recently broke a blade so bought one of these blades
they have guide upgrade kits that look good but
recently broke a blade so bought one of these blades
they have guide upgrade kits that look good but
Carter has everything for pimping your bandsaw, but they have perfected the pricing to always be on the edge of way too high, but low enough to make you look...
-BR
+1, their tension release is way too high for what it is.
they are high relative to the price of the saw but they look to be of good quality
maybe they are made in usa
if i look at the guide upgrade kit it looks well made and knowing what it takes to run a business and the taxes and workers comp and all the other regulations and lawsuits and insurance
the price is probably as low as they can go
but maybe it is all made in asia and they are just gouging but my impression was that they are made with tlc
i could easily be wrong
I think so too. I had need of one, looked at theirs - briefly - then made my own a couple of months ago.
And if you have never used roller bearing guides you might not be happy. My old Rikon had roller bearing guides and they were noisy and created a lot of vibration when oily/damp wood stuck to the bearings and was pounded into the blade.
I returned the BS for that and tracking reasons and got a Laguna with the ceramic guides. Ceramic guides will scrape your blades clean.
I started with "Euro" guides. Hated them. I now have roller bearings, mainly since no one made block/scraper style guides.
Roller thrust bearings are fantastic, the side bearings? Meh.
Fortunately I don't have issues with the crap getting pounded into the blade/bearing race since the wood I cut isn't that ornery, but any kind of scraper style guides would be superior in my mind. You get slightly more resaw height, automatic cleaning of goobers on the blade, usually easier adjustment, cheaper, etc.
-BR
don't you have an MM16? This would probably fit.
Oh drat! Doesn't look like they'll fit on Taiwanese imports. Just as well, I guess, they would nearly double the price of my saw :)
I haven't had a problem with the roller guides on my Craftsman but I did have to replace the rollers at one point. 20 bucks at the local roller skate shop for a box of bearings and I was good to go.
Many people are happy with roller guides as Carter is probably still doing well. But there are occasions when working with certain woods that the debris is going to be an issue with the guides.
My issue was with oily exotics and kiln dried SYP.
Ohhh, I hadn't seen those!
A bit spendy, but otherwise way cool. Do you know how wide they are (the widest blade I could use with full support to just behind the teeth)?
Also it appears that the thrust surface is also a ceramic block (can't really tell from the photo), ho do they adjust the thrust surface for a narrow (say 3/8") blade?
This is all assuming you have a similar device on your Laguna 8^)
-BR
IIRC I have used a 1.25" wide blade.
It is a dowel with a ceramic disk on the front. It adjusts in and out and can be rotated to create a new wear surface.
A little more on that, I normally keep a 1/2" blade on the BS for general sawing, anything from wood to dog chew bones. ;~)
In my last bed project I has a smaller blade on the BS to cut the drawer pull ovals. I used either a 1/4" or 3/8" blade. The 1/2" turned out to be to large for the radius I was cutting.
It looks to be made of aluminum. I have always worried about the set screw arrangement that secures the guide to the round post as a potential for stripping, but the Carter guide I have is aluminum and has shown no signs of weakness.
This is going in my letter to Santa, thanks Leon!
-BR
Yes, the blue part.
I have always worried about the set
Check out the link, a picture of my saw and guide. The black block that is bolted directly to the round post is steel/iron. The Laguna guides, the blue parts, bolt with 6mm set screws to the bottom of the black block.
You cam also see the steel round dowel at the back of the guide housing. That is the thrust holder, it has a circular ceramic on the opposite end.
My arrangement is a bit different. I have the same black block, but the guide slides on a large post (The ad page you originally linked to shows a guide that looks correct for my MM).
Yes, this looks very serviceable. I read that Laguna has also started selling replacement ceramic inserts.
-BR
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