Getting started in chain grinding

Back at the 3/8. I set the depth stop to stop just below the top plate. Is that low enough? You can see there is dirt and fuzz where below where I stopped.

 

Looks right. How many ° are you from vertical? Got a pic from the other side?

 

I'm at 60/30/0 does that answer your question? I'm still kind of lost on the whole last number of the above.

 

Looks good. Did you cut with it yet? How does it Do? 60° should give you a chain that lasts awhile longer without resharpening

 

Not yet. All my logs are 80 miles away unfortunately. Just split firewood here.

 

Good point on the flex. Surprisingly enough, my cheap Tecomec is more solid than the expensive Oregon 511AX regarding flex.

The last number is the tilt of the vice. Leave it alone, you will be fine. My Silvey has tilt automatically factored in. With the Oregon/Tecomec, forgetaboutit.

 

Just as important as the amount of hook, (the 60 degree #) is the steepness of the top plate angle. The smaller the number the longer it will hold an edge. Oregon LGX is 25 degrees but once you get to the witness mark, you can decrease that angle as there just isn't a lot of "meat" left on the tooth. The shallower angle will not dull as fast.

 

I have a tecomec super jolly(the hydraulic clamping vise) I use for 3/8, a small tecomec 185(I think) for 325, and a tecomec 177(I think) that I use for rakers only that is at around 13 degrees so I don't need to file rakers.

Picco is one of my favorite chains, it stays sharp a long time, not to bad to file(after the first couple times filing), and it makes your small saw run like it's a little bigger.
I hand file all my picco chains as most all of them I have started out new. You can't hardly make a picco chain cut bad even with top plate angles ranging from 20-45 degrees, it's great chain.
In your pictures of the picco it looks as though the rakers have never been touched.

On an Oregon chain the 10 degree tilt helps the chain to self feed. You can also lower the rakers a bit to make up for it, I use a 325 progressive gauge(takes a couple thousands more off without getting to crazy) to set one raker on either side, then set the grinder to finish them up.
I get a lot of chains that have never had the rakers touched and are half worn, this doesn't help them cut much, amazing just how sharp they are when I get some of them too lol.

 

Pico chains on a powered grinder - I use a 1/16 thick wheel, 1/8 inch is too thick depending on the chain a 3/32 might be a choice as well. These are not going to be found at typical sources for chains and related material but from industrial grinding supply houses like MSC or similar most will have 1.25" arbor so an adapter to the arbor size of your grinder will be needed - mostly a custom job there-

 

It seems as thought least one person in this thread may be able to handle making an adapter for it Firewood Bandit .

 

Yes, adapter/bushing, the later being a more proper term.
I typically use 25 across the top and about 65 on the vertical. New chains seldom have a deep hook heck it could be straight as long as it is not leading the top plate. On a full chisel a deep hook is self defeating as the nice sharp long point is going to get rolled over quick. we are not making fillets here.

 

Here is a tip on grinding wheels for chain sharpeners- every notice how out of balance they seem? This mostly due to the arbor size on the wheel being a bit generous. Some electrical tape or similar is just the ticket for shrinking that arbor hole or building up the machine arbor. In either case a bit of a pain to apply ,but it stops all that vibration from the wheel not being perfectly centered on the arbor. I commercially grind chains so I am constantly swapping out wheels- If I were to true a wheel upon a particular mounting every time I changed them I would go broke buying wheels- I do not know how tight they hold the tolerance on the CBN wheels- for the price I would hope they are spot on as these are plated so no way to true them up.

 

I grind for a living and the slop on the hole to the spindle hub is there for a reason. If it is tight on the arbor it can cause it to become too tight and crack the wheel. As the wheel heats up/expands it has no place to go. Not saying you're going to get the wheel that hot but it doesn't take much. If your wheel is getting out of round constantly, one needs to tighten it more or not hit it so hard into what you're grinding. Wheels normally will true themselves to a point but I normally just hand dress with a diamond or stone. Dressing with a diamond will save the hardness of chain as it will cut cooler. Don't believe me? Ask Firewood Bandit. The hole in the wheel is done on purpose is the main thing. I would not suggest making it tight.

 

I do a fair amount of tool and cutter grinding. I suggest that you mark the arbor and wheels, a sharpie is fine. When mounting the wheel line up the marks facing towards you, pinch the wheel with your fingers and gently pull towards yourself as you tighten it up. Dress it true. It's best to piddle around a bit indexing and trying it over and over until it's running at it's best before making your "permanent" mark. Now you can swap out wheels and put them back in the same orientation without having to redress. Also do NOT use vitrified ie. stone wheels without a blotter (the paper discs stuck on the wheels)!!!! It's purpose is to even out the clamping force otherwise you'll only be touching the high points and not supporting the low ones. Clear as mud....

 

Chain grinding- really dosen't heat up the wheel like a surface grinding or tool and cutter situation ( least wise not at the repetition rate I work them at) ( I got those machines also) Yes a little play is needed - but a 1/16" typical on chain saw wheel/stones is over doing it. As far as the paper disc on these wheels evening out pressure at .002 or less it isn't helping much, better off to make your own or at least double it up. This isn't high tech stuff here. I have grinding wheels up to 14" in dia. some up to 4" wide believe me when I say I baby those very expensive bricks. and none of those have anywhere near this kind of play in them. Man if one of those 14" x 2" wheels had that much play in the arbor hole I would not even bother mounting it as it would likely explode from centrifugal force before it even got up to speed. These get checked before mounting 1 ringing, 2 balance 3 get dressed true 4 balance is checked again and then maybe we are off to the races. Had a few over the years that went bang just getting up to speed- dodging shrapnel is such an engaging sport. ( it bounces or ricochets off other areas) By the way never turn a grinder on while standing / sitting in front of it - never know what might happen.

 

Most of the problem stems from the crappy molded hub that comes on the grinder itself. I machined a new one before I even tried the factory one. A "machine tool" they are not.

 

Couple things with your new grinder. CBN is the way to go but beware there are many different grades that are being sold. Second make sure on your grinder that you square the vise to the center shaft of the wheel. Take a thin metal rule or machinist ruler and clamp in the vise. Lower the grinding wheel check that the rule is centered in the locking bolt for the wheel. If not loosen the 2 set screws underneath the vise and adjust. Also check that the wheel is 90 degrees to the locking vise. Next purchase is a digital caliper so you can measure your cutters. Make sure that all are same length when done. Cool trick for rakers is use the big flat stone that came with your machine. Adjust your angle to 10-15 degrees instead of 60. This will cut the rakers at a decent profile. Good luck and practice on old chain. You will get it down in a short period of time.

 

Kevin is so right regarding diamond dressers for maintaining proper profile on wheels. Dressing bricks tear the grit out of the wheel. A diamond actually fractures the grit which is not only sharper when grinding, leaves a much better finish and takes off so little material your wheels last forever. I have mentioned these before in sharpening threads and no one other than Kevin believes it, well so be it. (BTW, I learned this trick from Kevin, he know about grinding)

This is way bigger and a lot cheesier than the industrial ones I have but you get the idea. And it's 8 buckees. But then, what do we know.

 

I'll second the diamond dresser.......stones are for throwing.... farther the better.

 

I bought a diamond dresser a few weeks ago and they work great.
I wish the same could be said about the CBN grinding wheels. After just doing one chain with the CBN wheel I went back to the pink wheel. I found the CBN wheel leaves a bur of metal on both the left and right cutters. For the two hundred I spent on two wheels I could have bought a lifetime supply of pink wheels.