more thoughts on grinders

[Patrick62]

With me, it all started with a c h e a p harbor freight grinder. it gave me a taste of what to expect.
Very soon I discovered that I could hand file much better than that thing could do.
Not going to poo poo where the things are made. The Tecomec is essentially a upgraded version of the Oregon 511.
I have this one setup to set the rakers. It would do a chain as well as my older 511 did. no doubt.
For the smaller .325 stuff I prefer the Stihl USG.
It is setup to nicely sharpen the smaller chains. Does a good job for me.
For the larger 3/8 chains that I want to sharpen round, I prefer the antique of the bunch, a Foley Belsaw 308
Now that I have replaced the bearing this machine is every bit as accurate as the USG, and does a fantastic job with 3/8 chain.

I am learning the various angles, how to adjust, and sharpen with the Simmington 451
This is a fantastic machine and has shown me that with a little Patience and Practice I can get a extremely sharp chain!

One thing that I have seen with all the grinders, the wheel really needs to turn into the cutter to get a sharp edge. The Foley and the Simmington do that by design with a reversable motor.
I modified the Stihl USG to reverse as well. If I was to use the Tecomec I would install a reversing switch on it for sharpening...
whatever you are using, keepng the wheel clean is crucial to getting a nice cutter. Don't force it, easy does it. One advantage of the Foley is the small motor and belt drive limits the amount of power available to "burn the cutters".

 

[Lightning Performance]

With me, it all started with a c h e a p harbor freight grinder. it gave me a taste of what to expect.
Very soon I discovered that I could hand file much better than that thing could do.
Not going to poo poo where the things are made. The Tecomec is essentially a upgraded version of the Oregon 511.
View attachment 1129297I have this one setup to set the rakers. It would do a chain as well as my older 511 did. no doubt.
For the smaller .325 stuff I prefer the Stihl USG.
View attachment 1129298It is setup to nicely sharpen the smaller chains. Does a good job for me.
For the larger 3/8 chains that I want to sharpen round, I prefer the antique of the bunch, a Foley Belsaw 308
View attachment 1129299Now that I have replaced the bearing this machine is every bit as accurate as the USG, and does a fantastic job with 3/8 chain.

I am learning the various angles, how to adjust, and sharpen with the Simmington 451
View attachment 1129300This is a fantastic machine and has shown me that with a little Patience and Practice I can get a extremely sharp chain!

One thing that I have seen with all the grinders, the wheel really needs to turn into the cutter to get a sharp edge. The Foley and the Simmington do that by design with a reversable motor.
I modified the Stihl USG to reverse as well. If I was to use the Tecomec I would install a reversing switch on it for sharpening...
whatever you are using, keepng the wheel clean is crucial to getting a nice cutter. Don't force it, easy does it. One advantage of the Foley is the small motor and belt drive limits the amount of power available to "burn the cutters".

399 works a bit better than the 308 imho. Kept my 399 and the Jolly Star.

CBN ftw

 

[Philbert]

I lightly dress my grinding wheels, once per chain loop, to continuously expose fresh, sharp, abrasive.

Philbert

 

[ZeroJunk]

I lightly dress my grinding wheels, once per chain loop, to continuously expose fresh, sharp, abrasive.

Philbert

How do you dress it ?

 

[Philbert]

Carborundum (silicon carbide) brick.
This is what is supplied with Tecomec / Oregon grinders.

There are also some cheap, diamond abrasive, dressing tools on eBay.

Philbert

 

[Husky77]

if you clean the chain first you wont need to dress the stone half as much. A chain straight off the bar is dirty with oil & resin, wash it let it dry and then grind, youll find your wheel lasts much longer. Dont need to with a file.

 

[Philbert]

I like a clean chain. Taken a lot of cr*p in this forum on that topic, through the years!

The point I keep making with grinding wheels, is exposing fresh, sharp, abrasive.

When a piece if sandpaper gets dull, you throw it out and get a new sheet, with fresh abrasive. Can’t do that with a grinding wheel.

If abrasive is dull, and rounded over, it will create friction and heat, leading to slow material removal and overheating.

Philbert

 

[Husky77]

I like a clean chain. Taken a lot of cr*p in this forum on that topic, through the years!

The point I keep making with grinding wheels, is exposing fresh, sharp, abrasive.

When a piece if sandpaper gets dull, you throw it out and get a new sheet, with fresh abrasive. Can’t do that with a grinding wheel.

If abrasive is dull, and rounded over, it will create friction and heat, leading to slow material removal and overheating.

Philbert

Exactly, I hope some learn from this

 

[leaf]

Carborundum (silicon carbide) brick. View attachment 1136788
This is what is supplied with Tecomec / Oregon grinders.

There are also some cheap, diamond abrasive, dressing tools on eBay.

Philbert

 

[leaf]

Yuh, I am a diamond, rather than a "brick," person. I use diamonds that happen to be otherwise used in dressing the wheel in ice skate sharpening machines, and I find I get a clean and smooth wheel edge. (Takes a bit of a gentle and steady hand ... but then I find that's also a virtue in handling the grinder head when sharpening.)

 

[Sidecarflip]

I hardly ever 'dress' my wheels I just clean them wit a soft white abrasive stick because I exclusively run CBN wheels on my grinders. They last an average of 400 20" loops, produce little to no dust and don't overheat the teeth so long as you exhibit some restraint on grinding them. My grinder are never that filthy either. Grinding dust can and will get into the metal pivots and make them sloppy and destroy the repeatable accuracy of any grinder except the cheapo HF because it's all plastic and no metal...lol Mine are mounted to a length of 2x4 and I C clamp them to my welding table and remove them when I don't need them. and they go on the shelf with a plastic grocery bag covering them up.

 

[leaf]

Sidecar -- Yours sounds like a well done plan. The slight notions that some of the rest of us might have are a) CBN wheels cost money (including the good ones do), and b) it can be an advantage to be able to make the wheel edge somewhat "custom" in shape. (My answer to dust is just a shop vac - it's how the other half lives.)
Agreement all around on matter of "restraint" in application of the grinder head. The people who borrow grinder-time from me tend to mess up their chains by taking a form of 'crunch in/down' approach to the problem. (Little blue edges on tooth top plates, etc.)
As to "sloppy" and pivots, I have Tecomec / Oregon - which are reasonably well made (and I clean them / don't let the swarf be a pile behind the vise -- as I have seen in some places ) but I rather like being able to "guide" the wheel to the chain with a little bit of gentle "English" (side adjustment). Again, I suppose it is how the other half lives - and I be somewhere in that other. Good lighting, and 2.00 magnifier glasses (for older eyes) and one can "see" the wheel edge right to the tooth cutting edge. If you do it enough, the chain, I believe, actually comes out more uniform and sharp than if you just push the grinder, tooth after tooth, into the chain. Much of the time, I set the grinder to, with little bit of outside / to the right guidance/pressure, just/just not take much, if any, tooth on the way down and then "face it" with the wheel edge on the way up as I ease a certain amount on the "side" pressure. Need to cut more? Repeat the stroke. You get so that you actually tend to even out tooth size and shape as you sharpen. (Unless the chain has really found rocks on one side, etc.) I believe in many of the usual things -- chain vise that slides out side-to-side for square corner chain, etc, but I probably believe most in care-not-crunch grinding.