Here’s a set of band saw guides made for my D&W 20″ saw by my friend and neighbor, woodworker/machinist Kim Thoma. We worked on the design together, and Kim did the work on his Bridgeport and lathe. The configuration is similar to the Wright and Davis & Wells guides, which place a stationary guide pad just above and just below the thrust bearing. The upper guide was the prototype — perfectly functional but a little clunky — which served as the jumping off point for the lower guide (still not perfect, but more refined than the upper). The guide body is aluminum, the pads are off-the-shelf 1/2″ x 1/2″ ceramic blocks. So far, these have worked exceedingly well — from my perspective, better than any commercial guides I have ever used.
TIRES
When the D&W 20″ came into my possession a couple of years ago, the tires were grooved and flat from long use with narrow bands. I should have trued and crowned them then, but chose to wait and see how they behaved in use. And they worked OK, in a ‘if-it-ain’t-broke…’ kind of way, so it wasn’t until I started noticing some vibration and inconsistencies in the cut that I decided it was past time to true and crown the tires. To do it, I set up a steady rest that allowed me to present the edge of a turning skew chisel to the spinning lower wheel at the proper angle (about 90° to the axis). I was very easy to true the tires — removing those old grooves — and crown them slightly. I do the lower wheel first, then pop both wheels off and spin the upper wheel on the lower axle.
Hey David –
Pretty nice website you have here! I am in the middle of restoring my D & W 20″
and would love to find out if your neighbor is into fabricating some more of those
guides. Where are you now?
Thanks!
Michael
Hi Michael —
Good to hear from you — I’ll send you an email and we can catch up. Curious what you’ve been up to lo, these many years! 🙂 I think I may be able to talk my neighbor Kim into making another set of these guides. I’ll talk to him and let you know. Hope all is well with you!
Regards,
David
Hi David,
Am interested in your blade design, but am not clear how the ceramic blocks are held in, and also how mounted to the guide post. Further information would be appreciated.
Cheers Sam (Qld Australia)
Hi Sam,
Sorry for the delayed reply – it’s been a busy month. The ceramic blocks are off-the-shelf replacements for 14″ saws, and are held in place by a set-screw above the block. This works OK for now, but as you know set screws tend to dimple the contact point, however slightly, which over time can make it difficult to properly position the block. So an improvement would be some way of putting pressure on the block without the screw making direct contact. Beyond that, this method seems simple and effective.
Mounting the guides will vary with every different type of saw. Typically for upper guides the mounting post is directly in line with the blade, and will use a straight post into the guide post – though incorporating a slight cam or offset is handy for aligning the guide precisely. Lower guides often rely on offset mounting posts, since the attach point may not be directly behind the guide, or in line with the blade. Every situation is different.
Cheers! — David
Awesome guides. I’m right in the middle of getting my DW20 up and working, and just ordered one of the replacement original style guides from Dan at Davis and Wells.
The originals depend on the springiness of the cast iron and it’s apparently pretty easy to crack them.
I’d also be interested if you neighbor wants to make some more.
-Bob
Hi Bob,
Thanks for the inquiry, hope you have good luck getting your DW20 up and running. They are great machines. I don’t know if my neighbor will be making any more guide assemblies – but if he does I will let you know. Maybe we can put a measured drawing together that you or others could use to fabricate your own (or have a machinist fabricate for you). I’m currently using a set of Wright #0 guides on my saw, which I also really like. They’re a little overkill for this saw, and were fussy to install. I think the original DW guides are pretty good, and Dan Malouin’s reproductions are supposed to be good, too. That may be all you need. Let me know how the saw setup goes.
Regards,
David