Alrighty, let’s talk rakers

[The Shooters Apprentice]

I bought a Oregon wall mount grinder for my shop so I can start offering sharpening as well. I’ve always hand filed my saws.

Right now, I’m hand filing rakers and it SUCKS. I’ve got a small bar I put in my vice, and then I hand file using one of the Oregon raker guages. This is super slow for one, and for two, I don’t think I’m really doing the best job that I can do, since the chain isn’t held tight.

So what are people using for raker filing? I tried using the grinder, but the depth adjustment on the wall mount grinder is a stupid design and very hard to make small adjustments with. I’m averaging about 20 chains a day right now.

 

[Fatherwheels]

Make something our of a 4 inch angle grinder that pulls down
and mount it behind your vise, and a chain stop that is adjustable.
Only drawback I can see is the speed of the angle grinder will be high,
maybe higher than optimal for the job, unless you can spin a diamond
disc in one and its rated for the speed, that should solve heating issues,
though for all the time it takes and the very small amount removed from
a raker I could be over thinking it all.

 

[Fatherwheels]

This seems like a good idea too

 

[The Shooters Apprentice]

This seems like a good idea too

That is brilliant. I can definitely build something like that.

 

[Fatherwheels]

4 of these to keep everything smooth and inline would be a big help,
and cut down on build time, get the sealed bearings, keeps the dust out, no
need to go into big sizes, 1 inch bearing centers should be good, bolt them
under the table / frame to keep them out of the way and clean.
https://www.mcmaster.com/bearing-blocks/

 

[The Shooters Apprentice]

I bet I could automate the chain drive pretty easily as well.

 

[Fatherwheels]

I bet I could automate the chain drive pretty easily as well.

All with one drive motor too, a bit of gearing would do it nicely,
and some small bearings where he uses the radius ed bar as a lifter,
would be more accurate adjustable and lasting.
But even without the auto feed, it would still be good enough.

 

[The Shooters Apprentice]

All with one drive motor too, a bit of gearing would do it nicely,
and some small bearings where he uses the radius ed bar, would
be more accurate adjustable and lasting.
But even without the auto feed, it would still be good enough.

Yep, I’m away from home for a couple weeks but when I get home again I’m gonna build something like this. I will keep the build posted on this thread.

 

[blades]

hint - anything you make - make sure to size it to take at minimum a 6" grinding wheel not the 145 mm stones for the teeth. Also so that you can use at least 75% of the diameter of the stone. Common tool room wheels in 6" od by 1/4" wide are a lot cheaper than the over priced wheels from Oregon and similar. Hardness wise K or M is about the limit in over the counter items. You need this range or you will burn through wheels like crazy. 7 or 8" dia. wheels are more common. Cut off wheels could also be used but most are reinforced with fiberglass- not nice having that floating in the air ( aka 4" angle grinder wheels) dust collection not withstanding. Lead time on any type of custom wheel can be a minimum of 6 weeks to 6 months, not to mention minimum order quantities. I might not see any chains for a week and then the flood gates open and yes the bottle neck is the rakers. If using the common versions of sharpeners get some spare head springs- I get about 3 months out one before it breaks- vise cams wear out in about 6 months ( make my own now days) Because there are no bearing or bushings between the head and frame units start to get sloppy after about a year in my shop. get about 2 years on motor bearings. I have even had the motor shaft arbor adapter ( these are only press fit on) come loose shaft spining wheel slowing / stopping in the cut. Oh another thing the chain stop/ locator will wear at the tip so might want to get or make some spares- I put a carbide tip on mine. o-rings, tight fit, on the adjust screws stop that annoying loose thread fit. On average I am running about the same or maybe a bit more in volume of chains. Another tip a 2mm wheel thickness is just the ticket for those nasty little pico chains used on some electric, pole saws, and other very small gas saws, 1/8" is too thick unless you dress it thinner. Commercial sharpening for 30+ years. Just can't bring my self to drop 22 grand on that Swiss automated or even on some the lesser priced units, Like the unit from Oregon ( they are just a reseller of those). anyway have fun, Chris

 

[ricka2]

We have our new Raker Grinder available now. Similar to the old Silvey design but we made some upgrades to the unit. If your interested call 715-889-2006
www.thechainshark.com has some of our first videos.. Works great!! Can do a chain in less than a minute.

 

[blades]

Talked to Tony yesterday, got one of the raker units coming. stay tuned.

