Just purchased one to sharpen 404 harvester chain. Go figure had to modify it to fit the 80 gauge drivers. Lucky it was just a shim job with washers. I did a good job all the cutters look good. I need to figure angles out a bit. I only cut spruce with it. I think it’s optimized for hardwood that’s probably not frozen. Only thing less favorable is it’s a 12mm arbor vs the standard 7/8 that most wheels are. Currently using a Belsaw/Frowly wheel.
I have a little more time on the grinder. It is built well, it's pleasant to sharpen chain on, it is decently fast on the .404 - 89 driver harvester chain. Currently playing with angles to see what works on frozen spruce. My only comparison is a Simington 451C square grinder (had) and I have a Silvey Razor-sharp II for square grinding chainsaw chain, I can only cut .50- and .63-gauge chain with it, hence the purchase. I decided on the USG as it was at the local saw shop and anything else I would have had to order online. But could not find if they would accommodate the .80 gauge. Saw shop owner said bring a loop and we will try it on one of his USG, before buying one. Anyone have one of these, and have any pro-tips? Anyone use/sharpen or have pro-tips on .404 harvester chain?
I'm guessing that not to many are using harvester chain, it was a shot in the dark. Nonetheless worth asking. I have 3 cut to see what my machine likes. It's just a matter of time to get it figured out. Stihl has a chart that comes with the USG that gives angles for various chain. I have a starting point.
The 404 I find information on is the 404 .63-gauge for chainsaw not the 404 .80-gauge harvester chain. I'm running 18HX from Oregon. It's been a while since I've had 404 .63 in my hand but as memory serves the length of the links are shorter and of course the width from .63 to .80 gauge of the drivers.
I posted some of this on the CBN thread. I had read on the chain sharpening thread to watch out for the steel; they seemed to weigh the grinder down in the time it took to spin it up to speed. In searching for the better mouse trap, I honestly don't know what I like/dislike or need. The wheel I have now is a 5"x 3/16x 12mm its supposed to be 5 3/4". I am spending a little time trying to figure out what angles to run in frozen spruce. Not much information on angles for 404 harvester chain. I run Oregon 18HX and have their #'s for what it is and Stihl gives a nice chart for angles for the different chain sizes. I am splitting the difference in-between the two. I have run enough of the factory 18HX and it's good. Now I'm trying the in-between, then what Stihl's chart recommends. There is not much info out there for harvester chain sharpening. I am assuming that most just keep it at factory specs. Cutting pine in the South's plantations, the Midwest's hardwoods or the North's Boreal forest, it's the same specs. Our frozen tight ringed softwood spruce must cut like a hardwood. Other issue is these machines have so much power and bar pressure on the wood, the generic angles work. I have to admit I like the testing to find out. Monday tries a new grind. Even if only saving a second per cut over the course of thousands of cords the testing will pay off.
Just my opinion but I find that the steel body wheels are far better than aluminum or plastic. We grind most of our own tooling and have around 15 cbn wheels and electroplated steel wheels outperform resin/aluminum wheels. Less chatter and cooler cutting. The PSC motors on the chain grinders could care less about the extra inertia and at least on the Oregon grinder the extra weight is not noticeable.
The angles that I am experimenting with so far are leaning in the right direction. They cut fast, I need them to be durable, not break any edges when I hit the frozen knots. Cut a cord yesterday in 35 minutes start to finish and ready to deliver. A few pictures as requested.
I would love to rent one but I don’t get anything straight enough to run thru a processor. I have a Stihl 2-1 for .404, if you want it you can have it. Send me a pm with your address.
Next year you and Elizabeth should come to @walts GTG a week early and hit up the Paul Bunyan show...ya'll can stay here!
