Rikon 10-325 Replacement Bandsaw Guides....Carter or something else??

[George Farra]

Hi Everyone

2 of the roller bearings on the lower guide of my Rikon 10-325 have ceased up. I've tried lubricating them but they ain't budging. I'm not particularly fond of the stock guides. I find setting them to be a royal PITA.

Anyone have any experience with the Carter guides for this saw? Other than Carter are there any other aftermarket guides that I should be looking at?

TIA

George

[Andrew Kertesz]

I'm extremely happy with my Carter guides.

[Curt Harms]

I replaced all the bearings on my 10-325 with sealed bearings from a local bearings & drives place. Some guys buy a tube of sealed skateboard bearings off Ebay for cheap. I didn't care for bearings on narrow blades, there isn't much smooth metal for the bearings to ride on and if the bearings ride on the teeth, it may mess up the set and cause drift. I wound up doing this:
284920

I just used a scrap of something tropical I had laying around. I submerged the pieces in mineral oil and microwaved them until they were hot. That seemed to help with oil saturation. Others have done similar with cool block material. Of course I'm still using the Rikon adjusters but there seems to be a little less slop than with the bearings. It's cheap to try, if you don't like it you're not out much more than time.

[Brian Tymchak]

...I'm not particularly fond of the stock guides. I find setting them to be a royal PITA.



Me too. Looking forward to upgrading the guides and fence this summer.