Carter Bandsaw Guides...Worth the Money?

Re: Carter Bandsaw Guides...Worth the Money?

Tom Stockton

>I put a set on my 20 year old mini-max s45 and they made a world of difference. I used the style that uses sealed bearings on the side and back. That said a good well tuned bandsaw and the right blade are possibly more important. I used to resaw on a really cheap import 14" saw that you could actually see the upper arm casting flexing up and down and I got acceptable results but I would spend 20 or 30 minutes making sure everything was perfect before cutting veneers and cutting would be kinda a stressful time. On my s45 I can spend 10 minutes changing the blade and set it for drift and know what the results will be or if I know the blade is sharp just set the fence and cut.

So they are nice guides but I think your right a well set up saw sure helps things and I think the current 14" bs guides are fairly servicable especially if you don't saw a lot of veneers

Tom

Not really. I have a set installed. They don't

Forrest Addy

>Not really. I have a set installed. They don't work well on skinny blades and they make really big bumps when you roll slivers and scwdust clumps through them. I think they need to be vertically offset a little so you can zero clearance them.

Re: Carter Bandsaw Guides...Worth the Money?

Gary Ratajczak

>Joe:

There are two styles you are referring to. The first is a single roller bearing that the back of the blade rides against. A small slot helps it track. With that setup, you only use the top guide. Bottom guides are moved away. From my experience (I own one), you can cut some VERY tight curves. Again, good blade required. I also take a small stone and break the edge on the back side of the blade - helps get a cleaner cut, without the shart edge cutting into the wood as you turn a radius. If you do general curring, a 1/4" blade and that guide are a great companion.

The roller guides, I purchased about six months ago, and have not yet installed. From my conversation with the Carter Rep, it is an easy matter to install the roller guides, and quickly switch to the single roller guide for general cutting. The roller guides would be set in place for re-sawing.

Again - blade is the key. I use the Timberwolf blades in a 1/2 or 3/4 3 tpi configuration for re-saw. Have only used ceramic guides in my Jet (with riser), so I am anxious to get the roller guides installed. For re-saw, if properly set, they dow a much better job of supporting the blade straight and tru for the operation. As they turn, I think there is less stress put on the blade than if it were to be forced against a stationary guide liek my ceramic coolblocks.

Hope to have installed next week, so I'll give a report on the roller guides.

GR

Re: Carter Bandsaw Guides...Worth the Money?

Ray Binnicker

>I put the Itura roller bearings on my Delta 14". Someone else can talk about the pros and cons of them -vs- the Carter. They are less expensive than the Carter and were pretty easy to install. I can tell a big difference in my re-saw results and have increased the life of my blades. I also use the Timberwolf 1/2" 3TPI blades, and when I really want to lessen foul ups I will put on a "Woodslicer".

they all work the same

Robin Corell in Atascadero, CA

>I would suspect the blade on the demo saw was what made the the diference. For really tight curves past what a particular with balde is recomended for it is very helpful to hevily round the back edge of the blade. I would also guess that the demonstrator was running at a bit higher than recomended tension.

I have forn that all the cuts you described are equally possible on a well tuned solid guide system saw. Fact is sold guides or roler guides are both equally capable of inacurate cuts if they are out of adjustment.

the big advantage of roller guides is that they are slightly easier for novices to set up without excessive contact and even if there is excessive contact it dosent build the excessive heat like solid guides do.

The disadvantage of roller guides is that they tend to clog, especially the lower guides.

The sales hype that roller guides run cooler is just that, sales hype. There is no significant difference in running temp for solid metal guides, cool blocks or roller guides on properly set up machines. Holy bandsaws Batman how can that be? The trick is that in each guide system the guides are set to just barely clear the blade and not actually touch it unless the material being cut deflets the blade to the side. the problems and advantages of each system are only aparent as the guides drift out of aliment.

Re: Carter Bandsaw Guides...Worth the Money?

Robby Wright in San Marcos, CA

>Hi, Joe -

I have a Jet 14" bandsaw. It came with plastic blocks for guides, which I quickly messed up. I replaced them with a set of the Carter guides that have ball bearing on the sides of the blade and another at the back of the blade.

I have been happy with the set. I open the guides, install and track the blade, adjust the tension so the blade doesn't flop anymore and then set the guides. I found that setting them too tight just results in a lot of bearing noise, so I try to allow a couple of thou clearance between the blade and the bearings.

I can't compare the Carter guides to the Iturras, but I can say that I like the Carter guides for both regular use and for resawing.

Robby Wright

Re: Carter Bandsaw Guides...Worth the Money?

Doug in Denver

>I have never used them, so can't comment on how they work, but I tend to buy anything that I think might actually help me, and I have not bought them yet, so my answer to your question is "no" - at least from my perspective. I use an out of the box Jet 14" bandsaw that came with the Jet fence. My only two changes are I use a Carter blade, and installed Cool Blocks in place of the orignal cheap plastic guides. I have zero blade wander. I resaw with the flat side of the fence - I do not use the "pivot" point add on - and I can slice a pencil line the length of a board every time. I cut a bunch of mahogany 1/4" thick last night. I no longer even bother with pencil lines. I set the fence to just proud of 1/4" to allow for removal of blade marks, and shove it through. I even measure thickness with calipers to make sure it's what I wanted. Seems like the same saw shoud deliver the same results for anybody.

Oak No Joke

George@Colonel's Workshop-Havertown PA

>Good Afternoon Joe,

I use a 14 inch Jet Bandsaw and I have replaced the original blocks in the upper and lower guides with ones made from white oak. They last forever, do their job very effectively, and the price is sure RIGHT. I figure that by the time I am 325 years old, the money I save by using home made white oak guide blocks will be enough to get me a Minimax. :<)

George

My 2 cents....

Pat O'Connor

>I bought a set from a member here at WoodCentral. They were suppose to be new but they arrived with no box or instructions. I'm not saying they were not new but if they were Carter needs better quality control. With less than 10 hours use 2 bearings have frozen and the upper assembly for the thrust bearing does not slide freely so I need to use a tool to move it. Even if I don't consider the above, I find it very difficult to set the lower bearings below the table. Knowing what I know now, I would have just stuck with the original assemblys using cool blocks or the new ceramic guides and saved the money.

Re: Carter Bandsaw Guides...Worth the Money?

Falberg saw Co

>You can also DIY with 2" x 8" aluminum channel, a drill, 1/4" tap, Jig Saw, and file; for pennies. For example: PIC

Thanks to all. I appreciate your advice.

Joe Pack

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