I've been seeing these on eBay a lot lately. They're sometimes sold as "Laser" - this one is a "Bench Pro" but they didn't note the brand in the listing. I know I'm sending money to china, but I've got a couple of 5' milling chains to work on so I couldn't resist. I've never used an Oregon or any other pro grinder, so I can't compare it to those. I usually sharpen my chains with the Stihl FG2. But I just did my favorite chain - a 36" full comp milling chain - so here's my review if you're interested. It comes with 2 (pink) wheels - one for 3/8 and 404, the other for smaller chains; dressing brick, and a gauge/profile tool. All metal construction, tilting head, and has a worklight too which was a nice surprise. Motor felt pretty heavy and runs nice and quiet. I could get the head to flex a bit if I push sideways on it but it was rigid enough in regular use. The chain vise is so-so - I like the one on the FG2 better. It holds the chain in place really well, as long as you hold onto the handle the whole time while you're grinding. The cam doesn't really 'lock' like the FG2. And the stop pawl assembly had more play in it than I'd like. I'm impressed with how cool the cutters stayed during grinding. I stuck to light bursts at first; but I found as long as I maintained very light pressure, they would stay cool to the touch. Overall I gotta give it a 5/5 - I'd deduct a point on the chain vise but I gotta credit it back for the price point. It did a nice job on the chain, and it was a heck of a lot faster than the FG2. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.
If you land on one of the $130 ones, look in the suggestions they give you. I found this one for $104 with free shipping.
Might originate from this company. http://www.lasersales.org They're local to me and I can remember my dad buying saw and logging supplies there when I was still chittin'green. Actually still in same location that they were 35-40 years ago.
Yeah, there are or have been a bunch of these on the market that probably all come from the same factory -- including the Northern Industrial and Timber Tuff versions. I have one that I picked up secondhand recently, and the vise is similarly iffy. You'll find some ideas for improving it if you search Arboristsite for threads on the Northern Industrial grinder that was popular a few years ago.
If the only real complaint about this grinder is that the clamp for locking the chain in the vise doesn't really lock and you have to have a hand on it, a simple locking clamp upgrade using a real industrial one might be the simple fix I used to buy hundreds of these at a time for a former job. Now I buy them from time to time at my current job.
I have a nice Oregon 511a and a Timber master equivalent. The Timber master is a little bit more sloppy on some of the movements of the grinder and on the fit for some of the pieces, but over all not bad. The bottom line is will it sharpen a chain good enough to use? Answer yes. I believe on the cheaper made sharpeners if you know what the final result should look like and you know how to get them then who cares what it cost for the grinder. I just have to make sure to take the time to set up the grinder correctly so that I get the results I am looking for. I have no issues with my chains cutting good and fast.
Looks like a solid performer above the Buffalo brand I have. What does the tilting head option offer you? Guess after reading your review Shawn Curry, I might develop a little GAD
The tilting head offers a different angle for how the chain is facing the grinding wheel. I happen to like the tilting chain vise and use it on all my chains. I think I can get a little sharper angle using it. For some guys they do not care and just leave the vise at zero with no tilt and they can still get a chain the cuts good and meets with their purpose in cutting. Just different strokes for different folks.
I've been really putting it through the paces today - reshaping a 60" 172DL chain to a 10 degree top angle for milling. The chain vise really does work pretty decent, its just taking a little bit to get used to. Heat has definitely become more of a factor but that's to be expected while removing so much material. As MagCraft mentioned, it can change the angle of attack of the wheel to cutter. So when I dialed in my adjustments, I tried to match it up to the original bevel on the cutters. It also has a depth stop that I adjusted to bottom out at around 1/16" above the tie straps to get all the way into the gullets. So given the angle of attack, and the "pill shaped" profile produced by the wheel (at work, the technical term is a "squircle" ), what I ended up with was much closer to a proper chisel grind, rather than the hollow grind I end up with using round files. I'm really looking forward to trying these out. This is the key right here. I think all the hand sharpening I've done has helped sharpen my eye for it as well. I think I'm getting the hang of it already, its just a tool that's helping me get there faster.
Hey looking good. I know I did some square filing before I bought my square grinder and just like you Shawn knowing what to look for helped in the set up for the grinder. I think your going to love the way those chains are going to cut. One more trick I use. I took the thickest wheel that came with the grinder I think it was met for .404 and 1/2 chain and I took the dressing stone and shaped that wheel to the shape of the rakers. I use that on all my rakers and can get them all set to the exact same height and same shape. Makes for a nice smooth cutting chain.
