Alexam
Bandsaw Boxmaker
I upgraded from my old bandsaw to a Record BS400 in June 2014 and have been very pleased with it's performance in my garage workshop. My main interest in retirement these days has been in making bandsaw boxes and I'm pleased that my son Mark is also enjoying this hobby.
The boxes often require tight turns and although I have tried a variety of smaller blades of 1/4" or 3/16", these occasionally produced wood burns inside the tight turn, which then required more sanding to eliminate marks. The turns were also a little difficult as it required one to 'force' the blade around the turn.
I had seen this video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbZqWac0jU and was impressed by the Carter Stabilizer, which does away with the upper and lower conventional blade guides and thrust bearing, leaving the blade supported only by a single bearing, that has a groove cut into it, to hold just the back of the blade.
CAN I BUY ONE
Enquiries were made, but most of the Stabilizers were produced for bandsaws that are common in the USA but not for the majority of bandsaws in the UK. A few e-mails later, after sending several close-up photos and measurements from the BS400 and one of the Carter engineers said that he thought one of the Stabilizers could be adapted for my machine. This was an RIK2 model.
I believe most of Carter prices for these units are around $80, but shipping (originally quoted as $79) plus import VAT and Royal Mail handling costs does make it more costly, so I hesitated, ............. only briefly.
The order was duly placed and the package duly shipped on the 21st November, arriving at the local sorting office nearby on the 5th December for Customs payment and collection.
The first job was to see if it would actually fit, so I took off the BS400 top guide unit and backed off the lower guides and thrust bearing well away from the 1/4" blade that was in situ at the time.
The new unit would not fit on the existing upper guide support bar. This was due to the fact that the bottom of the blade guard was a touch to long. Removal of the blade guide was simply removal of the two hex bolts holding it in place and manoeuvring it out around the blade. It only required removal of a small section of the blade guard, by the trusty/rusty hacksaw, to enable the blade guard to be refitted.
See Part 2
last photo should be with the first. the forum software seems not to be working, or I've one something silly?
The boxes often require tight turns and although I have tried a variety of smaller blades of 1/4" or 3/16", these occasionally produced wood burns inside the tight turn, which then required more sanding to eliminate marks. The turns were also a little difficult as it required one to 'force' the blade around the turn.
I had seen this video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbZqWac0jU and was impressed by the Carter Stabilizer, which does away with the upper and lower conventional blade guides and thrust bearing, leaving the blade supported only by a single bearing, that has a groove cut into it, to hold just the back of the blade.
CAN I BUY ONE
Enquiries were made, but most of the Stabilizers were produced for bandsaws that are common in the USA but not for the majority of bandsaws in the UK. A few e-mails later, after sending several close-up photos and measurements from the BS400 and one of the Carter engineers said that he thought one of the Stabilizers could be adapted for my machine. This was an RIK2 model.
I believe most of Carter prices for these units are around $80, but shipping (originally quoted as $79) plus import VAT and Royal Mail handling costs does make it more costly, so I hesitated, ............. only briefly.
The order was duly placed and the package duly shipped on the 21st November, arriving at the local sorting office nearby on the 5th December for Customs payment and collection.
The first job was to see if it would actually fit, so I took off the BS400 top guide unit and backed off the lower guides and thrust bearing well away from the 1/4" blade that was in situ at the time.
The new unit would not fit on the existing upper guide support bar. This was due to the fact that the bottom of the blade guard was a touch to long. Removal of the blade guide was simply removal of the two hex bolts holding it in place and manoeuvring it out around the blade. It only required removal of a small section of the blade guard, by the trusty/rusty hacksaw, to enable the blade guard to be refitted.
See Part 2
last photo should be with the first. the forum software seems not to be working, or I've one something silly?
