Bandsaw Guide Advice
 

I'm thinking about putting BandRollers (Woodcraft) on my Delta 14".
I'm using Cool Blocks now and I'm not impressed. Any pro's or con's
out there?

What're you doing with it? I cut a lot of green wood for turnings, resaw,
and do the occasional bandsaw box. For all but the last, ceramic guides are
the berries. Slick as goose sh*t, non-wearing, don't gum up, and
inexpensive. For the small blades I use cool blocks and enclose the teeth.

Anyone out there using the ceramic thrust "bearings" yet?

"Larry" wrote in message
om...
I'm thinking about putting BandRollers (Woodcraft) on my Delta 14".
I'm using Cool Blocks now and I'm not impressed. Any pro's or con's
out there?

Larry said:

I'm thinking about putting BandRollers (Woodcraft) on my Delta 14".
I'm using Cool Blocks now and I'm not impressed. Any pro's or con's
out there?

That's a fair amount of money for something I've never found
necessary. Tweaking and technique gets more results than complexity
and expense. They are noisy, and subject to failure. Heck, I've gone
through 2 rear roller bearings in 6 months - I can't imagine having to
replace side rollers that often at $50 (and up) a pop.

For 1/16" blades, I use homemade solid oak blocks soaked in WD-40 with
the blade fully imbedded.

For re-sawing green wood, I use ceramic blocks and a 5/8" 3TPI heavy
alternate set blade. They help cut the resin off the blade.

For everything else, I either use ceramic or cool blocks. I have
noticed that the cool blocks don't fit the holders very well and do
wear somewhat.

The ceramics guides don't wear at all, but you have to be careful
about setting clearances, or they'll spark at the weld when the blade
gets hot (and expands).

Proper tension is also important - the guide on the saw is bogus.

FWIW,

Greg G.

George said:

snip
Anyone out there using the ceramic thrust "bearings" yet?

Not yet. I was wondering about those myself...


Greg G.

My 18" Jet came with what they called Euro guides which are essentially
large, round friction pads which are allowed to rotate and reduce wear. I
was predisposed to learning to use the saw with those and then upgrading to
rollers like the Carters. After using the stock guides for a year or so I
just forgot it. I can't see spending another $150 on guides that will
provide marginal improvement and more maintenance.

If I was into doing bandsaw projects day-in and day-out I might feel
differently.

There is a "great" article on super tuning a bandsaw in
the current issue of FWW... I would read that article
before I made any expensive changes...

Larry wrote:
I'm thinking about putting BandRollers (Woodcraft) on my Delta 14".
I'm using Cool Blocks now and I'm not impressed. Any pro's or con's
out there?

Greg G. wrote in message . ..


For 1/16" blades, I use homemade solid oak blocks soaked in WD-40 with
the blade fully imbedded.


Greg G.

I used to have a sawmill with a 52" circular blade and always used
deer horn for the blade stabilizer as it seem to have the "oil" built
in and never overheated.

On Wed, 27 Oct 2004 14:24:10 GMT, Pat Barber
wrote:

There is a "great" article on super tuning a bandsaw in
the current issue of FWW... I would read that article
before I made any expensive changes...

Yeah, that article certainly challenges most other literature related
to bandsaw tuning. I would like to hear from other bandsaw experts on
their view of that article.


TWS
http://tomstudwell.com/allprojects.htm

Sam said:

Greg G. wrote in message . ..


For 1/16" blades, I use homemade solid oak blocks soaked in WD-40 with
the blade fully imbedded.


Greg G.

I used to have a sawmill with a 52" circular blade and always used
deer horn for the blade stabilizer as it seem to have the "oil" built
in and never overheated.

That is interesting, I've never tried deer horn. Probably never will,
however, because I don't have any deer horn in my scrap pile. ;-)

SWMBO would have a fit if she saw me stalking a deer for it's horns -
she's more likely to be caught feeding them apples. Not that either
is very likely, 'cause we live in a large, overcrowded metro city.

You know, now that I think about it, I remember hearing about a
herd(?) of deer trapped on I-75 in downtown Atlanta by the access
control fences and unable to escape. Made a mess of rush hour.
That's it - Road kill! ;-) Perhaps I'll get to try DH after all...


Greg G.

On 27 Oct 2004 08:53:18 -0700, (Sam) wrote:

always used deer horn for the blade stabilizer

I had a long (far too long) talk with someone recently about deer, and
the fact they didn't even have horns. Except that some do, but some
taxonomists then argue as to whether they're really deer.

Deer, apparently, have antlers. Which are a whole different material
to horn. So whenever poor muggins here is wondering whether to use
horn or antler for something, he should think about how much wear it's
going to see. If it's going to see any wear (like this blade
stabilizer) then avoid deer and antler altogether and go for buffalo
horn. Cow horn works too, but only comes in thin layers. Horn it
seems is the stuff that's solid, hard wearing, and has this property
of self-lubrication.

