I've had very good success with my harbor freight sharpener. I had to make some adjustments to it that I found on the review section on their website. I put some washers under the bottom screw of the clamp and it pulls the chain down. I don't have to hold it at all. Just squeeze the lever. As far as the angle for the chain goes I just put a new chain on it and set the wheel to chain where it was flush with the cutter and mark it where the degree marks are with a sharpie. I'm sure this may be a pain in the rear if you have different angled chains but I only have one. I have copied and pasted three of the fixes from the review section off of HF's website. There is one that has a fix for the angle problem but I didn't do that yet. For the money I couldn't beat it. I also have the Timberline sharpener which would work well once I got it set but was a pain in the tail for me. Worked me pretty hard. Maybe I gave up on it too fast but was happy when I bought the HF sharpener. Just my 2 cents.
1)Many HF products require tweaking to perfect their operation, and this one is no exception. Once a few minor modifications are made, however, this sharpener will far exceed expectations, especially considering its price point.
The largest complaint I've seen, and one experienced by myself as well, is the chain clamping mechanism. Out of the box, the chain clamp is not fully assembled and no instructions are provided to attach the cable (instructions in last paragraph of this review) When operating, the clamp plate which applies pressure to the chain hits the chain too high, often on the rivets. Because the cable attaches at a lower point, the pressure plate will twist with more cable tension in such a way that causes the chain to lift and tilt slightly to the side.
The best workaround for this, which was posted in another review, is to remove the bottom screw on the pressure plate (directly below the cable adjustment knob) and use small washers to shim behind the pressure plate approximately 1/4" and replace the screw. Doing this will cause the pressure plate to tilt in the opposite direction it did originally when the clamp handle is squeezed, which will cause the top edge of the plate to not only come in contact with the chain at a lower point, but will tend to pull the chain downward.
I have also noticed there to be some play in the hinge which the grinder assembly is raised and lowered on. This is not too much trouble as long as you either are careful not to put any sideways pressure on the grinder handle or are consistent in your motion.
One problem I had with mine that I did not see listed elsewhere is that the plane of the griner wheel is not perfectly parallel with the center line of the base. I suspect it is due to imperfect moulding of the plastic, but presents a real problem in that using the angle guide to cut a 30 degree on one side does not produce the same angle as a 30 degree cut in the other direction. In my case, doing accurate 30 degree cuts requred setting 25 degrees on the left side of the scale and 35 degrees on the right.
If you encounter this problem, the workaround is similar and just as easy as the chain grip. There are two larger screws that secure the chain guide to its plastic base. Remove the screw on the side where the LOWER angle is needed (be careful not to lose the washer which separates the two plates) and shim between the guide and plastic mount enough to correct the angle. In my case, about 1/8" shim was enough to correct the 5 degrees.
I've seen complaints about the plastic knob which secures the grinding wheel, but this should not be a problem as long as 1) make sure it's properly secured out of the box and 2) do not overstress the tool which could cause the plastic to strip. Gentle grinding is key and you should not be generating too much sparks. The motor RPM should only drop a little when grinding.
For operation, there are good online videos for the Oregon sharpener which is very similar in function.
(Assembly of the clamp cable: remove the rubber O ring, unscrew the yellow knob and pull off the washer at the end of the cable. Feed the threaded end of the cable through the back side of the chain guide and out of the pressure plate. Slip on the washer. Screw on the yellow knob until the clamping plate is roughly aligned with the front guide plate. Slip the O ring on the threaded end and push it into the little gap on the yellow knob, this will keep the knob from backing out)
2)It was good that one reviewer gave a basic solution to the chain clamp raising the chain problem. As he said, you need to add about 1/4" of shim to limit the amount the bottom can move. This causes the clamp to try to pull down the chain (good thing) instead of raising the chain. With this adjustment, the sharpener works very well. To be clear, there are 3 small screws. The two on top have springs. The one on the bottom did not have a spring. It is the one on the bottom that you have to add the shims to.
3)The chain clamp lifts the chainsaw chain up in the track, to prevent the lift add nearly 1/4 inch (nuts or washers) behind the clamp's lower mount bolt so that it pinches the chain in a downward motion when you squeeze the pinch (bicycle) lever. I keep a slight tension on the left side of the chain to take up the stop linkage slack while grinding. For the price it's a great machine.
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Topic: Electric chain saw sharpeners (Read 6325 times)