My cheapo dremel died as i mainly used it when a chain was really dulled and/or on the 25"+ chains vs hand filing. Put a 7/32 bit in my little cordless drill and walla...chain saw sharpener. Seems to have put a good edge on it even though the rpm's were slower and generated no sparks while grinding. I remember seeing someone put an actual file in a drill and sharpen that way. Ill be giving that chain a run today or tomorrow and will report back.
Looks good, maybe a little deep in the gullet. I tried the file-in-drill method, have to run drill in reverse. I also have the Stihl 12v chain sharpener, very similar to a dremel, but has a depth gauge on it.
22" chain i got with the 361 from jo191145 last Summer. He had an aggressive grind which i followed. Tried it out on the 500i today. Cut great but one side teeth longer as i cut slightly to the left. Ill hand file it now.
A standard file won't work in a drill very long...the teeth are made to cut on the push stroke only...a file labeled as "rotary" would be what you'd want for doing it this way...
Standard files are not designed to be turned when used. The push stroke does the cutting, not high speed rotation. Don’t waste your time with that...
Brad, if you switch to a progressive raker gauge, length of teeth won’t matter one bit as they take off different amounts of material for each.
Search Oregon File-o-plate. Here’s some pics. I of course use the Husky one but I believe Still makes one. So with this one, you place it up against the back of the cutter in front of the depth gauge and rest it on the cutter. What sticks up through the hole gets filed smooth with the plate.
I had something very similar made by Carlton years back. I think it was called the "file-o-plate". I used to buy chains cut from a roll of Carlton chain at the OPE dealer i did business with many years ago. EDIT: your response showed up while i was typing this.
I’ve not owned a Carlton one. But I use the Husky on all my chains with proper results. I have Oregon, Stihl and Carlton chains.
The File-O-Plates will work on other brands of chain as long as they are of similar style. Sent from my SM-G930VL using Tapatalk
You could buy a cheap micrometer or set of vernier calipers to verify length. It’s not essential to be .0001 accurate, but should even out length of the tooth. Assuming you hold the proper angles, the tooth should be good and raker height is pretty simple to maintain.
I used to check with micrometer, but havent in a while or unless its cutting crooked. I was a LOT easier with one bar and chain being 16" bar too. Last night i sharpened two 25" & 28" which were dulled from dirt. Touched up an 18 & 22" too.
