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Is this right? Rockwell 20" band saw blade guides

Joined
Oct 16, 2016
I have a Rockwell 20' Bandsaw (28-3x5 20) that I got in pieces and incomplete. I think it is now put together correctly, but the guides seem to be not right. Can you tell me if this looks right? It seems aligned, but the rollers go down? I would think the guide slot would be at the bottom.


Rockwell-bandsaw guide D.jpgRockwell-bandsaw guide B.jpgRockwell-bandsaw guide A.jpg
 
Those guides are completely wrong. Find a Rockwell parts list on line and look at the guides. It should be metal fingers that guide the blade with a roller behind the fingers. You bring in the number of fingers needed according to the width of the blade.
 
The 20" Delta bandsaw is one of my favorite bandsaws. Re painting one in my shop right now. No,those are not the correct guides. But,the regular guides are pot metal anyway(a feature I WISH was better!!). You could get Carter guides for your saw,and they would be better than the old ones.
 
I kinda like those plastic guide blocks, seems like they should work just fine to restrain the blade with minimal friction. Easy and cheap to replace, and probably quiet.

The guides with 3 ball bearings are noisy as hell, and it's easy to get a small scrap wedged in between the blade and the lower bearings, which can break the blade or move the bearing.

How much use is your saw going to see, and will you be swapping out blades often?
 
The plastic blocks are prob a user addon and for a wider blade. Looks like a decent guide except for that. If the teeth protrude beyond the blocks, the blocks can be adjusted closer to the blade, with just a few thousandths clearance and will keep the blade from twisting/wandering much better.

It's a make your own block kind of guide. Steel or carbide fingers/blocks work well, too, esp at lower surface speeds.
 
As other's have said, most manufacturers recommend setting the teeth in front of the guides. You would NOT want the teeth hook or even gullet to contact the guides. The blade thrust wheel (bearings), at least on my Centauro bandsaw, should not touch the back of the blade except when the blade is under pressure when cutting. Likewise, the teeth hang off the front of the wheel (tires) though this is not the case with all bandsaw manufacturers.

From the manual ... The blade guide thrust wheel must never be adjusted in contact with the back of the blade, but at a distance of3+4 mm. If the blade is sharp and the feed force regular, it must not trip. On the contrary, the side wheels must skim over the blade, though without locking it, since they have the specific task of eliminating its vibrations, due to sawing. The wooden buffers of the bottom blade guide have to be adjusted using the same criteria.

Look to your user manual for recommendations.
 








 
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