Sharpening, Oregon 410 - Getting to Proper Guide Depth?

[Mick Dempsey]

Buy some chains, they’re cheap enough.

You're a time waster.

[FlyFishn]

The chain I ran before that cut the best of the two was .043" on the guide. So I am guessing the "standard" that these chains should be is .050".

 

So I ran one at .050", another at .055", then a third that I didn't use (still sharp ready to go) measured .044" so I left it. That gives me what I am assuming to be the "standard" +/- .005" to have 3 different levels of aggression on the cutters to see what works.

 

How I did it is with a straight edge and a feeler gauge. I set out to make a "tool" but when I had everything set up I figured the straight edge + feeler gauge was easy and "good enough".

 

Next time I cut I will note how each cuts  and then when I resharpen I'll go to what ever measurement that points to on this set. Every type of chain is different.

 

I did label each of the 3 so I know which is which when I grab them out of my box. The saw got the .055" so that will be first up.

 

 

Trying to hold the straight edge to clamp the feeler gauge with one hand and take a picture with the other was a challenge.

 

 

The name of the game is to get the straight edge across the points of two cutters, then check the guide under the left-most cutter. Grind to spec and lock the stop, then run all the guides to the same spec. Repeat for different chains (same type or different type - every chain wears differently and sharpens differently)

 

 

Tools used.

 

 

[FlyFishn]

5 hours ago, Mick Dempsey said:

Buy some chains, they’re cheap enough.

You're a time waster.

Sharpening chains is a waste of time?

Another hobby of mine is knife sharpening. I suppose I won't bore you with the waste of time in the process all the way to honing with balsa wood a diamond spray.

 

Joking aside, sharpening is imperative to properly operating cutters of any kind - knives, mower blades, saw blades, axes, chisels, you name it. I'm a believer an operator of something should know how to operate it. In the example of a chain saw - the thought of running the chain to oblivion, tossing it in the can, and repeating with a new one really grinds me. I know full well there are people out there that do that, but think of the material inefficiency - if you can get around 10 grinds out of a chain and toss one in the can when it gets dull that's wasting 90% of the life of the chain.

[Mick Dempsey]

No, sharpening chains is very worthwhile activity, I do it regularly as part of my job.

 

You are a waste of time on here.

 

[Stubby]

You mention above running different gauge chains . Do you mean the width of the drive link ? If you run a .043 wide chain in a bar with a groove width of .058 it will rock to one side causing problems ...

[bmp01]

Mr Fish,  have you  really ground the "rakers" or "depth gauges" to 44 thou, 50 thou and 55 thou (of an inch) below the tooth cutting edge ? As stated earlier in the thread 25 thou is the nearly universal number....

 

None of this is new stuff, its 'run of the mill' chain maintenance, best go look at some general chain sharpening guides.

[peatff]

I'm missing out on all the fun somewhere. About every third sharpen I give the rakers 3 or 4 strokes with the file and they cut fine. If they are not throwing chips I give them another couple of strokes job done. Just looked at one I was using yesterday and it was working fine, rakers are about 20 thou on a lo pro chain. The one in your picture looks like a new chain set at about 1/8 of an inch.😳

Edited January 5, 2022 by peatff

[Stere]

A progressive raker gauge files rakers lower as, as the chain teeth wear back the rakers need to be lower apparently.

 

http://gepkolcsonzo.eu/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/complete-book.pdf

 

 

Explained here.

 

 

 

[Stubby]

1 hour ago, Stere said:

A progressive raker gauge files rakers lower as, as the chain teeth wear back the rakers need to be lower apparently.

 

http://gepkolcsonzo.eu/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/complete-book.pdf

 

 

Explained here.

 

 

 

It does it automatically if you use the cheap pressed steel gauges as they sit on the top plate  of the cutter . As the cutter lowers as you sharpen back so does the gauge . Simples

[FlyFishn]

7 hours ago, Stubby said:

You mention above running different gauge chains . Do you mean the width of the drive link ? If you run a .043 wide chain in a bar with a groove width of .058 it will rock to one side causing problems ...

Thanks for the thoughts.

 

The measurements I gave of .044, .050, and .055 are the depth of the guides from the plane of the cutters - those weren't chain "gauges".

 

All the chains I run on this saw are .058". I am not sure what the other saws are, dads is a small stihl that runs .325" and we just got a Dewalt battery saw - I haven't looked at it close enough to see what it is but either .325" or 1/4". I don't think any of those chains are even close to interchangeable - the Dewalt and the Sthil are different bar lengths so it would be pretty obvious.