Jeffrey Makiel
01-09-2006, 9:47 PM
I'm on a binge to do some upgrades to an old 18" JET bandsaw of the old cast iron c-frame type. My specific focus is on upgrading the blade guides from block to roller bearing. The existing guide assemblies are horribly casted of aluminum and typical of the old (circa 1990) vintage JET Taiwanese clone products of the era. The guide blocks are 3/4" square unlike Delta's 1/2" square block so I had to epoxy the cool blocks to them to help performance.
Anyway, I have an email into Carter to see if they have something to fit my saw. I also searched this forum, and another forum, and got confusing results. Some folks loved the Carter, and some folks were disappointed to the point of removing them. The primary complaint was poor stability for the smaller blades (1/4" width). A couple of complaints were on a whinning noise emitted from them which seems odd since they use ball bearings (assuming the bearing are not bad).
I predominantly keep a 1/4" blade on my machine, and occasionally install a 3/4" blade for thicker work and resawing. Would anyone share their opinion on the Carter as far as using smaller blades, ease of adjustment and smoothness of operation? Or another suggestion?
cheers, Jeff
Anyway, I have an email into Carter to see if they have something to fit my saw. I also searched this forum, and another forum, and got confusing results. Some folks loved the Carter, and some folks were disappointed to the point of removing them. The primary complaint was poor stability for the smaller blades (1/4" width). A couple of complaints were on a whinning noise emitted from them which seems odd since they use ball bearings (assuming the bearing are not bad).
I predominantly keep a 1/4" blade on my machine, and occasionally install a 3/4" blade for thicker work and resawing. Would anyone share their opinion on the Carter as far as using smaller blades, ease of adjustment and smoothness of operation? Or another suggestion?
cheers, Jeff