What chain grinder is good. I'm buying one.

[Davidsinatree]

I'm buying a new chain grinder. Want some oppinions on them.

Baileys has the ''Speed sharp automatic chain grinder'' made in italy, bench mount item # 45330. On sale for $319.
Looks like a good setup.

CCD has the ''Oregon 511a'' bench mount grinder for $349.

Both grinders can be bought with or without the option of hydrolic vise. The prices I posted are with the hydrolic vise option.
I was thinking the hyd vise option would be nice, but I dont know if its worth the exta money.

The best package deal looks like the ''Oregon 511a'' with three grinding wheels for $275. This one has the manual vise lock.

What do you use ?
Likes or dislikes about the chain vises on these grinders.

Thanks David

 

[Crofter]

Those grinders may all be from the same manufacturer. I have the Tecomec like Baileys or Cutters Choice. I think the 511 is the same. Get the auto clamp. It is nice to go around a chain several times especially if you are taking off quite a bit. It is very easy, to affect the heat treating of the cutter if you take much at a time. When using the manual clamp the tendency is to avoid multiple passes because of the time and bother of shifting hands around to do so. The Maax Grinder that Jeff Sikkema sells has some more adjustments that makes it better at getting both sides teeth the same length without juggling every chain.

 

[thompson1600]

Are Silvey grinders worth the extra money or is the Maxx grinder just about as good?

Talking about round chain grinding.

Can any of these round chain grinders (tecomec, maxx, etc) be converted like the Stihl USG to also do square grind?

Tom

 

[Frans]

I think wheel size is very important to keep the teeth cool and not 'case harden' the teeth when sharpening.
I use the Silvey 510 (round ground).
Most of the other chain sharpening machines use smaller grinding wheels but the Silvey is a good 8" in dia.
You could'nt give me any other model other than a Silvey
Frans

 

[Lawn Masters]

I have an oregon 511A, for the most part, its a great grinder, considering I dont use it very often. Mine has the manual chain vise. speed on grinding isnt something I worry about, as long as it gets done, and is sharp.

 

[Davidsinatree]

For the money, I'm leaning towards the Oregon 511a. Without the hyd grip.
Thanks for the input.

 

[RedlineIt]

My experience with grinders is with the Oregon products. Big shop with a dozen people sharing three units. Manual clamp did not seem to rob too much time.

Inability or lack of know-how to dress the grinding wheel to the correct shape was the biggest draw-back I saw of using these. Every three or four chains, you have to dress the leading edge of the wheel. Takes time to get it right.

 

[Fish]

The oregon grinders are Emak, I have the model with the reversable motor and the
full tilt vise, and recommend it highly

 

[tawilson]

http://http://www.northerntool.com/...oductDisplay?storeId=6970&productId=480&R=480
Is this the same one? It doesn't say whether it has the hydraulic clamp or not. Maybe that's the A in 511A. If so, it's on sale for $319. I know this topic has been batted around before but I think it's good to rehash it in case of new models or technology. From what you guys are saying I might just order this one too.

 

[z4lunch]

Steve here... I have two Silvey SDM-4's for square grinding, but I also like The Foley Belsaw 308 I have for round grinding and gullet work, and to set raker height. It has a reversable motor. You can find them on Ebay from time to time. They where stupid money when new.
Steve

 

[Molecule]

I guess if a thread is on ... is brand-X a good sharpener, it's probably ok to ask ... is the Chicago sharpener a bad one? Harbor Freight has them for $50.

If it's not worth the money, why? what differentiates a good sharpener from a bad one (aside from the result, if there is any difference there)?

 

[bwalker]

? for you guys. If you are only going to grind a chain why is it bad if the tooth is hardened? Wouldnt it just stay sharp longer or is the tooth becoming brittle a issue?

 

[YUKON 659]

Ben, as far as I know there would be no problem having a hardened cutter in a chain that was to be "only" sharpened in a grinder as long as it was the correct hardness...probably somewhere around 50 Rockwell C and it would have to be double drawn to prevent brittleness.

Jeff

 

[jimbo1490]

I got one of those El Cheapo grinders from Harbor for $50. They have a retail store here in Orlando so no shipping, only sales tax. I needed to make a couple of 30" milling chainsa and did not want to try to file that much off that may teeth. It is a very cheap, flimsy imitation of a good grinder. If you push on it it will flex so you have to treat it carefully.

I realized I needed to gring a good bit off each tooth in order to reset the angles for milling, but I did not want to do the 'touch grinding' a little at a time deal, to keep the heat treat intact. I'm impatient like that. So I set up a simple little gravity feeed coolant rig and filled it with water with a little soap. It pees a little stream of coolant right on the tooth. Now I can grind aggressively to my heart's content and the tooth stays perfectly cool. Knocked out two milling chains in no time. Could there be a problem with this approach?

Jimbo

 

[Crofter]

Jimbo1490;
Have you tried just touching the nose of the tooth to the blunter outside top plate angle? I dont think it necessary to lose all that tooth to have the angle all the way across in the first few sharpenings.

Regarding the hardening by grinding. The hardening wont be consistent. Some parts of the cutter may get softer by the heating and subsequent cooling and some may be left too hard to the point of edge brittle chipping failure. It depends on how hot it got and how quickly the quench effect worked. The grinders that are not reversible will give a different hardening effect on the edges of left cutters than on right. (that is if you are pushing the project to the point of affecting factory heat treating)

 

[jimbo1490]

I have not tried grinding the new angle only part way. I hadn't thought of it, to tell you the truth. Anyway the first two chains I ground started out as standard 25 degree chains that had both found some metal in the logs (Doh! ) and needed a LOT of grinding to return them to ANY sevice anyway.

On the grinding with coolant: The tooth never gets hot so there is no quench effect. You can put your finger on the tooth the entire time it is being ground. The water carries away all the heat. I thought there must be a reason why nobody else does this since it seems to eliminate the heat treat worries. This is very common practice for the machine tool sharpening business, BTW, just not for saw chain. The water carries all the dust away too.

Jimbo

 

[P_woozel]

When you savage your chains by cutting things otw (other than wood) hit them with a file first to get some wheel time off there.

 

[Davidsinatree]

Thanks for the replies...Monday morning I ordered the Oregon 511a with manual chain grab. Comes with 3 different size grinding wheels. $293 delivered to my door price. I'll let you know how I like it when I get it and start using.

 

[mike031]

What website did you order your 511a from?
Im thinking about buying one.

 

[Davidsinatree]

Mike,
CCD ''Commercial Cutters Direct '' www.commerialcutters.com. they have a package of the 511a with three wheels for $275.