Built-in chain sharpener?

[Indiana John]

Has anybody ever had a saw with one of these? I've got one of those little red Crapsman (Pull-on) saws here that has one. It's an older PCB (pre-chain brake) thing, 3.2 power(?)head with a 16" bar (seems optimistic to me!). This chain sharpener looks more like a marketing gimmick than a useful feature. From what I can tell, it "sharpens" on the top of the tooth, rather on the underside in the normal manner. Seems counter-productive to me, but maybe I'm missing something. Oh, and the chain tightener on this thing is a real trip.........

 

[sawinredneck]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!:deadhorse: :deadhorse: :deadhorse:


Ok, sorry about that, welcome to AS, if you will do a search using you're thread title, you will find a lot of information about these.
This has been brought up a lot lately for some strange reason.
Andy

 

[Ianab]

This chain sharpener looks more like a marketing gimmick than a useful feature.

I think your initial impression is correct

Ian

 

[ray benson]

Auto sharpening been around since at least the 1970's. Oregon makes chain -91LX.
http://www.oregonchain.com/spec.htm#

 

[Indiana John]

So they actually make special chain for these things? Who'd a thunk it! Can't help but wonder if it would worth buying or not. This thing had two pretty good chains with it, but they both look like normal safety chain. Nothing like what it showed at that link. I didn't think about doing a search, since these things don't seem to common enough to be a frequent topic of discussion. I just did a search for "built-in chain sharpener", and the only thread that showed up was this one. I'd hate to have to replace the bar on this thing with that funky chain tightening system.

 

[Cut4fun]

I pretty much gave one away in yellow craftsman color. Told the guy pay for shipping and he could have it. So unless you are getting it for $10.

 

[PES+]

Just a thought

I have some of the chain from years back the problem was the stones that were in the side cover to sharpen it. The most sharpenings I ever got out of a stone was 3 I think and no I don't have any of the stones you can try sears but I doubt they have them anymore. If you do happen to scare up one of the stones I wouldn't use the sharpener unless you want to see the stone spit out the top of the side cover in pieces. I bought one of those saws new in the late 70s and after three stones I took the whole saw back.

The chain back then was called barracuda chain

and was not safety chain no bumpers.
Cut real well until the stone grenaded

If Oregon still sells the new safety version of this I wonder if they solved the stone issue and have the stones?

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

It sounds like you had the wrong chain on your saw Pest.

 

[Cut4fun]

A pic of the one I gave away. Hope it helps you out.
http://www.arboristsite.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=29987&d=1136609335

 

[PES+]

He doesn't state the reason for failure

http://www.arboristsite.com/archive/index.php/t-21387.html



But this is archive discussion on it.
I had the right chain

 

[Gumneck]

John,

I picked up a red 2.3 CRAFTSMAN for cheap. Rebuilt it with a new piston/rings and crankcase gaskets etc, opened up the muffler a little. Now I have a 38 cc saw that starts and idles well. Its a great little saw especially for climbing. I've got less than $65.00 in it. It was an ebay find that someone couldn't get going b/c they had the wrong flywheel on it. Maybe they knew and were just f'n with me.

Anyway, take off the sharpener you dont need it.

 

[PES+]

I wonder

I wonder if I just got a bad batch of the stones.
They all just seperated at the glue joint and went boom

 

[zart1953]

Craftsman 3.7 autposharpener

I had one of the red Sears 3.7 saws made by Roper. It was a great saw I purchased slightly used from a woman at work who was afraid her husband was going to cut his leg off. I paid $75.00 for it, the best bargain ever! I loved that saw. It had an automatic oiler with manual pump. It always started easily with the compression release and it was powerful, although a bit on the heavy side. It had a great sound to it. I removed the auto sharp feature and replaced the barracuda chain with a regular chain. The auto sharp feature was a gimmick that didn't pan out. It's easier to just have a couple of spare chains to swap out. My father always said that the more complicated something is, the more things can go wrong with it. He is a wise man!

The saw was stolen when I moved into my current house. I sure miss it! They still pop up on eBay from time-to-time.

 

[Indiana John]

Well, this thing was basically a freebie. Somebody gave it to my buddy and he gave it to me. Still in the plastic case, and with an extra chain even. It had spark, but the fuel line was disintegrating. So I pulled the cases off and removed the tank and cleaned it out, cleaned the cases and everything up, put new fuel line in it and pulled the carb down and cleaned it. Now I've got it all back together, but I need to get new fuel and air filters. I tried to clean up the old foam air filter, but when I stuck it in the solvent tank to clean it up, it basically disintegrated on me! The chain sharpening stone is still in good shape, and looks like it has never been used. I'll probably just stick with the regular chains and sharpen 'em whenever they need it on my regular grinder.
Pest, did your's have that funky lever-operated chain tensioner deal? As I said, I'd hate to have to replace the bar, since it has a roll-pin in it to work with that tensioner lever.

 

[Cut4fun]

funky lever-operated chain tensioner deal? As I said, I'd hate to have to replace the bar, since it has a roll-pin in it to work with that tensioner lever.

Never heard or seen this. Could you post a pic of it so we could all see it.

 

[CrazyCarl]

chain destroyer

This gadget only sharpened the top of the tooth!!! NOT A GOOD THING!Look at a chain like a wood chisel,sharp bevel on one side and flat on the other.This makes the chain want to bite into the wood. if you sharpen the top of the tooth,it will not want to bite into but try to stay on top of the wood.This is why you only sharpen one side of the tooth

 

[zart1953]

I bought me a lightly used Sears Barracuda 3.7

I had written earlier that my 3.7 Barracuda had been stolen and that it was my favorite saw because it was a work horse. Well, I have been watching eBay for one over the past couple of moonths and after watching a couple of nice looking ones come and go for ~$80.00 (way too much for a 20 to 30 year old saw of unknown working condition), I stumbled across one last week and won the bid for $25 and $20 shipping. The saw looked like it had been repainted and stated that it has compression, but no spark. I took a chance and was surprised when I received the saw yesterday. It looks to have it's original bar and chain with the chisel tooth. I pulled the chord and it has great compression. The compression release works fine. I pulled off the muffler and the cylinder and piston are clean and pristine. The on/off switch is too soft, so I think it's just a bad switch. I can't wait to tear into it to confirm my suspicions. I think I got a cherry!

:biggrinbounce2:

 

[bump_r]

Never heard or seen this. Could you post a pic of it so we could all see it.

The funky lever thing? Is tha the one where a plastic-knobbed lever positioned over the lingle bar stud, and the lever engaged a roll pin in the lower tensioner hole? Yeah, I just re-habbed a red Craftsman for a buddy with that gizmo. Real turd - as you turn the nut clockwise to tighten the bar, it rotated the tenisoner lever AWAY from the bar pin, effectively negating it's presense. No tensioner then, just hand-tension as the bar is pulled up and out while tigtening the SINGLE nut. Garbage.

 

[zart1953]

Sears Barracuda Chain Sharpener

I agree that the chain sharpener is a gimic that didn't work. It's easy enough to replace the chain with a standard chain and make a really good wood-chucker out of it. The Roper offering was just a good-old rugged saw!

:greenchainsaw:

 

[ericjeeper]

I too have the old Roper 3.7

Until this fall when I bought the dolmar, then the Johnsered. It was my go to saw. I have had it for probably 15 years. it has never ever once failed to start and run like a champ. I have cleaned the carb once in all those years.I converted it to 3/8 and run a 20 inch bar which I feel it has no trouble handling