Some thing I've found interesting and that is, when sharpening (grinding) customers chains, there is always a difference between the left hand line of cutters and the right hand line, almost always.
Not something you'd see with hand filing but when machine grinding them and the repeatability of machine grinding, I almost always see a difference in cutter tooth length and have to reset the machines between the right side and the left, which I've been doing, but my question is..
Should I grind them all to a uniform length (left side and right side) or just reset the machine to allow for the difference, so long as the cutters are uniformly sharpened and if so, would it make a difference in overall cutting performance?
I guess my issue is, if say the left hand side cutters are ground and I switch to the right side and the cutters are quite a bit longer, I'd have to remove way more cutter to get them uniform (left and right balanced). I do check cutter length prior to grinding with a set of dial calipers and almost always there is a difference.
I really dislike removing excessive tooth material because it shortens loop longevity and chain loops are expensive today, at least Oregon and Stihl loops are.
These are all professional tree company (Arborists) chain loops. I don't sharpen consumer chains at all, except my own. Kind of a value added thing for me as I grind chipper knives mostly but I've been getting saw chains lately as well.
I need some opinions, do I grind the left side and reset the machine's) for the right hand side or grind them all evenly and remove a lot of tooth material in the process.?
I use Diamond Abrasives CBN wheels exclusively and not the stone wheels so heating teeth (and destroying the temper) is a non issue.
well... IF you plan on charging money, then the teeth should be even from side to side, and preferably all the way around the loop, the depth gauges(rakers) should be .02-.035 BELOW the top if the cutting edge (depth is dependent on cutting conditions, tooth count hp etc etc .030 is fairly standard) The entire point of paying someone to grind chains is to "true them up" and keep the hand filing from going wildly astray. Yes you could simply grind until sharp and make the depth gauges match each tooth, which is a compromise and just fine for your own uses, not something a self described machinist would ever charge money for though.
as for your grinder not repeating side to side, all of them are a little less then accurate, some are adjustable, some are not, Oregon products are no better then harbor freight, they just cost more, even the old Silvey grinders which are arguably the top of the line skookum choochers still need to be adjusted to get consistency left to right, the Simmingtons too for that matter. Its almost like someone claiming to be a machinist would just ass-u-me that the head on a bridgeport mill is dialed in and ready to work, without checking it first
One would think a card carrying "journeyman" tool and die maker would already know most of this.
As for your CBN wheels, it may be fine for you, however if you do heat the tooth up red hot, it will air quench and harden, so when your paying customer attempts to file it back to true... he's going to tear up a couple files quick fast in a hurry, again, this is something a "machinist" should already know. (the carborundom wheels are supposed to cut, rather then abrade and shouldn't make much heat, but they can, and the diamond wheels can and will create as much or more heat then the traditional stone wheels, again things a "machinist" should already know.) What generally happens when some ignoramus overheats a tooth is, they take it to a shop that does in fact know what they are talking about, they then spend a considerable amount of time hand grinding the hardened spots out of the teeth, then cutting all the remaining teeth back to that depth, so that when the customer does use the chain, it cuts straight, fast and true. A tool and die maker would already know all this though.
