Things I discovered that help Shop

Re: Things I discovered that help Shop

Barry Irby

Good to know, thanks.

I am slowly replacing the bulbs and fixtures in my house and shop with LED's. I put an LED bulb in my closet light fixture. I need to look at it again because I put on my favorite green shirt only to discover it was blue everywhere else. Or maybe it was the other way around, but you get the idea. Check the color rendition.

Re: Things I discovered that help Shop

john lucas

I love my LED lights. Added another one yesterday over the bandsaw. I purchased mine from Costco. I do like all the dust collector accesories from Rockler. They have some really useful adaptors. I use there quick release dust collector port on the 3 machines have to be moved to be used. I hung one hose from the ceiling and that hose goes to those 3 machines helps clean up around my drill press and serves as a dust collector on my table saw outfeed table when I use it as carving bench.

You may think I'm crazy, I took my bandsaw off

Keith Newton

My old 36" bandsaw still has the metal rub guides, and the thrust guide has a big disk with the axis of rotation aligned fore and aft to line of feed, which has a sheering effect on the back of the blade. One night I was sawing out a big blank and notice my shop apron standing straight out under the top. I leaned out to the right to see how close it was coming to the blade. I'm sure there was an audible gasp when I saw the volume of sparks mixed with the fine dust streaming into vacuum hose.

Re: You may think I'm crazy, I took my bandsaw off

Don Evans

Your trouble with sparks may be the type blade you are using, I know Timberwolf do make sparks from my own experience. I don't use them anymore since buying my MiniMax. Regular blades work just great on it.

Don

Carter Guides

Don Evans

Also, you may want to check Carter as they make replacement guide systems.

Don

Or replace the steel blocks with osage orange

I used lignum vitae

Re: Carter Guides

Jim Seyfried

Do you have Carter guides on your MM Don? My 20" MM came with Carter Micro-Precision guides. The model 20 on the top isn't bad to adjust, but the 30 on the bottom is a pain to adjust. It take me so long to adjust I hate to change blades. I have been considering replacing it with the larger 20 or getting different guides.

Re: Carter Guides

Barry Irby

I have Carter Guides on my 16" Delta. I find them tedious and fiddly to adjust. Not sure I would have bought them if I knew then what I know now.

Re: Carter Guides

John K Jordan

I bought Carter guides a long time ago for my smaller bandsaw, a 14" Delta. I didn't like like them much so they have been in a drawer since. Maybe I didn't understand them or something.

Re: Carter Guides

Bill Blasic

I was going to buy a new band saw because I had so many problems with the Grizzly 18" as far as the guides went. I figured what the heck I'll try the Carters as that was a heck of a lot cheaper. What a difference, no need for another saw it works like a charm now. Took a few minutes to get it set right but they really work well for me.

Question...

Barry Irby

Bill, my Carter guides require the use of at least two different Allen wrenches to set them. When you loosen the set screw you have to fiddle the bearing in place and then tighten the set screw without moving the bearing.

It seems to me some sort of cam or screw mechanism to actually move the bearing and a knob to tighten them into place would be much better.

What do you have?

Re: Carter Guides

Don Evans

Maybe Jim

I'm not sure if they are or not. If it wasn't pouring rain I would go out a look closer at them. They do have a marking on them but no brand name that I remember seeing.

Don

The original bearing guides on my........

jamiedonaldson

......18" MiniMax are very similar to the Carter roller guides, and I wish I could find a replacement that is similar to the Laguna ceramic guides. The rollers on each side of the blade pack up and bind when cutting wet or sappy wood, and even the softblocks on my old Delta saw would be better for this purpose. I've looked everywhere, at all the guide systems available, and haven't been able to find a suitable replacement.

Re: The original bearing guides on my........

John K Jordan

Do you have a friend nearby with a milling machine? If it's anything like my small Delta or Rikon it should be fairly straightforward work with an end mill on a chunk of aluminum or steel. The delta has a square support with a slot for forward/back micro adjuster and two square holes to hold rectangular blocks on either side of the blade held with set screws. Without broaching capability it would probably be quicker to make it for cylindrical blocks instead of rectangular (or mill then file the corners square). Or use some small square tubing and weld it to a shaft.

I'd say pack up the pieces and come visit but it's a bit of a drive (and I probably couldn't do it until May.)

JKJ

Re: Question...

Bill Blasic

Mine required only one allen wrench and the hardest thing for me was getting the lower set done, getting myself lowered is a little difficult.

Re: The original bearing guides on my........

Paul Grenier

I have Carter guides on my 14SUV Laguna bandsaw and absolutely love them. It's made a world of difference in cutting large bowl blanks.

If anyone needs a set of ceramic guides for a 14 SUV Laguna bandsaw I have a set gathering dust.

Re: The original bearing guides on my........

Jim Seyfried

I don't have the same bandsaw, but I'd like to see if I could get them to work on what I have. Do you have a price in mind for the Laguna ones? I know they sell them for different makes so maybe I could figure out how to mount them on my saw.