Cutting Paper Rolls?

[sharpguy]

I'm a professional sharpener. I sharpen everything from tree company chipper blades to barber's straight razors.

We recently acquired a commercial sharpening client who cuts large rolls of kraft-type brown paper.

They use a 60" loop of .404 chain on a remote controlled mechanical arm. The roll of paper lies in a roller bed and rotates as the chain cuts from the outside toward the middle of the roll.

We have been experimenting with different top plate and side plate angles trying to find the most effective combination of angles for this application.

Obviously, the hard brown paper rolls have very little in common with green timber. They are very hard and dense and the paper fiber dust tends to clog the cutters and reduce the flexibility of the chain.

We tried creating "spur chains" by cutting off the top plates of the cutters on several chains and sharpening only the side plates, but this did not produce significantly better results.

I spoke with tech guys from Stihl and Oregon and got conflicting advice. One said go with a rip chain with a 10 degree top plate angle, the other said go with a 25 degree top plate and 25 degree side plate angle.

So far it seems that the 25/25 combination is giving the highest number of cuts per chain, but I'm not sure we have truly reached the best solution for the client.

Does anyone have experience with this type of sharpening application?

Thanks in advance,

Mark Peterson
Superior Sharpening Services

 

[Dibbs]

HolmenTree should be able to help you out but I think he's banned at the minute.

Read the later parts of this thread for a little more info.

I've never cut anything as dense as paper rolls but I'd say you should be using semi chisel or chipper chain or best of all a carbide tip chain as you don't need to worry about hitting a nail or anything in the middle of a brand new roll and shattering the brittle (but super hard) carbide tips.
Carbide also outlast regular chains up to 10 times over and keep their edge longer. (Not what a sharpning pro want to hear! They also need to be sharpened uning a diamond wheel grinder.)

 

[ironman_gq]

have you tried semi-chisel. It might hold an edge longer cause the working corner doesnt wear off as fast

 

[ironman_gq]

Baileys also has this chain that has a carbide coating I think its called Injec-a-sharp. It might just be tough enough for what you need but doesnt require a diamond wheel to sharpen

 

[RandyMac]

I tried to cut the end off a roll of that stuff that had washed up on the beach, tough stuff. Sharp new chisel didn't do it, chipper was marginally better, the best was a nearly worn out chisel, with high rakers, still too much work. I'd bet an old crosscut would have worked better.

 

[romeo]

I'm a professional sharpener. I sharpen everything from tree company chipper blades to barber's straight razors.

We recently acquired a commercial sharpening client who cuts large rolls of kraft-type brown paper.

They use a 60" loop of .404 chain on a remote controlled mechanical arm. The roll of paper lies in a roller bed and rotates as the chain cuts from the outside toward the middle of the roll.

We have been experimenting with different top plate and side plate angles trying to find the most effective combination of angles for this application.

Obviously, the hard brown paper rolls have very little in common with green timber. They are very hard and dense and the paper fiber dust tends to clog the cutters and reduce the flexibility of the chain.

We tried creating "spur chains" by cutting off the top plates of the cutters on several chains and sharpening only the side plates, but this did not produce significantly better results.

I spoke with tech guys from Stihl and Oregon and got conflicting advice. One said go with a rip chain with a 10 degree top plate angle, the other said go with a 25 degree top plate and 25 degree side plate angle.

So far it seems that the 25/25 combination is giving the highest number of cuts per chain, but I'm not sure we have truly reached the best solution for the client.

Does anyone have experience with this type of sharpening application?

Thanks in advance,

Mark Peterson
Superior Sharpening Services

It sounds like you are using a harvester setup to run the chains on. Are you using .063 gauge chain?

Paper is hell on an any edge.

The way I look at it:
Square chain with a 25 degree top plate and a flat 90 degree cutter edge and very low rakers (.015 thou.). I would try to make it cut more like a lathe than a saw. A lathe cutter is flat. You are also not carrying chips, but mush. A chain gullet that hook under will work against you, if your cutter is flat then it will clear easier (straight out).

 

[alderman]

A bit off subject...

But in the papermill we used to use a big hydraulic guillotine. Pretty impressive.

 

[sharpguy]

Thanks for your responses and suggestions.

We will use your ideas to keep searching for the best possible solution.

Mark
Superior Sharpening Services