I prefer resinoid rather than the pink (vitrified) wheels. They wear much faster and are dustier, but yield a better finish and don't heat up the cutters near as much.
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I found someone’s observations on resinoid wheels. Interesting. I’m careful not to burn the cutters on my chains, I set the stop so if I pulled down on my grinder I’d have a near miss on the cutter but I pull slightly to the left on the grinder to barely touch the cutter and that seems to work good for me. Here’s the observations that I found:
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Much less likely to 'burn' a cutter. I am an experienced grinder, and have learned not to burn a cutter using standard, vitrified wheels. But I was able to take significantly longer 'taps' with the resinoid wheels, meaning more contact time between the grinding wheel and the cutter. I was able to
intentionally overheat a cutter on some scrap/practice chain, but not as fast as with the conventional, vitrified wheels.
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Less of a burr formed on the Left hand cutters. This is always an issue when grinding 'inside out', and a concern for some people. For some reason, I did not get significant burrs on the outside of the side plate with these chains. This was an unexpected surprise.
- Very
acceptable, smooth surface left by the grinding wheel.
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More dust produced. A noticeable
increase in the amount of grinding dust, although, no noticeable amount of wheel wear observed after these 3+ chains. I usually grind outside or in the garage, but this could be an issue for guys who grind in a shop with limited ventilation.
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Less wheel dressing required? Because these wheels are black, it is impossible to see any dirt - something I look for, and clean off of the light colored, vitrified wheels. I occasionally touched up these wheels to maintain shape, but this may have been due to habit, more than need. Maybe the increased wear of the wheel constantly exposes fresh abrasive?
- Different smell. I assume that these wheels are constructed similar to the masonry and steel cut off blades used in circular saws and chop saws. These wheels had a similar smell in use. Again, this could be objectionable to some working in an enclosed space.