Band saw guilde recomendations.

[heimlaga]

Hello
I am slowly rebuilding a 24" E.V.Beronius bandsaw. While working on the new wheel guards I started thinking about the upper guides. The old ones are homemade and not very well made. A new set of upper guides of industrial quality would cost around 200 euros. That is quite a bit of money......... maybe I could make a better set..... or if I am forced to spend the money I want to spend it on some good guides.

What general type of guides would be best for part time professional use?
Wooden blocks?
Some other type of guide blocks?
Ball mearings with the blade touching the outside like theese? http://www.carterproducts.com/band-saw- ... rsion-kits
Wheels with the flat side touching the blade like theese? http://scosarg.com/panhans-apa2-bandsaw ... upper.html

Thankful for advice

 

[dickm]

Depends a bit on what fittings are there already and your access to metalworking kit. My Startrite has very crude-looking but effective solid metal (?meehanite?) guides; fitted previous Kity saw with "koolblox". which were OK-ish, but not much better than homemade lignum ones. No experience with the ballrace siort,, but intuitively, the ones with the axle at right anglesto the line of cut ought to bebe5er.
Pictures of the relevant bits of your saw?

 

[heimlaga]

This is what the old guides look like. Probably fairly good in their day but I want something that is easier to adjust.

I am fairly good at welding and drilling and filing and that kind of stuff and have all the tools I need for it. I also know basic blacksmithing and have the tools for that. If parts need to be turned a good friend and neighbour does that for me. If parts need to be milled I just bring them to a machinist in the next village and he does is in between the big customers.
If we know what a part should be like and join our forces together we usually find a way to make it.
Hence the original question.......what design would be good yet possible to make?

 

[woodpig]

The back bearing should ideally be as that shown in your link of the Carter guides. The side bearings can be wood or brass or bearing races, whichever you like. If using bearings they should again ideally be like those in your first link.
I made guides for my BS like the Carter ones and they work well.


Mines here:

can-you-guess-t86079.html

See second page for complete picture of all components.

 

[dickm]

Woodpig's is a good 'un by the look of it. Don't understand why the OEM versions aren't usually like that, except that it does knock a couple of centimetres off max depth of cut. And why the back bearings are always "wrong way round" never makes sense to me. But for an easy upgrade, the OP could just replace those wooden rotors with ball races and it would look like most OEMs.

(Woodpig - any reason why you couldn't move the bar connecting the guides to the frame to level with the side bearings? This would reclaim those couple of cm. Or am I missing something obvious?)

 

[heimlaga]

Thanks Woodpig!

That would be within our capabilities.... after a few minor changes to fit the materials and tooling.

By showing this masterpiece of yours you got me thinking........
I wonder if each of the bolts that hold the side rollers could just be screwed into a threaded hole drilled offcenter in the end of a thicker piece of shaft that would fit sugly into a drilled hole in the frame. Then the side rollers could be fine adjusted side to side just by rotating the piece of shaft in it's hole and locking it in it's desired position by a setscrew from the side. Such a mechanism would require no milling.

 

[woodpig]

(Woodpig - any reason why you couldn't move the bar connecting the guides to the frame to level with the side bearings? This would reclaim those couple of cm. Or am I missing something obvious?)

It's the total height of the guide that determines how much wood you can get underneath it. It may well be possible to reduce the overall height of the guide block but I took the simple route! If anyone comes up with a better design though ...

 

[DennisCA]

Guides with the flat sides touching are supposed to be much quieter, hence the reason they are designed so. This is what I've observed people say who have either built their own or used carter guides. One went back to the "wrong way" design for said reason.

The design on my saw is very simple, though hard to make.

 

[Beau]

Have not tried other types but can give this style from Carter a big thumbs up http://www.carterproducts.com/band-saw- ... ntauro-350. Used them on a refurbish of an old Wadkin with worn out guides like the Panhans ones in your link.

 

[woodpig]

I read the reason why the bearings are placed the " wrong" way round is to give more support for the blade. The trouble is though that the bearings are not designed to take side loads like that and wear out quickly. In spite of what's been said they can be very noisy in that orientation as well as the blade tries to slide over the edge of the bearing, the periphery running at a higher speed than the centre. Both ways work, it's your choice.

 

[heimlaga]

With my engineering background I find the Woodpig style bearing orientation of the side rollers more logic so I will go for it. It may well be more noisy but to me durability is more important than noise levels. I always wear earmuffs when working around machinery and live out in the country without whining neighbours.
The only problem I can see with the back roller is thaa very small point of contact..... I wonder how that would work in professilonal use....or maybe I shouldn't worry.

Should someone make woodworking illegal and send inspectors in pursuit of the source of the bandsaw sound then I have a sharp axe and a not quite as sharp shovel...... and the problem will be gone.