Carter GuideAll guides?

[John Coloccia]

Anyone have any experience with these? I received mine tonight. They're going right back in the mail tommorow morning....not at all what I expected for $300 worth of guides, never mind the fact that I couldn't get them to fit my saw (there's no instruction on how to make them fit, so maybe I just couldn't figure it out....don't think so, though). The reason I got them was I wasn't entirely happy with the guides my G0514x2 came with. I thought these would be an upgrade and I really really wanted to try the Stabilizer guide they have, but if they had fit I believe they would have made everything I hated about the Grizzly guides worse.

Here's what I hate about the Grizz and the Carter guides:

1) the blade guard completely blocks access to back bearing of the upper guide

2) When you tighten the set screws for the guides, the guides shift position, especially the bearings (Carter's are much worse....their bearings wobble when you loosen them....arrrgggghhh).

Does anyone out there make a decent guide for this saw? The saw is fantastic in every other respect. I'm tired of guides that don't work properly. Here's my money $$$$$. Someone seperate me from it and give me a great set of guides! :D

[Rick Fisher]

I have no experience with the Guide all from Carter, but have the Carter Precison model 10..

http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m455/jokerbird_photo/P1140712.jpg

These guides arent as nice to set up as they appear, but once set, they are great.

The lower guides are tougher to set than the upper.

I think they could be improved on, but wouldn't spend money to replace them.. I can set them up in about 1 minute each, once set, they work flawlessly..

[Rick Fisher]

On mounting, I went to a machine shop and had a mount made..

Its a steel dowel, one end is the right size for the guide, the other is the right size for the saw.. Worked just fine..

I cant stress enough that these guides are excellent once set up.. No need to touch them again until I change the blade..

These are actually large compared to normal guides.. Dont know if they would be too big on a smaller saw.. what size is your saw?

[Mort Stevens]

Are the Carter GuideAll guides something new? I have Carter ball bearings on my Delta bandsaw and I couldn't be happier with them.

[John Coloccia]

On mounting, I went to a machine shop and had a mount made..

Its a steel dowel, one end is the right size for the guide, the other is the right size for the saw.. Worked just fine..

I cant stress enough that these guides are excellent once set up.. No need to touch them again until I change the blade..

These are actually large compared to normal guides.. Dont know if they would be too big on a smaller saw.. what size is your saw?

I have a 19" Grizzly (G0514x2). They're actually smaller than the original guides, but the original guides have quirks that we'd hoped the Carters would fix. I do like the guides, but I'm a little annoyed that they don't fit and that they seem very fiddly to get adjusted properly. I would put up with it for the performance, to a point.

A straight steal rod doesn't work on this saw because of the blade guard/guide design (I'm sorry if you read this, Shiraz, but it really is a bad design on an otherwise great saw, and if you fix it I'll be first in line to buy the upgrade). The guard would completely blocks access to the upper guide adjustment on the Carter. On the original guide it blocks the view...which is almost as bad. Couple that with the movement of the original guides when tightening the set screws and the whole thing if a pain in the butt to adjust. Certainly not the hardest saw to adjust by any means, but I want it to be effortless because I tend to change blades a lot.

[Jeff Willard]

Grizzly makes ceramic guides for that saw. I have a Laguna with ceramic guides and now have no desire to ever go back to ball bearing guides. Set 'em right up on the band and go to work-no fuss.

[John Terefenko]

That system should have come with a dvd to explain how to set them up and use them if it is the same I am thinking of. I bought them at the woodworking show last year.