Grinder Dressing

luvmexfood · November 30, 2014, 10:09:05 PM

How often should you dress the wheel on a chain grinder? Last chain I sharpened would not cut. Got to looking at it and noticed the cutting edge of the top of the tooth was a little blunt. Just wondering if it could be the wheel. Don't have a dressing tool but do have a spare wheel I can put on it.

CTYank · December 01, 2014, 04:21:38 PM

Quote from: luvmexfood on November 30, 2014, 10:09:05 PM
How often should you dress the wheel on a chain grinder? Last chain I sharpened would not cut. Got to looking at it and noticed the cutting edge of the top of the tooth was a little blunt. Just wondering if it could be the wheel. Don't have a dressing tool but do have a spare wheel I can put on it.

Doubt it's because the wheel needs dressing. That would be so if it were mis-shapen or clogged and thus heating more than grinding.

Simplest way to prevent the latter is to degrease chains before grinding. USC works great for that, with a little dish detergent.

IME if the cutting edge is at all blunt, most especially at the "corner", it's not sharpened. Besides the basic visual inspection, I use the "thumb test". Fail that-> advance the chain stop and hit them again.

One thing I like about the $100 NT grinder: the grinder pivots are flexible enough that it's easy, before each "hit" with the wheel, to move the grinder assmbly a bit right (grind less) or left (grind more). The cutters do NOT have to be absolutely equal in length. Doing the above avoids the necessity, on finding a tooth or two that needs more grinding, to have to make an adjustment and go around again for every tooth, both sides.

Of course, no matter how the cutters are ground, the depth gauges need to be set to .025" below the cutters. But, you knew that about "gumming" the wood, I'll bet.

ladylake · December 02, 2014, 07:25:11 AM

Make sure to set the wheel low enough so the side of the wheel hits the face of the tooth and the side plate has a positive hook, with that and the rakers at the right height your chain will cut good. Steve

1270d · December 07, 2014, 10:32:38 AM

I grind 404 harvester chain. A lot of it. Usually dress the wheel every three chains sometimes two depending on how oily they are

Woodcutter_Mo · December 11, 2014, 01:21:29 AM

Depending on the type of wheel you use, some grinding wheels can be dressed with a piece of a broken or worn out white aluminum oxide grinding wheel. Ive used this method to dress a lot of grinding wheels including diamond and CBN. It usually works if that's all you have on hand.

luvmexfood · January 03, 2015, 09:47:14 AM

Started back to sawing with the Echo 590. I am still having a problem with the cutting edge on the top plate of the chain being blunt and not sharpening with my Harbor Freight Sharpener. Put new wheel on grinder and increased the amount of material removed from the top plate as an experiment.No go. Anyother suggestions? Cutting hard maple and it dulls chains rather quickly.

Chain I am running is a Oregon 72LPX070G

ladylake · January 03, 2015, 12:08:54 PM

Do you have a positive hook on the side plate when your done grinding. Steve

7sleeper · January 04, 2015, 02:23:30 PM

Quote from: luvmexfood on January 03, 2015, 09:47:14 AM
Started back to sawing with the Echo 590. I am still having a problem with the cutting edge on the top plate of the chain being blunt and not sharpening with my Harbor Freight Sharpener. Put new wheel on grinder and increased the amount of material removed from the top plate as an experiment.No go. Anyother suggestions? Cutting hard maple and it dulls chains rather quickly.

Chain I am running is a Oregon 72LPX070G

Sounds like your not taking off enough during the grind. Check out this video, I find it quite good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3m_ErOrzHY

7

luvmexfood · January 04, 2015, 03:43:10 PM

Hook looks ok. will work on them somemore tommorow.

luvmexfood · January 05, 2015, 04:10:55 PM

May have found something. After looking again this morning my new thought is possibly I was cutting down too much and the curve at the bottom of the cutting edge was pushing the wheel over slightly kicking the grinding wheel back against the top plate cutting edge. Wouldn't be much but it's only a $29.00 grinder.

Recharpened one this morning but when I got to the woods tractor wouldn't start, boosted it off, Had to clear brush from a skid road and while I had the blade on I back dragged some of the skid trails to pull the leaves off so the ground can freeze under.

LeeB · January 12, 2015, 07:52:05 AM

The horrible fright grinders definitely have a learning curve. I ruined several chains learning to use mine. Very light grinds and a thumb on the indexing rod to keep the chain from moving seemed to help a lot.

