best bench grinder for sharpening chains?

[Johnnybar]

Hey how are you liking your grinder, and how long have you had it?????

Tracking says it's due in today so I'll let you know. So hand filing till UPS shows up but a 42" milling chain, that is also due in today, sounds like a lot of filing so the 410 copy got my attention when I found them for $79 delivered.

 

[Philbert]

Does it eat into the magnesium and aluminum???

If you soak aluminum in concentrated sodium hydroxide, it will be 'attacked'. If you are cleaning it with a diluted solution, then rinse thoroughly, it may only darken the aluminum slightly.

There are other 'purple' cleaners, and citrus based cleaners, which you might also want to take a look at for certain uses. I try to stay away from petroleum solvents since I work in my basement, and want to avoid vapors and flammability.

Philbert

 

[Johnnybar]

Hey how are you liking your grinder, and how long have you had it?????

Just unboxed it, bolted the arm to the base and mounted the 1/8 wheel. Nicely done casting on base and arm, beefy chain rails and nice clamping cam that will hold the 3 central drive links snug for accurate grinds. So far so good!
casting on the

 

[tylerbeach3]

Hope you enjoy that. As a newbie to sharpening with a grinder id say; dont fall in love with 1000th of a millimeter... if your caliper says the teeth are same size and the angles all stay the same your saw will cut well. I personally have a lot to do in a day and cant spend a whole bunch of time grinding, i need a sharp chain and i need to go use it. Sure is fun though!

 

[Johnnybar]

Hope you enjoy that. As a newbie to sharpening with a grinder id say; dont fall in love with 1000th of a millimeter... if your caliper says the teeth are same size and the angles all stay the same your saw will cut well. I personally have a lot to do in a day and cant spend a whole bunch of time grinding, i need a sharp chain and i need to go use it. Sure is fun though!

I guess if you single out chain grinders, then yes. But, if one includes the 1000's of regrinds on HSS and carbide tooling for the lathe and mill out in the metal shop or the 100's of times wood chisels, planer blades, and thickness planers have been reground to the .001" then maybe I did fall in love with those wee bits of accuracy. Been at this kinda stuff many moons...enough to know that if you're not racing, you don't need nitro in the tank...lol. A grinder to me is simply a much quicker way to re-profile or an easy way to recover a rocked or fenced chain. Anything else around these parts is file work .

 

[tylerbeach3]

I agree. I just lost myself in the tool for half a day and probably wasted a little chain trying to get it perfect with a magnifying glass and caliper, I guess i geeked out a little then saw the big picture: work to be done. Lol. and yes some more precise tools need that kinda love! Any advice on sharpening my 2man crosscut? Im afrain to touch it, it cuts ok now and dont want to ruin it. I havent found anyone in my area (mid northern California) yet that does that. Maybe ill look up north( mendo or humbolt

 

[Johnnybar]

I agree. I just lost myself in the tool for half a day and probably wasted a little chain trying to get it perfect with a magnifying glass and caliper, I guess i geeked out a little then saw the big picture: work to be done. Lol. and yes some more precise tools need that kinda love! Any advice on sharpening my 2man crosscut? Im afrain to touch it, it cuts ok now and dont want to ruin it. I havent found anyone in my area (mid northern California) yet that does that. Maybe ill look up north( mendo or humbolt

There are some good guides out there...do lots of homework before trying it on a keepsake saw. Maybe find an ol' junker to learn on. Use Google search for (sharpening two man crosscut saw) and select (videos) filter. Here is a pretty decent video:

 

[Khntr85]

I will tell ya @Johnnybar afyer you do a few chains in that grinder, you maybe surprised by how well it can sharpen a chain.......I do know the first chain I ground I did not grind deep enough into the tooth....now there is obviously a fine line between "to-deep" and "to-shallow"....

It seems you have been doing this kind of thing for a long time, so undoubtedly you will get the hang of it fast.....

Oh and wow I but it gets old hand filing a 42" chain real quickly LOl!!!!