Which leads me back to the other threads, and how on earth you're
supposed to work buffalo horn (which is resistant to most rational
tools).

snip
Anyone out there using the ceramic thrust "bearings" yet?

Not yet. I was wondering about those myself...


This may help:
http://www.onlinetoolreviews.com/rev...uideblocks.htm

--
Regards,

Dean Bielanowski
Editor,
Online Tool Reviews
http://www.onlinetoolreviews.com
Over 60 woodworking product reviews online!
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Latest 6 Reviews:
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------------------------------------------------------------

Sounds a viable replacement for the bottom bearing I'm always cleaning sap
off of. Maybe even the top.

Thanks.

"Woodcrafter" wrote in message
u...
snip
Anyone out there using the ceramic thrust "bearings" yet?

Not yet. I was wondering about those myself...


This may help:
http://www.onlinetoolreviews.com/rev...uideblocks.htm

Greg G. said:

Larry said:

I'm thinking about putting BandRollers (Woodcraft) on my Delta 14".
I'm using Cool Blocks now and I'm not impressed. Any pro's or con's
out there?

That's a fair amount of money for something I've never found
necessary. Tweaking and technique gets more results than complexity
and expense...

You might also take a look at my Delta 28-206/276 Bandsaw page - there
might be some useful info for you the

http://www.thevideodoc.com/pbandsaw1.htm

FWIW,

Greg G.

Andy Dingley wrote in message . ..
On 27 Oct 2004 08:53:18 -0700, (Sam) wrote:

always used deer horn for the blade stabilizer

I had a long (far too long) talk with someone recently about deer, and
the fact they didn't even have horns. Except that some do, but some
taxonomists then argue as to whether they're really deer.

Deer, apparently, have antlers. Which are a whole different material
to horn. So whenever poor muggins here is wondering whether to use
horn or antler for something, he should think about how much wear it's
going to see. If it's going to see any wear (like this blade
stabilizer) then avoid deer and antler altogether and go for buffalo
horn. Cow horn works too, but only comes in thin layers. Horn it
seems is the stuff that's solid, hard wearing, and has this property
of self-lubrication.

Which leads me back to the other threads, and how on earth you're
supposed to work buffalo horn (which is resistant to most rational
tools).

I wasn't thinking too deeply. I DO know that bulls don't have antlers.
So, is this what defines, antlers fall off but horns don't?

Greg wrote:
Larry said:


I'm thinking about putting BandRollers (Woodcraft) on my Delta 14".
I'm using Cool Blocks now and I'm not impressed. Any pro's or con's
out there?


That's a fair amount of money for something I've never found
necessary. Tweaking and technique gets more results than complexity
and expense. They are noisy, and subject to failure. Heck, I've gone
through 2 rear roller bearings in 6 months - I can't imagine having to
replace side rollers that often at $50 (and up) a pop.

For 1/16" blades, I use homemade solid oak blocks soaked in WD-40 with
the blade fully imbedded.

For re-sawing green wood, I use ceramic blocks and a 5/8" 3TPI heavy
alternate set blade. They help cut the resin off the blade.

For everything else, I either use ceramic or cool blocks. I have
noticed that the cool blocks don't fit the holders very well and do
wear somewhat.

The ceramics guides don't wear at all, but you have to be careful
about setting clearances, or they'll spark at the weld when the blade
gets hot (and expands).

Proper tension is also important - the guide on the saw is bogus.

FWIW,

Greg G.
I bought a pair of the rollers from Harbor Freight a while ago at a
tenth of the
$50 cost. Seemed worth a try at that price. However they are still in
the box (somewhere) as I continue to use the cool block type.
John

On 28 Oct 2004 14:48:04 -0700, (Sam) wrote:

Andy Dingley wrote in message . ..
On 27 Oct 2004 08:53:18 -0700, (Sam) wrote:


I wasn't thinking too deeply. I DO know that bulls don't have antlers.
So, is this what defines, antlers fall off but horns don't?


that's part of it.

On 28 Oct 2004 14:48:04 -0700, (Sam) wrote:

So, is this what defines, antlers fall off but horns don't?

I think so.

But the practical aspect is that antler is fast growing and porous,
horn is slow growing and solid.

--
Smert' spamionam

On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 02:18:48 +0100, Andy Dingley
wrote:

On 28 Oct 2004 14:48:04 -0700, (Sam) wrote:

So, is this what defines, antlers fall off but horns don't?

I think so.

But the practical aspect is that antler is fast growing and porous,
horn is slow growing


and solid.

well, dense. most of them are hollow for much of their length.
antlers, on the other hand are pithy in the middle and more so towards
the root, but never hollow.

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 19:25:35 -0700, wrote:

and solid.

well, dense. most of them are hollow for much of their length.

They're solid if you cut round the void though.

This was my original question. How do you rip black buffalo horn to
make stock boards? Is that pale line a void, or just discolouration?