 

[blades]

got the dgg6 from tony, got set up, a few minor bugs. ran 100 chains and the crank froze up. Was a little ticked, tore it apart ( had to hammer the shaft out) looked like a picture of the rocky mountains in the bore. must have been drilled with a very dull bit. shaft scored, cleaned things up gave the bore a quick polishing by hand and back to work. ( would have been a lot less hassel if this was at my machine shop , but it is at home and very limited tooling there at present and it is a 1 hour drive to the shop)
bugs - set screw loose on crank shaft so chain would not advance, lift finger contacting grinding wheel so motor could not run with wheel on.
ok, so as to use , works well sure saves me a lot of time. all though fiddling with tension system is a bit of a pain. depth gauges come out all most perfectly even . As to doing one chain of a length and then a another length is time consuming making the adjustment.
As I am doing tree service chains - there is mostly a batch of any one size, like 16ea 115 drive link chains in about a 1/2 hour ( take that long to file or grind one). wheel wear is negligible over the 100 some odd chains done, doing them on the chop saw style units would have wiped out at least one full 3/16" or 1/4" wheel.
I am going to have to get creative on the tension system considering the length of the 208 drive link .404 chains ( I am 6' 1" tall. at my max reach those units are still draging on the floor)

 

[sand sock]

its in your file. sometimes you get a good file and sometimes you dont. i'm liking my current husky flat file, over my stihl and oregon. i am trying a new hand filing technique, instead of having the chain on the bar. i'm closing the vice jaws to just tensioned enough. i can fly through a chain. i think i have a 4 inch jaw on my current vice.

its been a long time since i let a mechanized grinder touch my chains and have no intentions of going back.

 

[blades]

Hand filing 125 chains is not my idea of a good time - that is what I ran through in the last 3 days. I have another dozen or so to do yet as of this morning. Carpel tunnel syndrom anyone?

 

[Philbert]

got the dgg6 from tony, got set up, a few minor bugs. ran 100 chains and the crank froze up.

Any feedback from the manufacturer about this?

Thanks

Philbert

 

[blades]

Hi Philbert, no, I did call, but Tony was gone at that time. It was no big deal to me just a little miffed that the bore was so bad that the crank froze up. I may stick a grease zerk in that section or if locks up again before I get to that, I will likley ream it out and install a Derlin sleeve. My machine shop is 45 miles from home ( hour drive 1 way) and 98% of my toys are there.
I have a V-oak coming later this week ( auto filer unit).

 

[Philbert]

I have a V-oak coming later this week

I tried to get a demo unit from those guys for a few years. Gave up. As a ‘sharpening nerd’ I am very interested in the concept. But not sure how practical it would be for me. Very interested in hearing your comments on it.

Please post, or at least link to the thread below? Thanks.

https://www.arboristsite.com/threads/automatic-chain-filer-yes-filer-not-grinder.325448/
Philbert

 

[blades]

talked to a lot of people on the munson ( spelling) including the orginal importer. ( oregon unit) some good more not so good- parts wear. about same price with out the depth gauge add on ( still have a bit of a sour taste on the oregon ax units) dug up every vid i could on the voak. it does lift slightly on the return which was my concern at the very beginning. does depth gauges at same time which is fine if they haven't been heavy handed some where along the line. hence the dgg6 . I wasn't real keen on the chain shark system. That Franzen unit is just plain out of reach $$$. Still need the grinders for rocked chains. The deal includes 100doz files your choice of mix on those. Sticking it on a lease, 100% write off every month, bottom line doesn't matter at end of year, if I were to purchase outright ( got to play the biz tax game). Costs a bit more that way over all in the short term- out right purchase tax wise you have bust it up over 7 years if there isn't enough bottom line to cover it. That's always a gamble around here. Looks like it will be next week to arrive due to holidays - banking paper and such.
just trying to automate a few areas that eat a lot of time. like any auto unit, singles or maybe just a couple are not where the time saving is. another note: advertise chain as filed not ground, as there are always grumblings about x taking too much off/ burning ect. I have had chisel chains come in from services that look like semi from abuse (corner worn off all the way back) not a lot you can due with those. Likely didn't need to spend the money weak moment I guess. Won't be back in shop till Wed. no internet at home cell is pretty flaky as well. Chris

 

[Philbert]

talked to a lot of people on the munson ( spelling) including the orginal importer.

These guys (Oregon auto grinder):
https://home.markusson.se/triplematic/?lang=en
Philbert

 

[blades]

the V-12 in the Markusson line = Oregon 710-120 I think. it was a number of years back when i researched it. Tony mentioned he has ones of these Markusson/ Oregon units ( funny considering he sells the Chain Shark unit.) devil to find any info as to price on these. Baileys does not list them on line. Oregon is/ was part of Blount Industries , but that whole conglomerate recently changed hands- never a good thing. I do not know the current pricing. That triplematic is likely out of my pocket book range as well.