Bandsaw Guides

[David Pascoe]

I noticed in recent years many people saying that they were replacing their Carter ball bearing guides with solid guides. Most did not give a reason why but I assume it was because, like myself, I was annoyed with the ball bearings seizing up with dust. We can pop the covers off and clean them out but this gets old with ten bearings to remove, clean and put back on.

I slice 1/16" veneers every day so very precise set-up is very important. Solid guides require clearance to the blade which causes the blade to wander just enough to ruin such then veneers. Ball bearings require no blade clearance, so there is no set up hassle, so setup is much faster.

I've been told by several bearing sellers that there was no difference between"shielded" and "sealed" bearings, that the sealed would do no better at keeping dust out than shielded. I have tested this assertion and can tell you it is patently untrue. The prices of ball bearings has come way down from the $12 each just a few years ago, now to only $4-$5 (I forgot the exact amount I paid) each. When I first looked into it, it was going to cost me $120 to replace all ten bearings, so six months ago I bought ten SEALED bearings and have had no problem with dust since.

The difference between sealed and shielded is this: The shielded bearing has rubber coated steel side covers that you can pop out with a pointed tool. The sealed bearing covers are bright steel and cannot be removed. It was also said that sealed bearings have higher resistance to turning and that they might drag. This has not happened either. After six months in use, all ten bearings still rotate freely, even when barely touching the blade.

[jack forsberg]

no clearance is needed with solid guilds. Many materials for guilds are not supply by people like Carter. I prefer Ampco 18 bearing bronze for my guilds because there quite and the blade stay cool and clean. they take years to ware.

i just made table guilds for better re-saw work with this far superior material.

[Geoff Crimmins]

If you're cutting wood that is wet, such as turning blanks, or resinous, then solid guides tend to scrape sawdust off of the blade, while bearings smash it onto the blade. Also, guide blocks are less-expensive to replace. I believe that sealed bearings have rubber seals, while shielded bearings have metal shields.

--Geoff

[Susumu Mori]

Jack, this is COOL!!
Wonder why nobody came up with this idea before.
I wonder if ceramic would be a better material for this. Maybe it would be difficult to machine, though...

[Andrew Hughes]

The one thing I miss when i had a Laguna saw was the ceramic guides.As Geoff mentions they can be set very close to the blade and they scraped nasty resinous wood oils like teak off the blade.
And if you got a blade with a good weld they were very quite.

Jacks guide look great but doubt if they would work for me.I get a lot of fibers trapped behind the blade.I have tried everything to stop it from happening.It must be from the blades hook angle.

[lowell holmes]

I had solid plastic? guides on my Jet 14" band saw, but changed them to Carter guides. I am extremely happy with the Carter guides.

[David Pascoe]

If you're cutting wood that is wet, such as turning blanks, or resinous, then solid guides tend to scrape sawdust off of the blade, while bearings smash it onto the blade. Also, guide blocks are less-expensive to replace. I believe that sealed bearings have rubber seals, while shielded bearings have metal shields.

--Geoff

No, you have it backwards. Sealed bearings have bright metal sides and are not removable. Shielded have rubber coated metal sides and can be popped out. I have never seen sawdust adhering to a blade, not even from the likes of cocobolo. Also, If I left no clearance for solid guides, it sets up a terrible harmonic (noise) that I don't want to listen to. But my main issue with them was that they take way too long to set when changing blades several times a day.

Do whatever works for you.

[David Kumm]

No, seals are the removable rubber or plastic and shields are the steel and generally not easily removed. Shielded bearings usually have a higher rpm rating than normal contact seals. There are non contact seals available but more rare. Not relevant on a bandsaw as the back bearing should seldom spin anyway. Dave

[John Lanciani]

No, you have it backwards. Sealed bearings have bright metal sides and are not removable. Shielded have rubber coated metal sides and can be popped out. I have never seen sawdust adhering to a blade, not even from the likes of cocobolo. Also, If I left no clearance for solid guides, it sets up a terrible harmonic (noise) that I don't want to listen to. But my main issue with them was that they take way too long to set when changing blades several times a day.

Do whatever works for you.

You have the bearing descriptions backwards David;

Sealed Bearing-




Shielded Bearing-

[Erik Loza]

...I slice 1/16" veneers every day so very precise set-up is very important. Solid guides require clearance to the blade which causes the blade to wander just enough to ruin such then veneers. Ball bearings require no blade clearance, so there is no set up hassle, so setup is much faster...

If I can ask, what bandsaw are you using? I would rather NOT have any type of ball bearing for guides, by the way. For the reasons others have mentioned.

Erik