Corley5 · January 12, 2015, 01:49:06 PM

Quote from: Woodcutter_Mo on December 11, 2014, 01:21:29 AM
Depending on the type of wheel you use, some grinding wheels can be dressed with a piece of a broken or worn out white aluminum oxide grinding wheel. Ive used this method to dress a lot of grinding wheels including diamond and CBN. It usually works if that's all you have on hand.

You're dressing a CBN wheel?

luvmexfood · January 23, 2015, 01:07:58 AM

Operator error. I had been working with two chains. Thought I had filed the rakers down on the chain I was using but hadn't. Lowered the rakers and adjusted sharpening angle and wa la!

Had been sharpening at about 32 deg. Looked the exact angle up on the Oregon website and should be sharpening to 25 deg.

Mopar70 · January 24, 2015, 06:31:14 PM

I have an HF grinder, results are... ok.
I ordered the 7/8" arbor x 3/16" wheels from NT to replace the 1/8" wheel. "only 1/8" from HF"
the 3/16" wheels are 4" od VS the HF 4 1/4" or 4 1/.8"?
Ither way, half again the price of the tool, after shipping for 2 of these wheels.
outcome.....the different OD doesnt seem to matter to much.
the 3/16" wheel has given me good results on this machine at "no greater then 30 degree angle.
poor results with any thought of hook at angles greater then 30 degrees.
my only rule is consistantcy....
My process
1 Soak the chain in gasoline
2 find the worst cutting edge on the chain
3 set your tool up methodically and cut that edge "slowly".
4 grind the whole chain"do not adjust"
5 raker guide and file.
6 "hold on your in for a ride"

Mopar70 · January 24, 2015, 06:41:18 PM

forgot to say the chain brake is crap on these machines...."
my best results have come from tensioning the lock bars up as much as possible and ignore the guide lock handle.
then i use my opposite hand to hold the back side of the cutting edge when i make a grind.

luvmexfood · January 24, 2015, 07:51:20 PM

Quote from: Mopar70 on January 24, 2015, 06:41:18 PM
forgot to say the chain brake is crap on these machines...."
my best results have come from tensioning the lock bars up as much as possible and ignore the guide lock handle.
then i use my opposite hand to hold the back side of the cutting edge when i make a grind.

Somewhere, I think on this site is a process to add some small washers as shims to the brake assembly to make it hold a little better.

Mopar70 · January 28, 2015, 06:36:24 PM

i will look into that, thanks for the tip!

terrifictimbersllc · January 29, 2015, 05:56:13 PM

Quote from: Corley5 on January 12, 2015, 01:49:06 PM
Quote from: Woodcutter_Mo on December 11, 2014, 01:21:29 AM
Depending on the type of wheel you use, some grinding wheels can be dressed with a piece of a broken or worn out white aluminum oxide grinding wheel. Ive used this method to dress a lot of grinding wheels including diamond and CBN. It usually works if that's all you have on hand.

You're dressing a CBN wheel?

This sounds like cleaning not dressing. The diamond wheel on my grinder that came with my Peterson had a white soft stone to clean it. I use this or a similar white stone on my ABN dinasaw cyclone wheel (from bailey's in my chainsaw chain grinder) also.

Corley5 · January 29, 2015, 06:41:50 PM

I've never had to do anything to the Foley/Belsaw CBN wheels that I use. They don't cut any different now than the day they were new after miles and miles of .404 harvester chain and a fair amount of regular saw chain too. I even switched out to a new wheel just to see if there was any difference then I put the old one back on and the new one back in the box

I've never cleaned a chain before sharpening either

I questioned dressing because the CBN and diamond wheels I'm familiar with have a thin coating on the wheel's profile. To dress one would remove the good stuff

I'll never again use a vitreous rock for sharpening chains. I'd like to find a flat CBN wheel for cutting rakers but haven't come across one yet in my limited searches.

pineywoods · January 29, 2015, 07:50:11 PM

Corley5, where do you find cbn wheels for a chainsaw sharpener? I go through the stone wheels like crazy on an old woodmizer drag band sharpener. A chain sharpener wheel would probably fit, if not, I can make adapters....

bandmiller2 · February 11, 2015, 08:30:48 AM

Grinding wheels are best dressed with a diamond dresser lightly. My favorite is shaped like the letter "T" and has diamond grits on the top. The real spoiler is the Silvey square grinder it has two pivoting diamond dressers that keep the wheel just right. When dressing remember "light is right". Frank C.