Carburetor Taffy

[KE4AVB]

A first for me as I ran a gum up carburetor where the stuff looked and felt like taffy candy or tan chewing gum. Yuck. The only thing that would dissolved it was my fuel mix. The Pony had been sitting in storage for several years; even the fuel tank cracked.

Making intake gaskets tomorrow for a McCulloch 600041F. Oh what fun it is when I have to make parts for antiques. The gaskets is fairly easily on this one just time consuming.

[KE4AVB]

Oh I hate it when I come across a chain that I can't sharpen because was sharpen on one of those chop saws. Second one in 6 yrs. I dulled 3 files sharpening 5 cutters, just gave up. Either it a new chain or the customer will need to carry it to someone with a chop saw sharpener.

Other than that the old McCulloch 610 is alive again after being in 3 different shops before mine. Someone along the line didn't even install the carburetor kit correctly. I made 3 gaskets this morning for the intake.

[Fulltilt]

Oh I hate it when I come across a chain that I can't sharpen because was sharpen on one of those chop saws. Second one in 6 yrs. I dulled 3 files sharpening 5 cutters, just gave up. Either it a new chain or the customer will need to carry it to someone with a chop saw sharpener.

Why would you use a file in a shop environment ?????

You do know you can sharpen chains with a right angle air die grinder and a cut-off wheel, right? https://www.harborfreight.com/air-angle-die-grinder-32046.html
https://www.harborfreight.com/3-in-40-grit-metal-cut-off-wheel-10-pc-61354.html https://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-quarter-inch-cut-off-wheel-arbor-for-die-grinder-93389.html

Or just a straight die grinder with the appropriate cylindrical burr.

Personally I much prefer to use my trusty 20 year old Oregon chain saw sharpener.

[bgsengine]

Why would you use a file in a shop environment ?????

I used to do the same as well.. 2 reasons - first, greater control over the quality - grinders actually will change the temper of the cutter, depending on the operator, and the chain's condition - cutter teeth get a hardened face (and very hard to file away) and leave burrs.. hand filed chains last far longer (ask any professional hardwoods logger like my brother, couple family members and a lot of customers.. lots and lots of real world experience over the last 30 years..) and secondly, a chain grinder can be a pricey investment until you have enough chains to sharpen (and recover your investment) to justify the expense.. especially for a small one-person shop.. It was not until we got so busy that I could no longer justify the time spent hand filing chains (in the off-hours when I didnt have work booked) that we finally went with a Oregon grinder.. which even getting the cheapest one on sale from distributor, took 2 years worth of sharpenings to finally pay for itself.. (at 8 bucks a chain while local competitors are charging considerably less) So, there's plenty of reasonable reasons why one might just go with hand filing a saw chain - might could be the grinder is on the "tools to buy when there's free cash available" list.... unless he's got enough volume of sharpening jobs coming in regularly, it'd be difficult to justify buying a grinder for a shop that might sharpen 15 to 20 chains in a year.. (we used to do 300+ a year, but that's dropped off a LOT as we "charge too much - shop so-and-so down the road charges less" - and we refuse to play the "race to the bottom on price" game (most of the customers that wanted stuff done cheap are also the same ones that want cheap crap fixed for next to nothing, so.. good riddance)

[KE4AVB]

Or like me don't have the room for another machine taking up space just do one thing every once awhile. As said I prefer hand sharping over machine ground chains though all new chains are machine at the factory. Those factory jobs has one machine setup just for one particular chain and do it all day. Too much time constantly changing settings for all the different chains that I get in. It would take at least three grinders for me if was to get any speed out of them for once awhile sharpening as I would need to change between .375LP, .325, and 3/8 settings.

I have seen too chains screw up by improperly setup grinders and that one of the reason I call them chop saws. I had one chain last that I had to repair where several straps cut in two then there was the chain a couple years ago that the top plate angles were done backwards.

I only sharpen a few chains and replace more each year. Most times they are on saws I repairing. Some won't even cut hot butter like the one on that 610. My files will do 4-6 20" chains before they start becoming dull. Usually because the chains are so badly filed or dull to start with as I got take a lot of material to straighten them out.

As for the fee I also charge $8-$10 per chain but depending how worn they might even get new chain at of course an additional charge. With some chains starting at $16 it simply better for me to just to replace those screwed up chains instead me spend a lot time straighten out someone else screw-ups. That why I have bulk chain on hand. I probably two or three thousand dollars worth chain out in the stock room.