do it. Filing chain on the saw has its drawbacks. Besides getting tired of handling the chain with a greasy torn up glove, it presents a logistic concern as with a bench mounted setup, you gotta flip the saw to get at the opposite cutters. And doing depth gauges, (more pain than gain on the grinder in the first place) requires switching hand tools and too much verification to really get it right with the saw dogged in a bench mounted vise. You only do them from the opposite side, the vise gets in the way---you know what I'm talking about. For a professional grade chain, some filing is always done after the grinding process anyway.
So I designed this jig and sent it along with a friend; a senior machinist who tends to cut pistons for me and such when I can get the old boy interested in a good plan......
The heart and soul of this baby is really the crank shaft for the drive unit which is a stepped and threaded section of steel dowel to which is mated a used drive sprocket for the chain pitch in question.
The crank is housed in this steel block which we line bored and pressed in a bushing. It has an oil hole now, but I will tap the hole for a grease fitting soon.
It is retained with a circlip which seats in an annular groove at the end of the shaft.
At first, I was going to mate it to a chain driven foot pedal to advance the chain, but settled on simplicity to keep the prototype moving forward. Later prototypes include plans for pedal-switched foot controller, then a arduino-based voice activated step motor with length limits programmed in.
I was also going to make a swivel base with a lock to do opposite cutters, but found that a rigid old pipe stand I made twenty years ago from recycled ductile iron pipe and plate from a 1945 Viking grain truck floor was more than adequate. Getting ready to bolt it to the concrete with Redheads.
Future plans include an improved length clamping mechanism. Now there is two 1/4-20 5mm allen caps through a slotted plate into a threaded block. Works OK.
And I'm gonna fab an inside spacer identical to the outer bar retainer plate with gaskets in and out so I can feed a grease fitting through the bar retainer plate with a gun and lube the drivers as I work.
I'm also fitting hooks to hang dull and sharp chains from the stand and developing ways to drop the bar into the stand to save shop floor space.
