Band Saw Clinic with Alex Snodgrass (bandsaw)
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Paul recommended this guy in a blog HERE about Alex Snodgrass’ presentation. Here is a 30 minute really good clinic on adjusting your bandsaw for optimal performance.
Mexiquite, do you or anyone have any experience with Carter Bandsaw Guides? I was thinking about purchasing a set for my Grizzley Bandsaw to see if they helped improve performance.
Memphis, Tennessee
@crance I don’t have any experience. I just yesterday got my grizzly bandsaw in. I did see Alex in person and it’s pretty amazing.
I watched the video and it had some really good pointers. I disagree with a couple of things he said. One, I may have misunderstood but I think he said not to adjust the tilt on the saw. How would you adjust where the blade rides on the wheel if you don’t adjust the tilt on the top wheel? Second, he said not to use the tension indicator on the back of the saw because it will vary with different lengths of blades. That is a spring loaded tensioner and it’s not going to make any difference if the blade is and inch longer or shorter. It doesn’t measure length, it measures tension. So you can depend on that indicator to tension your blade to the manufacturers suggested tension for your saw. that’s good information from a guy that has cut a hundred miles on a band saw. As for the carter guides, I have no experience with them.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein
I bought the Carter guides for my 14″ Rikon at the Cincinnati Wood Show last year. Worth the investment. If you can get them at one of the shows, you will save some money.
Located in Honeoye Falls NY USA. The Finger Lakes region of Western NY.
"If you give me 6 hours to fell a tree, I will take the first 4 to sharpen my axe" Abe Lincoln
Thanks Brett, my Grizzley does a good job, but I do get a bit of drift when I try to resaw if my set-up is not perfect. I would like to allow for a bit more of a window to work in. I will put the carter guides back on my wish list and keep my eyes open for a sale.
Memphis, Tennessee
@crance I just found that Grizzly offers a bearing replacement. $109.95 vs $250+ for Carter. Anybody have any experience with Grizzly bearing blade guides? http://www.grizzly.com/products/Bandsaw-Ball-Bearing-Guides/H9565?gcsct=0ChMI6PmitY6LvAIVSFLnCh3NIwAAEAQ
On the Carter website it says that their bearings are “SEALED” and on the Grizzly website it doesn’t say if there’s are sealed or not. I’ve emailed Grizzly to find out. Will post response.
Thanks Mexiquite, I am going to have to do some research or get on the phone with Grizzly. My bandsaw in an older model 14″, I need to make sure those Grizzly or Carter parts are going to fit. Mine has no bearing guides, except where the back of the blade rides. It has what looks like graphite blocks that “pinch” the blade to hold it steady. I would love to have something a bit more “forgiving”.
Memphis, Tennessee
Steve said: “my Grizzley does a good job, but I do get a bit of drift when I try to resaw if my set-up is not perfect. I would like to allow for a bit more of a window to work in.”
The Snodgrass method to eliminate drift in resawing is to center the teeth of the saw blade on the tires not the entire blade. Try it, it works good.
Located in Honeoye Falls NY USA. The Finger Lakes region of Western NY.
"If you give me 6 hours to fell a tree, I will take the first 4 to sharpen my axe" Abe Lincoln
Thanks Brett, I am off work the next few days and will have a chance to watch the video that Mexiquite posted. I will definitely be trying these tips out. For the most part my bandsaw does everything I need it to do and it does it well, but when it comes to re-sawing, if I don’t go through the set-up steps every time, I will experience some drift. I can get the Carter bearing guides for $179 (full price, hopefully I can catch a sale), and I don’t mind paying that if I get an increase in performance. Hopefully I can get it to hold its critical setting for longer than a day.
Memphis, Tennessee
Sorry I am coming to this conversation late.
@crance:
The Carter guides, by specification and reputation, should be much higher quality bearings, and will last forever, but I am doubtful that they will perform much better – unless your bearings are not spinning freely or if the thrust bearing is scored on the surface. I think money would be better spent on a quality bi-metal carbide blade like a Lennox.For my second hand $250 Rockwell 1/2HP saw, $175 bearings make no financial sense…
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My reactions to the video:1) I will have to give Snodgrasses’ blade position tip a try to see if I can get smoother cuts. My saw is working pretty well right now, but there is always room for improvement.
2) No doubt he has done this thousands of times, but Snodgrasses’ speed at the bandsaw looks dangerous, as well as how he leaves it running when checking for square. I hope no one tries to emulate that practice. Made me wince a few times.
3) That stabilizer guide looks like it is worth the money if I made bandsawn boxes or snakes. I did not even know snakes were a thing…
-Scott Los Angeles
@mexiquite thanks again for posting this. I went to The Woodworking Show in St Louis yesterday and sat in on this demo. I was able to talk with him and ask a few questions, it was very helpful. I am going to follow his steps on the setup, and then decide if I want to add the guides to my saw.
Memphis, Tennessee
@crance have you done anything to your bandsaw? Any new guides?
I just bought a new Timber Wolf 1/2 3TPI http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DXOWBS4/ref=pe_385040_30332190_TE_M3T1_ST1_dp_1 and am about to install it.
I did not buy the guides yet @Mexiquite, but I have followed some of the steps for the setup. It did help.
Memphis, Tennessee
Hi all –
I am late to the discussion but I saw Alex at a Woodworking show. I spoke to him and his father and decided to buy the guides (didn’t buy their blades though). The guide installation on my Grizzly was not smooth. The Carter instructions are really lousy. Several calls remedied my problems (I actually had them installed backwards at first). Once I installed the guides I tried to resaw some poplar (not a really hard task) and it didn’t work out well.
I installed a new Timberwolf blade and it was magic!
The old blade was probably just a bit dulled, but following Alex’s instructions was a big help.
— Steve.
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