Chain grinders

[MCW]

This may be why some people feel that they can get an edge that is better than 'factory fresh' - the factory cannot sharpen them to as fine of an edge because it would not hold up during the assembly, loop forming, and shipping processes.

Philbert

Thats why you buy Carlton chain! Sharpened after assembly so they say (even though I like Carlton/GB I can't say I've ever noticed any damage on the cutting edges from any brand when bought new in box!) and I agree about the cold sharpening, I think they'd have to for efficiencies sake.

 

[John D]

The GF bought me the northern grinder for christmas for 89.95,it was 10.00 off,now its up to 119.95? Im glad I got mine when i did! Im just a homeowner sharpening my own chains,and the nothern works great for me! I always buy more than what i need,but i didnt feel i needed to spend $350.00 for something I wont ever get my moneys worth out of.Ive already sharpened enough chains to pay off the northern one,just in time saved not having to drive to my husly dealer,and waiting a day,not to mention the 20 spot i drop everytime he does 3 chains for me.
I also saved a few chains he refused to sharpen,ive been using them all winter,and they are fine.

 

[Plasmech]

The GF bought me the northern grinder for christmas for 89.95,it was 10.00 off,now its up to 119.95? Im glad I got mine when i did! Im just a homeowner sharpening my own chains,and the nothern works great for me! I always buy more than what i need,but i didnt feel i needed to spend $350.00 for something I wont ever get my moneys worth out of.Ive already sharpened enough chains to pay off the northern one,just in time saved not having to drive to my husly dealer,and waiting a day,not to mention the 20 spot i drop everytime he does 3 chains for me.
I also saved a few chains he refused to sharpen,ive been using them all winter,and they are fine.

You have a lot of toys in your siggy for "just a homeowner"!

 

[John D]

You have a lot of toys in your siggy for "just a homeowner"!

With respect to saws,and cutting wood!
Im no arborist,thats for sure. I own 20+ acres,and a snowplowing/landscape small business in addition to my ft job of GC superintendent.I found this site,doing some reseach on OWB's.I deal with trees quite a bit at the golf course,due to having well over 100 acres to maintain,we are always dealing with blow downs,and dropped limbs,Ive learned a ton here.

 

[MCW]

I know this is an old thread fellas but just thought I'd add a bit more to it.
I already owned a MAXX grinder but had the opportunity to buy a new Speed Sharp Auto grinder recently for a good price which I believe are the same as the Oregon Auto. I can tell you now that the MAXX will be on eBay within the next day or two.

I used the Speed Sharp exclusively in the last month and have sharpened various chains over a hundred times with it, all my own. It is an absolute relief to finally use a unit with next to no flex in the chain stop mechanism and a chain vice that is long enough to get a consistent chain feed that seems to keep the links from "popping" up all the time. When resharpening chains already sharpened previously on the MAXX, it was quite common for the amount being ground off the teeth to be all over the shop. With the Speed Sharp every tooth is being ground and reground by the same amount and every angle is the same as when I'd previously ground it (I very rarely file chains). The inconsistencies with the MAXX are only now becoming apparent (with my unit anyway!). 30° on the Speed Sharp actually means 30°. An indicated 27° on one side of the MAXX was actually 30° but that depended on whether the sliding table had gotten out of alignment when swapping sides! I'm not kidding when I have measured up to 5° play in the MAXX's slide assembly - poor fit!

I cannot believe that an idea as good as the MAXX can be let down by such poor assembly/fit. If the unit was actually symmetrical (not that hard to achieve in reality!) then none of the problems I have outlined would exist and if they used a chain stop mechanism like the Speed Sharp/Oregon the unit would be perfect.

I was going to buy a unit like the Speed Sharp as a backup to my MAXX but now the MAXX is out the door and I'll be getting another Speed Sharp Auto very soon. The only feature on the MAXX that I believe is better is the auto clamp setup - I think the mechanical MAXX setup is far better than the hydraulic setup on the Speed Sharp as far as consistent clamping pressure. The grinding into the cutters feature in all honesty isn't that big of a deal on the MAXX if you use good quality wheels (the wheels that came with the Speed Sharp are bin jobs). I am getting very few burrs on the Speed Sharp using the "pal" wheels (Part # FF0027 - grade PA60MV to suit 3/8" and .404")

For any of the guys reading this with one of the MAXX grinders I would suggest you check the angles etc on your grinder to see whether they are actually correct. Some of the very confusing and frustrating crooked cutting I've had with longer bars that have been dressed, and redressed again has now been fixed by using the Speed Sharp. It has been inconsistent left and right cutter angles all along :censored:

Sorry for sounding like I've been giving the MAXX a bad wrap but in my case it deserves it.

 

[Philbert]

I cannot believe that an idea as good as the MAXX can be let down by such poor assembly/fit.

As in the cheap knock off copies of the 511A?

Philbert

 

[MCW]

As in the cheap knock off copies of the 511A?

Philbert

Quite possibly mate. For a grinder that is advertised as one of the best (MAXX) the fit of the turntable assembly onto the chassis is sloppy at best. This is where the inconsistent angles are coming from. As it would be a mass produced moulding/casting I'm sure many other MAXX grinders would suffer from the same problems, even though their owners my not have realised it yet. I was also underestimating the amount of flex in the chain stop assembly - I only realised just how bad it was after using the Speed Sharp.
I even believe it would probably be replaced under warranty if I jumped up and down enough. If anybody thinks of buying a second hand MAXX grinder on Aussie eBay under username mattward74 stay clear! I'll be honest though, if you use bars <32" you are unlikely to ever think the angles are slightly out and you may not realise the chain stop flexes too much.

 

[City Slicker]

?

Who sells the Speed sharp grinders? It's not listed on Baileys website any longer.

 

[Philbert]

Who sells the Speed sharp grinders? It's not listed on Baileys website any longer.

Several of these grinders come from Tecomec in Italy:

Speed Sharp, Jolly, Oregon, etc. There are a few models. Essentially the same grinders, but different colors. But you have to careful: many of the cheap knock offs ($80 - $120) look almost exactly the same, but do not have the same motors, etc.

http://www2.tecomec.it/database/tec...7D1A6F442C0B7606C12571EA004D8D84?OpenDocument

I found it on Baileys at:
http://www.baileysonline.com/search.aspSKW=speed sharp&catID=9761

It's poor catalog indexing, placing these under 'G' (for Grinders, chain), when all of their other chain stuff is under 'C'. I always have to think and search (Grande Dog you got your ears on?).

Philbert