Silvey Swing Arm Grinder

The Silvey Swing Arm is our least expensive square-chisel chain grinder.  It  reduces the threshold for grinder ownership and provides an entry level machine for square-chisel users who would otherwise be sharpening with a file or be paying to have their chains ground in a shop..

Silvey Swing Arm Grinder
Silvey Swing Arm
Square-Chisel Chain Grinder

The Silvey Swing Arm Features:

  • Reversible high-torque motor with sealed bearings
  • A Sturdy swing arm with needle thrust bearings pivot.
  • Adjustable diamond tipped dressers and slide adjustments that allow the grinder to be set up with the angles you want
  • Adjustable tripod stand.
  • Two sturdy indexing pawls.
  • Flex mounted work lamp with standard bulb socket

Overview

The Silvey Swing Arm is a good entry level machine and offers terrific value. Its simple design allows it to be produced at a low price. This same simplicity makes for a rugged and dependable machine. In spite of its low cost, the Swing Arm  is still a "real" square-chisel grinder, capable of producing well sharpened cutter teeth. No other machine offers this capability at a lower price.

The Swing Arm shares some surprising features with other Silvey square-chisel grinders -- even grinders that cost up to three times its price. For example, it has the same high-torque motor that's used on Silvey's top-of-the line Pro Sharp grinder. It also shares the same flex-mounted work lamp.  

Other features include "beefy" indexing pawls. These sturdy pawls stop the chain more accurately than earlier models, but still lack the ability to hold the chain as well as the indexing mechanisms used on either the Pro Sharp or SDM-4. To some degree, this characteristic can be overcome with extra care by the operator. Users can grip the chain with a glove and hold pressure against the stop pawl. This helps minimize the tooth's tendency to climb during grinding, which improves the accuracy of the grind.

The arch shaped chain mount on a swing arm grinder is a simple and effective way to hold and position the chain, but it  is also a  feature that affects the grinder's consistency. Because the chain is held on an arc, the orientation of the cutter tooth changes as the tooth gets shorter. Again, this can be overcome with extra care by the operator. The height of this support can be adjusted to compensate for tooth wear, but this requires extra time and consideration. Silvey's more expensive machines are designed differently. The length of the cutter tooth does not affect the cutter's grind on either the SDM-4 or Pro Sharp.

The way a cutter tooth is fed into the grinding wheel is another characteristic that is both good and bad. It is good because it is a simple motion and doesn't require a sophisticated mechanism, but it is bad in that it feeds the cutter tooth across the face of the grinding wheel. Compared to a  machine like the  SDM-4 or Pro Sharp, this tends to erode the corner of the grinding wheel.  More frequent wheel dressing is one way this characteristic can be overcome. Another, is sharpening moderately dull cutter teeth in two passes. This allows the operator to remove most of the cutter tooth damage on the first pass, and then give it a finish grind on a freshly dressed grinding wheel. The SDM-4 and Pro Sharp have more complex feed mechanisms. The way these machines feed a cutter tooth, the corner of the grinding wheel only cuts the corner of the tooth, which helps perserve the wheel's corner. 

On the Swing Arm grinder, the wheel dressing mechanisms have also been economized. Compared to the dressing mechanisms used on the SDM-4 and Pro Sharp, they are not as stable and do not shape the wheel as accurately. It helps to make light passes and dress in the right direction.  This  reduces deflection of the dresser arms, which improves the shape and cutting surface of the grinding wheel.

The information presented here is intended to make you an informed buyer. The comparisons we make to more expensive grinders help you undersand the differences between a "value" priced machine and more expensive models. It is not to discourage your purchase of a Swing Arm grinder. We have sold hundreds of these grinders whose owners are completely satisfied with their results and the grinder's performance. If you think this grinder will meet your needs, we'd gladly sell you one. 

Our Advice

The Silvey Swing Arm grinder is a good entry level square-chisel grinder, but it is a "bare bones" machine.  Built with economy as its top priority, it lacks many of the features found on more expensive machines. In spite of this, it is capable of producing well sharpened square-chisel cutter teeth, but you will have to work harder to produce them than the owner of an SDM-4 or Pro Sharp. If you are a cost-conscious user who is tired of  hand-filing or paying a shop to sharpen your square-chisel chain, the the Silvey Swing Arm is an unbeatable value.

Click here for an illustrated parts list of the Silvey Swing Arm grinder.