General Product Question
When using a Dremel Rotary Tool to sharpen a chainsaw chain...
General Product Question posted January 7, 2017 by John Sumner
327 Views, 4 Comments
Question:
When using a Dremel Rotary Tool to sharpen a chainsaw chain should a slight pressure be put on an upward angle, where the blade edge is, or back angle? I believe a downward angle would be incorrect.
Answer
Without a guide it would be nearly impossible to get the correct amount of hook on the cutter. Now as far as for using dremel I personally never tried it as I hand sharpen all my chains using a file guide as to the correct amount of hook and cutter angles. With it you put a back with a slight downward pressure on the file and the guide will prevent you form filing to deeply; hence, providing the correct cutter hook.
Now they make rotary file tools especially for doing chainsaw chains that have built-in guides. There also those chain grinders that do the job. I call them chop saws because I see so many chains messed up by them where the operator didn't set them up correctly or was too big of a hurry and overheated the cutters.
Personally there nothing like a hand sharpen chain as simply cuts better when done right.
Be the first to rate this
|
Thank you for your very informative response. I will certainly take your method into consideration when sharpening my chains.
Be the first to rate this
|
John,
Yes, The Dremel tool does work, but you do need the Dremel attachment for chainsaws, Not sure of the part number but I bought my attachment at Walmarts, and I am sure other big box stores will have them too.
You will also need the specific Dremel grinding stones and the correct size for your chain. However even with the attachment you can mis-grind your chain, and If I were to compare it to hand filing its just a little better than hand filing with a guide. The other thing is you are working very close with your fingers to the chain and Dremel tool, so you need to be very careful.
My preference is a standard Chain sharpener that looks like a chop saw, some of them are a little pricey but for me they seem the safest, and easiest to use, and fastest, and if your only grinding one or two different types of chains then set up is a breeze. Only disadvantage is that if your not careful you can easily grind too much tooth, and over a number of sharpenings your chain will disappear quickly. The chop saw type grinder is definitely fast, and I believe the safest method, and will give you all the correct angles very precisely, and it will be very sharp when done.
Oh, I still hand sharpen a chain,especially in the field, and if you start with a brand new chain, and have a good eye, and a good hand sharpening technique then you can sharpen and keep the chain fairly close to brand new. However I have found that over time, even being very careful with hand sharpening the right and left cutters will change in length, and then its time to take them to a machine and get all the cutters back to the same length. Also If you ever hit a nail and chip a tooth or two, or three than you will need to do a lot of hand filing to correct the problem, whereas a machine will re-grind the chain in just a few minutes, its very fast,
I hope this helps,
Karla
PS. I am Not a Husqvarna representative or Repair Service, just an experimental chainsaw person
Be the first to rate this
|
Thank you again for your insight. I will take all of it into consideration on how I set things up and sharpen the chain. By the way have a Happy New Year.
Be the first to rate this
|