 

[Johnnybar]

I will tell ya @Johnnybar afyer you do a few chains in that grinder, you maybe surprised by how well it can sharpen a chain.......I do know the first chain I ground I did not grind deep enough into the tooth....now there is obviously a fine line between "to-deep" and "to-shallow"....

It seems you have been doing this kind of thing for a long time, so undoubtedly you will get the hang of it fast.....

Oh and wow I but it gets old hand filing a 42" chain real quickly LOl!!!!

It may become a full skip really quick!

 

[Johnnybar]

It may become a full skip really quick!

or double skip!

 

[Khntr85]

or double skip!

LOL, yep that's a lot of cutters in that chain!!!


Yes I have always hand filed, and still like to do it.....but since I have got the hang of grinding and my chains have been cutting great, I usually use the grinder....

I filed a 16" lo pro chain on a MS180c I sold the other day.....you can hand file those small chains very quickly.....it was a lot faster to just touch the chain up by hand rather that's taking it off to grind....

 

[Philbert]

Any advice on sharpening my 2man crosscut?

http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/crosscut-saw-manuals-references.210332/

Philbert

 

[jmatteau]

Oregon 620-120, I love it. Fast, simple and extremely accurate on both sides. I was using the Chicago electric for rakers, but recently started using the 404 wheel on the Oregon, much easier!

 

[Khntr85]

Oregon 620-120, I love it. Fast, simple and extremely accurate on both sides. I was using the Chicago electric for rakers, but recently started using the 404 wheel on the Oregon, much easier!View attachment 560265 View attachment 560266 View attachment 560267

Yep they are great... mine is the 520 though....

How long have you had yours.....do you run full chisel chain or semi-chisel.....also what angles are you using????

 

[jmatteau]

Yep they are great... mine is the 520 though....

How long have you had yours.....do you run full chisel chain or semi-chisel.....also what angles are you using????

I run semi chisel and have done about 40 chains for "customers" so far. All of them have been semi chisel as well. I have had it a month now and have done all 30,60, 0 on the angles. Everybody cuts hardwood around here and I don't want them complaining their chains dull quick. Have had all positive feedback with those angles and mine cut fine as well. At some point when I have a good load of tree length on site I will play with the angles more on my chains, but right now cutting off site and don't have the time to play around.

 

[Khntr85]

I run semi chisel and have done about 40 chains for "customers" so far. All of them have been semi chisel as well. I have had it a month now and have done all 30,60, 0 on the angles. Everybody cuts hardwood around here and I don't want them complaining their chains dull quick. Have had all positive feedback with those angles and mine cut fine as well. At some point when I have a good load of tree length on site I will play with the angles more on my chains, but right now cutting off site and don't have the time to play around.

Well said, I completely understand!!!!!

I have put mine at 55 head tilt, and I run 30 degree on Stihl chain....I have also just left the settings for now,

 

[hedge hog]

I have put mine at 55 head tilt, and I run 30 degree on Stihl chain....I have also just left the settings for now,

I run this for guys that file in the field and myself for a faster touch up than grinding at 60/30
as you can imagine I cut mostly hedge

 

[Johnnybar]

Just ran about 22' of .325 chisel through my new Chinoregon 410-120 for a test run and it did great. No burrs that I've seen many complain about. They must be making aggressive grinds...I just kissed the top plate enough to get a fresh edge and the chain was in decent shape, just needing a touchup.

 

[Khntr85]

I run this for guys that file in the field and myself for a faster touch up than grinding at 60/30
as you can imagine I cut mostly hedge

When I first started grinding, I put a brand new chain on the vise.....to me the 55 degree angle matches up to the new chains angles better.....

Some brand new chain seems to have even a steeper top plate face angle than 55 degrees....this is another reason why I think people say they can never get a chain to cut like new...

 

[Khntr85]

Just ran about 22' of .325 chisel through my new Chinoregon 410-120 for a test run and it did great. No burrs that I've seen many complain about. They must be making aggressive grinds...I just kissed the top plate enough to get a fresh edge and the chain was in decent shape, just needing a touchup.

Yes when a person grinds a lot off of the cutter it does have more of a burr.....if a person gets a little burr, it will fall off as soon as the chain hits wood....