Steve NW WI
Unwanted Riff Raff.
I had some troulbe with my Northern (Oregon 511 knockoff) grinder tonight. I couldn't get the chain angle to tighten. I took it apart, and found that the nut molded into the spinner handle was coming out of the plastic, and the nut was bottoming on the shoulder bolt before things got tight.
Simple cure was to pound the nut completely out of the plastic handle. Now I needed a spacer longer than the shaft on the shoulder bolt, but short enough to thread the nut. I have the grinder set up in the basement, and most of my "stuff" is out in the shed, and with 35° and raining (plus me by the nice warm stove), I had no interest in going out to find parts. Digging through the junk bin, I found a length of 1/2" pipe. Perfect, just needs to be cut to size. I took the "decorative" hacksaw down off the wall, and started sawing. ---Get ready, this may be one of the few times in AS history this phrase is used correctly--- The blade cuts crooked! (But it was fairly sharp). No big files around, so my raker file got tasked to square things up. It actually worked fairly well. Add a flat washer to the bottom (it was ever so slightly small on the I.D., so an old 7/32 file fixed that as well. I need a wrench to move it for the time being, but I'll weld a small rod onto it for a T-handle next week at work.
Here's a pic of the finished project:
I also got tired of the plastic thumbscrew working loose on the chain stop. Another rummage through the junk drawer turned up a 1/4" bolt, nut, and a wingnut, as well as a 5/16" nut for a spacer. The stop is now mostly centered on the chain, flips up and down easily, and doesn't rattle loose:
I also learned tonight (sharpened about a dozen chains) that if the grinding wheel builds up with crap, you will start to get a heck of a burr. Re-dressing the wheel cured it, but I have one chain that may be less than optimal, if ya know what I mean.
Overall, this is a good machine for me, for the price. I hand file to keep chains sharp in the woods, and mostly use it for rocked chains, or chains I've filed a few times and are getting out of whack.
Sorry for the book, hope this helps someone else.
Simple cure was to pound the nut completely out of the plastic handle. Now I needed a spacer longer than the shaft on the shoulder bolt, but short enough to thread the nut. I have the grinder set up in the basement, and most of my "stuff" is out in the shed, and with 35° and raining (plus me by the nice warm stove), I had no interest in going out to find parts. Digging through the junk bin, I found a length of 1/2" pipe. Perfect, just needs to be cut to size. I took the "decorative" hacksaw down off the wall, and started sawing. ---Get ready, this may be one of the few times in AS history this phrase is used correctly--- The blade cuts crooked! (But it was fairly sharp). No big files around, so my raker file got tasked to square things up. It actually worked fairly well. Add a flat washer to the bottom (it was ever so slightly small on the I.D., so an old 7/32 file fixed that as well. I need a wrench to move it for the time being, but I'll weld a small rod onto it for a T-handle next week at work.
Here's a pic of the finished project:
I also got tired of the plastic thumbscrew working loose on the chain stop. Another rummage through the junk drawer turned up a 1/4" bolt, nut, and a wingnut, as well as a 5/16" nut for a spacer. The stop is now mostly centered on the chain, flips up and down easily, and doesn't rattle loose:
I also learned tonight (sharpened about a dozen chains) that if the grinding wheel builds up with crap, you will start to get a heck of a burr. Re-dressing the wheel cured it, but I have one chain that may be less than optimal, if ya know what I mean.
Overall, this is a good machine for me, for the price. I hand file to keep chains sharp in the woods, and mostly use it for rocked chains, or chains I've filed a few times and are getting out of whack.
Sorry for the book, hope this helps someone else.
But thinking of buying that particular grinder, and having a go at it. Good to see problems or fixes for them, that could pop up. I don't really NEED one, but curiosity has got the better of me!
