Carters Bandsaw Guides

[Bill McNiel]

Has anyone tried these (they are the ones that look like bearings)? I'm in the process of upgrading my old Delta 14" and am wondering if they are worth the money vs something like Cool Blocks, etc. I have a separate Resaw that supports a 3" blade so this saw is only used for cutting curves.
Thanks for your input.

[Rich Riddle]

My experience with them is negative. They were purchased for a Powermatic 143 14" bandsaw and the double bearing interfered with the blade so one row of bearings had to be removed. The original Powermatic guides had one row, so it was an unneeded expense. Learned my lesson. I went to ceramic European guides for my other bandsaws and am much happier with those.

[Mel Fulks]

I've heard they are good set ups, but the one time I contacted them by phone I got no help. I gave them the pertinent machine model size and number and they told me it was MY job to decide which model of the guides would be appropriate.
I did not think the descriptions of the models they sold were adequate to do that and bought nothing. That was about 15
years ago.

[Don Orr]

I got mine last year at a woodworking show after sittng through the demo/sales pitch twice. I am very happy with them so far. Installation instructions are lacking. Youtube has the demo video. The woman who sold me the items corrected my selections at checkout as I had chosen the wrong model. So far so good.

[Mel Fulks]

Don, good to know their service has improved. And I guess at this point they have a detailed website too. I think I was working from a pamphlet .

[Gus Dundon]

Carter guides work well, tried this on thinner blade.

[Jesse Busenitz]

I got a pair on my 14" delta and love them.

[Jim Matthews]

When my roller guides are properly aligned, they're excellent and essentially frictionless.

They are not a substitute for a properly centered blade,
at the optimal tension.

I find mine only engage when I'm using a smaller blade, and cutting curves.
It's audible, when they're touching the blade.

[Keith Hankins]

I restored a 37 delta 14' BS and got the carter guides. I have it set up with a small blade for doing curves and leave the 17" for resaw. I have nothing but good experiecnes. I'd buy them again. Well made product and machined to tight tolerences. The old setup had the blocks and I kept them just to keep all the original parts. The guides work great.

[Mike Cutler]

They've been on my Jet 14" since I bought it. I like them, but I think you may not see as much benefit since you have a purpose specific resaw bandsaw and the 14" is only going to be used for radius work. They do give the blade better support.
I too also have a seperate resaw bandsaw, in addition to my Jet 14".

[Dave Fuller]

I have mine on a 14" saw with a thin blade dedicated to curves and I love them (I never change blades). It took a while to adjust them but now my rattling-chirping-squealing bandsaw just hums and the blade is very stable.

[Bill McNiel]

Gentlemen,
Thanks for the input, I very much appreciate you taking the time to respond. I guess I'm off to Woodcraft to get in on the 15% off today.