Bandsaw Guides

[lincmercguy]

I picked up a used Laguna 1412. Is Carter still the recommended guide setup, or should I look for something else? I ahd the Carter on my Ridgid bandsaw and like it, but I bough it many years ago.

[MstrCarpenter]

What's on it now? If it has the ceramic guides in good working order I think I would just use it for a while to see if I wanted an upgrade.

[lincmercguy]

It has the ceramic guides now. I haven't gone through an adjustment to see how well they work. On my Ridgid saw, the guide block setup was junk and the Carter upgrade made a huge difference.

[MstrCarpenter]

Not insinuating that you don't already know this, but for those starting out, the guides should be positioned to the blade only after it is already capable of tracking (without creeping forward or back) on the wheels. Exactly where and why on the wheels it tracks is another discussion covered here a few times.  I have a small 12" bandsaw I keep a 1/4" blade on. The back of the blade just barely misses the wheel behind it until I start cutting. Originally it had 1/4" round brass or bronze dowels for guides. Now I just use hardwood dowels. the ends seem to get hardened by the "heat treatment" of the blade, and they're so far forward that they're actually cut a little by the back of the gullets. With a sharp blade I can cut scrolls almost as fast as the Reindeer Guy from Carter. And these are about as cheap as B.S. guides come.

[lincmercguy]

I should go through a full adjustment first.  I think the Carter guides help quite a bit for resaw work, but I'm by no means a "bandsaw whisperer".  If the Laguna factory guides are better, I'll give it a try.

I also haven't adjusted the fence yet.  On my Ridgid saw, I just had a clamp-on fence that worked surprisingly well.

[jteneyck]

I should go through a full adjustment first.  I think the Carter guides help quite a bit for resaw work, but I'm by no means a "bandsaw whisperer".  If the Laguna factory guides are better, I'll give it a try.

I also haven't adjusted the fence yet.  On my Ridgid saw, I just had a clamp-on fence that worked surprisingly well.

Guides are of little value for resawing if you have a sharp blade with equal set on both sides and enough tension on it.  If the blade wanders the saw wasn't set up right or you are overfeeding, either because the tension isn't high enough or because the blade can't remove the sawdust fast enough.  

I'd use what's there until you see a real need to change.  On my little 14" Delta I use cool blocks because it doesn't matter if the teeth hit the blocks, there's no harm done.  Wood dowels, as mentioned, or square blocks, work the same way.  

John  

[2link2]

Just an FYI for the OP, I have a 14" Laguna SUV with ceramic guides and this saw has done a lot re-sawing and the guides work great. I think Carter are the ones who recommend Carter. I'm sure Carter makes a great set of guides but your 14" Laguna won't cut any better with them installed. You may like setting them up better, don't like sparks or just like the Carter design for whatever reason over ceramic if that's the case get em.