Official Luthiers Forum!

I have a Delta 14" band saw.
I'm thinking about the Carter Band Saw Conversion kit.
Is it worth the $159?
Are there other good options?
Thanks!

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

I've got carters on my bandsaw. I love them. Money well spent in my opinion.

I have them too and love them.

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Reguards,

Ken H

Steve

I have a used set I could sell....

Check your PM

Mark

Todd, can you explain how the Carter guides improve the cut?

Still using my original cool blocks that came on my Delta 14. Love 'em. I've eyeballed the Carters, but the cool blocks work for all I use this saw for and I'm happy with it stock.

We had two of these saws at school where I taught and they were running the originals as well. We once had a problem with a holder, which was cracked from overtightening a screw on one of the blocks.

I imagine that if upgrading to riser blocks that it might be a nice upgrade to install the Carters.

On my Delta, I keep a 1/4 inch Olson general purpose blade, and cut 4 inch solid neck blocks and top, back, and side profiling and a lot of other odd jobs. For resawing I scoot over to the Laguna 18. I'm totally amazed that the Delta 14 can resaw as many attest to it doing. Totally amazed.      These are great saws by the way. I was sold on them the first time I used them.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

I have had Carters on my 14" with riser for a while, and it is a nice set of guides.

On my 18" I replaced the small pair of bearings and spacer with a single wide bearing and a small bearing(place holder, as the blade never contacts the small bearing). There is a world of difference in a single wide bearing vs the smaller(skateboard size bearings). Small bearings wobble a lot compaired to the wider bearing. You will pay $25 a pop for wide bearings, but I have never had one show signs of failure. If you ever get a chance compair the play in a ball bearing(skateboard style) then compair it to a wider roller bearing.

Peace,Rich

I use the cool blocks that i installed years ago on my delta 12". Still work great. I see no advantage in ball bearing guides.

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Guitars, guitars and more guitars.

I too replaced to a set of Carters .. mainly because the lower block assembly cracked (Delta should make their old lower assembly obsolete, in cmoparison the cater setup is a far better piece of engineering, even without the bearings.), and could no longer hold the cool blocks in position for a straight cut (I called the local delta parts palce, and was told the part was on order - then never heard form them again, so I bought the carters .. worth the extra dough). IMO, they are far superior to the cool block set up - they always stay straight, and dont wear like the cool blocks, which then require a touch up on the belt sander to get square again.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I think you guys pretty much nailed it. It really depends on what you are doing with the saw. I have run cool blocks on my 14", and they are nice for some applications. The big plus to bearings is they do not wear as cool blocks will.

One interesting thing I always keep in mind when I am doing resawing is that your machine set up well and with the blade clean and sharp, will cut straight with no guides. One time I was resawing 11" Koa and I stopped to clean the blade, bearings and do a quick reset and check on everything. I wound up going to dinner before I started again, and when I got back I forgot to set my guides (they were well away from the blade). I just fired the saw up and sliced the rest of the billet. When I stopped the saw I looked and noticed what I had done, but luckily it had made 8 clean straight cuts. That made it clear to me that guides are a nice bit of insurance, but they are not driving the straight cut.

One upgrade that I do not think people put enough value on is cleaning and using a blade that holds a sharp edge, as well as has a proper set and can clear the material (keeping good vac. is huge in helping with this).

If I had my choice of upgrades, the first would be to get the best blade for my application that my saw could tension, and keep it clean.

The funny thing about a cast 14" saw is that you can hot rod that monkey like crazy, and pull off big tasks. However it will never hold a tune or deal with big tasks as well as a larger saw. My 14" has a riser, high rate spring, Carter bearing guides, and so on... and I love what it can do. I can tell you I check its setting before starting to cut, and at least 5 times as often as my larger saw. I also check how true it is cutting between each and every cut. On my larger saw I may randomly check, but it is very very consistent.

Peace,Rich

Thanks guys. I'm learning a lot in this thread.