Don Abele
01-26-2008, 9:48 PM
I have been kicking the idea around for the longest time about upgrading my Jet 14" bandsaw guides with the Carter rollers. I have some resawing coming up and don't want to waste any material or fight with drift. I also hate untensioning the saw.
Sooo, I bit the bullet and bought it all:
Carter Guides, Quick Release for the tension, New tension spring, and Urethane tires. Took an hour or so to install them all.
The quick release is awesome - no two ways about it. I really should have gotten it much sooner. I love the three positions (full tension, half for storage/inactivity, off for blade change).
The tires and spring I'm sure are beneficial, but nothing I can comment on outright. The reason I replaced the tires was that I was a hard time keeping my 3/4" resaw blade centered. It tended to wander a lot (front to back). Sounded like the tire was crowned too much.
Now, for the really amazing part - the guides. They were a little finicky to get adjusted but once I did I was amazed at the results. The biggest problem I had was attaching the upper guide assembly to the post. After a couple of tries and not being able to get it straight, I realized the set screws were slipping into the factory hole in the bottom of the post. I removed the post, flipped it over and had no further problems lining it up.
To check how well they were maintaining blade tracking I started cutting some 2x4's on flat. I was able to get a full 2x4 slice clean at only 1 mm thick :eek:. That was with a 3/8 blade. I put the 3/4 blade on and resawed a 2x8 on edge to 3 mm (just under an 1/8") with absolutely no drift what so ever.
I'm sold - this is a significant improvement in the overall performance of what I thought was already a good bandsaw. I'd highly recommend this upgrade to anyone else.
Be well,
Doc
Sooo, I bit the bullet and bought it all:
Carter Guides, Quick Release for the tension, New tension spring, and Urethane tires. Took an hour or so to install them all.
The quick release is awesome - no two ways about it. I really should have gotten it much sooner. I love the three positions (full tension, half for storage/inactivity, off for blade change).
The tires and spring I'm sure are beneficial, but nothing I can comment on outright. The reason I replaced the tires was that I was a hard time keeping my 3/4" resaw blade centered. It tended to wander a lot (front to back). Sounded like the tire was crowned too much.
Now, for the really amazing part - the guides. They were a little finicky to get adjusted but once I did I was amazed at the results. The biggest problem I had was attaching the upper guide assembly to the post. After a couple of tries and not being able to get it straight, I realized the set screws were slipping into the factory hole in the bottom of the post. I removed the post, flipped it over and had no further problems lining it up.
To check how well they were maintaining blade tracking I started cutting some 2x4's on flat. I was able to get a full 2x4 slice clean at only 1 mm thick :eek:. That was with a 3/8 blade. I put the 3/4 blade on and resawed a 2x8 on edge to 3 mm (just under an 1/8") with absolutely no drift what so ever.
I'm sold - this is a significant improvement in the overall performance of what I thought was already a good bandsaw. I'd highly recommend this upgrade to anyone else.
Be well,
Doc