Lidl (or Aldi) chain sharpeners... worth a punt?

[kram]

Finished upgrading the pivot on mine. Much smoother with no play. I can now set it accurately and do the chain all the same length.

 

Its been a year on the healing bench and I have lost the pivot spring that holds it up, which means I am tying it to the wall with a bungee cord.

 I notice another flaw that was hidden by the pivot. For anything but a light touchup, the base is flexing and changing the angle of the tooth with poor results. Holding the end down, by the swivel, prevents it. Instead I plan to bolt the base to a peice of 4mm steel sheet so it cant move.

 

 

 

[sandspider]

I've got one. I'm only a weekend chainsaw user, and normally file by hand - plenty sharp enough for my needs. Having said that, last week I hit a rock under a log I was sawing, and properly mullered my chain. Fished out the Aldi sharpener and set it up, and had a quick go. It's not perfect, and as above there's a fair bit of slop in it, but I got the chain back to a reasonable state quite easily. I then filed it by hand to get it really sharp (in my opinion anyway, pros would probably disagree) and it's cutting again.

I wouldn't use it all the time, a file is less faff and I think does a better job - but when a chain has really suffered it's a good option to have.

[Steven P]

Got that... somewhere... Job 0.5 though is a decent 'blacksmiths' vice. I think mounting this is definitely one for the pottering thread though! 

[kram]

I made up a steel plate to reduce twisting and really helps, but there is still twisting. I plan to fill the hollow pivot part of the base, with some steel sheet cut to shape and epoxy to stiffen it.

 

 

 

There is a step on the base that I forgot about so needs a 2.5mm spacer, job for another day.

This chain was badly blunted, not cutting straight, my mate was going to bin it. I could have taken more off but it will do him for now. He hit a stone yesterday with the new replacement!

Edited October 17 by kram

[doobin]

1 hour ago, kram said:

I made up a steel plate to reduce twisting and really helps, but there is still twisting. I plan to fill the hollow pivot part of the base, with some steel sheet cut to shape and epoxy to stiffen it.

 

 

 

There is a step on the base that I forgot about so needs a 2.5mm spacer, job for another day.

This chain was badly blunted, not cutting straight, my mate was going to bin it. I could have taken more off but it will do him for now. He hit a stone yesterday with the new replacement!

Appreciate the ingenuity but looking at eveything you've done/are planning to do, my advice to anyone else would be to buy a decent one first.

 

And a CBN wheel.

 

Everything is tight out of the box on this, I added the CBN wheel and the coolant. Personally I would say only then will it match the cut of a file. WIthout being rude, your sharpened chain still looks blunt to me- nowhere near enough hook for my liking. Appreciate that the camera doesn't always show such details though.

 

Edited October 17 by doobin

[kram]

Are those still available? The oregon ones I see listed are identical chinese cheapies.

 

CBN is for hard metal, which the chome plate is, however as these wheels work, Im not convinced its required. Fineness of grit size would be more important in my opinion.

 

Yes photos are extremely hard to capture sharpness of a chain. Might not be perfect but it is sharp.

Thanks

Edited October 17 by kram

[doobin]

5 hours ago, kram said:

Are those still available? The oregon ones I see listed are identical chinese cheapies.

 

CBN is for hard metal, which the chome plate is, however as these wheels work, Im not convinced its required. Fineness of grit size would be more important in my opinion.

 

Yes photos are extremely hard to capture sharpness of a chain. Might not be perfect but it is sharp.

Thanks

Rather than fineness, it's the grit sharpness and the bonding of the abrasive wheel that is most important. A fine abrasive wheel that clogs easily will burn a tooth very quickly. A coarser cut may leave a rougher finish but may also be less susceptible to clogging leading to a better overall result. The quicker you can remove stock, the less time heat has to build up.

 

Ceramic grits are a step up from standard al-ox, with their self fracturing ability leaving a fresh sharp grain edge. CBN is even better, with even quicker stock removal plus they can be cleaned without reprofiling the wheel.

 

I do a lot of fabricating and there's more to abrasives than most people think.

Edited October 17 by doobin