Band Saw question

[Ken Garlock]

First off, Happy New Year to everyone.:)

I have a Mini Max 16 inch band saw. A couple days ago I managed to fry one of the bearing on the top blade guide.(Yes I messed up.)

My question for you band saw experts is this:
1. Should I just order a replacement set from Mini Max,
2. Order a set of ceramic guides from Laguna,
3. order a set of guides from Paddock Tools (http://www.paddocktool.com/).
4. order a set from Carter.:rolleyes:

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Ken,
I replaced the European guides on my MM16 with Carter guides. I don't find a huge difference in the quality of my cuts. I have the complete set of guides that came with the saw. PM me if you are interested.
fmr

[Rick Fisher]

I have the Carter Guides .. I have no complaint with them but they are not as easy to set up as they could be...

Having said that .. they arent hard to set up .. Its just that when adjusting them, you think.. this could be better . :)

Once set-up.. they are good guides.. No question.. They are the CP-20's.. ? or the CP-10's ? (two ceramic with big wheel at back) ..

I have heard great things about the Laguna Guides .. If I where doing it all again, I would probably buy those..

Give Benny a call.

[Richard McComas]

Ken, here's a quote from Mark Duginske, the band saw guru.



"For the book THE NEW COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE BAND SAW I studied every
guide
system and came to the following conclusions:

1. All guide systems work.
2. More important than the particular guide system is the set-up and
tracking.

A number of manufactures have tested ceramic guides and have not
embraced them
because of the safety issue, ie sparks and possible fire.

One time that I recommend the back ceramic guide is when there is a
bad weld that can not be
easily corrected with a minute or two of rounding the back of the
blade with a dry stone.
After the the blade is smooth the ceramic guide is re3placed with the
standard bearing.
Unfortunately that works with a standard 14" saw guide system but
not with the Euro guides.

One of the Euro manufacturers has tested the back ceramic guide and
rejected
them because of shorted blade band life. The blade will create a
slight grove and
the blade continues to contact the grove. Moving metal against stone
creates friction and sparks.
I don't like seeing sparks come from machines.

I use the standard Euro guide system adjusted with one thickness of a
dollar bill."

Mark Duginske

[Dan Lee]

Ken
I have the Laguna ceramics for a couple years. Like them a lot. Only problem was the ceramics pieces came off one of the lower guides and got sucked into the DC. No reason I coud figure out. I hadn't made any adfjustments in months.
I was a little disappointed they didn't offer to replace no charge, they were $20 for the 2 little chunks and get epoxyed in.

edit:Forgot to add I have Laguna ceramics on a MM16

[Scot Ferraro]

My upper Euro-guide bearing just froze a couple of weeks ago and I bought the Laguna Ceramic guides and they are awesome -- I really like the fact that there are no moving parts and they are very, very easy to adjust and set-up -- much better than the Euro-guides that came with my system. So far I have had no issues with sparks -- if you set them up in a way to leave a little more clearance for the thrust bearing this does not seem to be an issue and the side guides can actually touch the blade with no problem. I think that the sparking goes away once the blade is rounded (which the ceramic will actually do in use). Another bonus is that they fit closer to the column on top and you can gain a little more resaw height -- I gained over 1/2 an inch and this will probably very with each make of saw. The bottom guides also sit a little closer to the bottom of the table so that they blade has a little better support near the cut.

Tim or Rick in Accessories will help you out and give you a good price if you decide to go with the Laguna system.

Scot

[Jeff Willard]

After using Laguna guides, I have no desire to go back to a BB guide.

[Greg Wittler]

After using Laguna guides, I have no desire to go back to a BB guide.
with an 16HD on the way, that is good to know!!!

Greg

[Ken Garlock]

Thanks to everyone for their input. :cool:

Based upon your comments, I am just about to order the Laguna ceramic guides. Does anyone know of any year-end discount codes?

[Philip Johnson]

Ken

May I ask how you messed up your guides so I don't do the same

thanks
Phil

[Pete Bradley]

If the stock guides are working, there's really no need to switch. A bearing will cost you a few bucks. Thanks to Rich McComas for posting that also.

[guy knight]

i have a mm20 and upgraded to ceramics i didn't notice any improvement but then again i did polish my euro guides if i had to do it over i wouldn't upgrade now my lt14 3000 came with laguna guides and they work fine

[Ken Garlock]

Ken

May I ask how you messed up your guides so I don't do the same

thanks
Phil

OK Philip, I got sloppy setting up the guides after adjusting the blade to ride on the edge of the tires. I know better, but I got the top right guide against the blade and proceeded to cut a circle. The result was that the bearing overheated and screwed up the bearing race. I got in a hurry to complete a small project that I really didn't want to do, and it ended up costing me non-trivial amount to correct my mistake. Oh well, I never did like the MM guides...

Yes I know better, and yes I got sloppy.:mad:

Finally, a couple hours ago I ordered the Laguna ceramic guides. :cool::)

[Richard Dragin]

I know nothing about Mini Max but if you have an Applied Industrial near you (there's one in Plano), you can probably get a replacement bearing. That was the fastest thing for me to do when the same thing happened to my Griz.

The Laguna's sound interesting.

[lou sansone]

I have paddock guides on my moak 36" saw and love them. much better than any European guides ( I have had euro saws so I know ). they are excellent but expensive - they are made in the US though

best wishes
lou

[Harvey Pascoe]

I was apalled to discover that my Carter bearings are plastic and it takes very little heat to melt them.

After a lot of searching, I found some Timken steel bearings the right size but like all steel bearings, you got to put oil on them occasionally. I have no problem with that and those bearings have been running every day for three years now.

[Leigh Betsch]

I too replaced my MM20 guides with Laguna ceramics. I like them a lot, very easy to adjust and get just right. But you do have to get used to the sparks, I can see why OEMs would not wnat the liability of sparks in a woodshop. As long as the blade is sharp and you arn't pushing a dull blade into the back stop they don't spark much though.

[Ken Garlock]

I have paddock guides on my moak 36" saw and love them. much better than any European guides ( I have had euro saws so I know ). they are excellent but expensive - they are made in the US though

best wishes
lou

Oh shucks Lou, I was looking for a Paddock user. Their guides look like they are built like the proverbial brick outhouse. I was particularly impressed with the center rear guide that works like a wheel, not a slide along the rim like the European guides.

[Richard McComas]

I have paddock guides on my moak 36" saw and love them. much better than any European guides ( I have had euro saws so I know ). they are excellent but expensive - they are made in the US though

best wishes
louCould you give us an idea what expensive is? How easy/hard are the to adjust? How many tools do you need to adjust them?

Thanks Rich

[Steve Jenkins]

Ken I have the ceramic guides on my Laguna. You are welcome to stop by and look at them if you want. They do spark some but it doesn't seem to create any problems.

[Ken Garlock]

Well, it took a while and one call to Laguna CS, but I finally received my ceramic band saw guides for my Mini Max 16" BS. :) To be more precise, I have had them on the saw for over a week now. :cool:

A couple days ago I sliced off some 1/2" boards from a cedar 2X8. LOML wanted a couple bird houses made. The 3/4" Wood Slicer blade, Drift Master fence, and ceramic guides made it a joy to cut the 2X8 into 1/2 by 8s. :D

Thanks to everyone that posted their thoughts regarding my quest for new band saw guides.:D:):cool: