Has anyone information that could help me with my newer Carter Band saw guides for my Jet 14″ saw? It seem to take a blinkin’ eternity to change bearing postitions when a blade size change is made. Almost bad enough to make me want to cut every radius with the same 3/4″ resaw blade. There must be something I am overlooking. I have heard too much good about it for it to be this big of a pain to work with.
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I've got Carter guides on a larger saw and they are fussy to set up, but they do work well once they are set. I don't think they were designed with frequent blade changes in mind.
The original style guides on the Taiwanese saws work very well and are quick to adjust, replacing them with Carter guides offers no advantage that I can see.
There's a pull-out guide to setting bandsaw guides in issue #157 of Fine Woodworking Magazine that might help you out some. If you don't adjust the settings in the proper order the job will take longer. While 14 inch saws can take a 3/4 inch blade, they don't offer any advantage over 1/2 inch blades, which are better supported by the original style guides.
John W.
Last year Fine Woodworking had an article on BS guides. For 14" general purpose BS's they felt the best were the Cool Blocks. If the saw was dedicated to using resaw 1/2" or 3/4" blades then they gave the nod to the Iturra bandrollers. They did not like the large diameter Carter type guides. Their point of support was too far away from the material being cut leading to lessened control.
I would think readjusting the back guide would only take a moment or two. I have an old Jet that requires Allen wrenches but they seem to work fine.
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