Shopsmith Forums

viclewis wrote:I am interested in the guide roller bearings to purchase, both the upper side bearings to guide the blade and the track roller bearings.

Where can I purchase them?

VXB has a fair price on the 608-2RS bearings. Bargain Bearings does not seem to be around anymore. Carter has the blade guides, but in all honesty I would now use the ceramic guides that you can get from Bill Mayo. My stock is a bit low but, Paul Cohen may still have some of the odds and ends that you need for the modification. Hope this helps, if not give me a ping.
ldh

Reviving and old thread (for those of us catching up!)

I found these 608's for only $0.87 (but the shipping was a little high I thought - so I'm going to buy 20 to 40 of them - maybe they will be useful elsewhere)

http://www.thebigbearingstore.com/servl ... ing/Detail

SO - LDH? I've been reading all that I can find on the Carter Guides V/S Ceramic Guides.

What were your conclusions?? The $15.95 ceramic guides are much more economical than the Carter $109 bearings!!!

And the Carter upgrade doesn't look very difficult to make - especially for the shopsmith models! A square rod, rounded on one end to fit into the piece of trapezoid-ish aluminum, drill and thread some holes... some machine bolts and 4 bearings... and a good bit of time!

OR - a phone call and $15.95...

If your conclusion is that there was no discernible difference, then this is a no-brainer. This thread was a year and more old so I wanted to know if you still had the same opinions.

(wonder if you'll ever see this - this whole forum looks rather dead - I need to see if I can find folks over at the ssug.org site - I think that was the URL)

TIA

I have the Shopsmith Creamic Guides available for anyone interested. Please contact me off-line. Thanks.

dlopeman wrote:SO - LDH? I've been reading all that I can find on the Carter Guides V/S Ceramic Guides.

What were your conclusions?? The $15.95 ceramic guides are much more economical than the Carter $109 bearings!!!

And the Carter upgrade doesn't look very difficult to make - especially for the shopsmith models! A square rod, rounded on one end to fit into the piece of trapezoid-ish aluminum, drill and thread some holes... some machine bolts and 4 bearings... and a good bit of time!

OR - a phone call and $15.95...

If your conclusion is that there was no discernible difference, then this is a no-brainer. This thread was a year and more old so I wanted to know if you still had the same opinions.

(wonder if you'll ever see this - this whole forum looks rather dead - I need to see if I can find folks over at the ssug.org site - I think that was the URL)

TIA

dlopeman wrote:SO - LDH? I've been reading all that I can find on the Carter Guides V/S Ceramic Guides.

What were your conclusions?? The $15.95 ceramic guides are much more economical than the Carter $109 bearings!!!

And the Carter upgrade doesn't look very difficult to make - especially for the shopsmith models! A square rod, rounded on one end to fit into the piece of trapezoid-ish aluminum, drill and thread some holes... some machine bolts and 4 bearings... and a good bit of time!

OR - a phone call and $15.95...

If your conclusion is that there was no discernible difference, then this is a no-brainer. This thread was a year and more old so I wanted to know if you still had the same opinions.

(wonder if you'll ever see this - this whole forum looks rather dead - I need to see if I can find folks over at the ssug.org site - I think that was the URL)

TIA

TIA,
I have one SS saw in my shop with the Carter Guide Bearings along with all of the other modifications I use to setup a SS saw including the Kreg Rip Fence and frankly the Ceramic Blade Guides wook just as well as the Carter
Bearing Guides and it is hard to beat the regular SS Rip Fence. In the end it is personal preference as to what works best for you. On my Delta bandsaw I use the Carter Bearings and find they work well. Check with Bill Mayo and see what others have told him about the use of the Ceramic Guides.
ldh

Thanks LDH!!! I knew that you had said that already. I just wanted to make sure your stance was still the same after a year or so!!

and thanks for all you inputs... and thanks to every one.... just ... Thanks!!!

I really appreciate that this thread was "revived" as I've only been on the forum a short time.

I think this will be a great upgrad to my band saw. I look forward to doing this as soon as I get my greenie back together, which would be soon.

Just in case anyone might think they need to upgrade to front/back bearings just because they have the old bronze bushings:

I bought a Shopsmith bandsaw that had been sitting in a collapsed barn for nearly a year. Probably worse than having sat out in the open, since when it got wet it would stay wet for a long time.

However, I was able to bring it back to 100% functionality using only two types of grease. First, I liberally applied elbow grease to all corroded surfaces. Then I applied lithium bearing grease to all the bushings and the upper wheel needle bearings. (I also did my best to get some oil to sink into the sealed lower wheel bearing).

I give thanks to our illustrious Mr. Mayo for setting me on the right path.

My band saw now runs smoothly, and quietly. Come the day when grease will no longer tame the beast, I'll add dual bearings in all three locations, but until then, the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies.

Its also a good reminder that, despite what every household cleaner might claim, new does not equal improved.

Hi,

Never thought I would get a shopsmith bandsaw but there it is sitting in my garage...

So I'm in the process of cleaning and de-rusting the cast iron table but I need to get on to the "spending a bit more" part of the process. I'd like to go with the Carter System like I have on my other bandsaw but I don't have the money to do that now. So I started looking for other options, this one of LDH's looks like a good start. The bearings on my machine have seen better days, like back in the 90's and need to be replaced before use.

So I'm looking (1) to see if anyone has any "new" advice or information on this upgrade, and (2) to see if anyone has spare parts sitting around they would like to part with. (Mostly thinking of the McMaster-Carr parts but bearings would also be welcome.)

When looking at the ceramic guideblock web site I noticed they also sell a thust bearing for shopsmiths, anyone have any information on that?

Ed

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