Oregon has been promoting their new auto chainsaw chain grinder the 720- what ever. Oregon even invited me down to Saint Louis to get some education and play with the new machine. During this education I asked a question. " If you start at a short tooth as many have been told to do, what keeps it from burning the crap out of the longer cutters? They informed me , one if it is just one short tooth you should skip it. Two that the new wheel cuts with a lot less friction and doesn't burn the cutters. I though well why not use them on the other Grinders? Well they won't work. They only work in the auto grinder. So......
I bought a saw a couple weeks ago and it has a real short cutter, past the throw away point. The rest of the chain has 3/4 life. I never figured out why people sharpen a cutter like that. If I have one that is real bad, I just leave it the same length as the rest. I wonder if people throw the chain away when that one cutter breaks. I'd rather have one dull cutter than grinding away a good chain. It looks like that wheel runs pretty cool. I have a Northern tool roughneck oregon grinder knock off. It does a pretty good job but it is not a high production grinder. Sometimes the chain falls down in the vice or if you are not careful, the stop for the cutter can jack a cutter up out of the vice. I have been using the wheels that came with it. I can't bring myself to pay $100 for a CBN wheel for a $100 grinder. I've read recently that the CBN wheels don't seem to be as good as they used to be. Eventually I want to get a better grinder. How much does the ceramic wheel cost? I'll be interested in an update after you use the wheel some more.
You're a man after my own heart CoreyB. Manufacturers change things just so they can force people to buy new stuff or so they'll have a captive market on a part for a while. I take great pleasure in firing up the lathe or the mill just to beat the system. Well done sir.
I will have to double-check the price on each one. I know they are substantially less than a CBN wheel. I pay about $200 for the CBN wheels that I get. They cut fast and hard but they don't leave as fine of a finish as what I like on my chain but if you have 50 chains to do you can make up a lot of time. I will keep you posted on the ceramic ones and see how they hold up and how production is on them and stuff.
Ya I hate it when manufacturers do that stuff. Happens all the time and people wonder why small business can't stay open. Hard to stock 800 carburetors.
