Ridgid BS1400 Upper guide block holder

[BrazosJake]

Have any other BS1400 owners noticed that the upper guide block holder doesn't extend far enough forward on wider blades? It's generally recommended that the guide blocks reach the back of the blade's gullets. I've got a 3/4" Delta blade mounted for resawing, and with the guide blocks fully extended and blade tracked center of the upper wheel, they fall a good 3/8" short of the back of the blades gullets.

I've ordered a 1/2" blade which should help (the 3/4" was a freebie) but was wondering if anyone knew of an aftermarket guide block holder that fits the BS1400 and would extend farther, possibly from a Jet or another Chinese-made 14" BS??

Thanks!

[Scottydont]

I use the Harbor Freight roller kit ($12.95) on my BS1400 and they extend farther than the stock guides.

[Jim Boyd]

quote:Originally posted by BrazosJake

Have any other BS1400 owners noticed that the upper guide block holder doesn't extend far enough forward on wider blades? It's generally recommended that the guide blocks reach the back of the blade's gullets. I've got a 3/4" Delta blade mounted for resawing, and with the guide blocks fully extended and blade tracked center of the upper wheel, they fall a good 3/8" short of the back of the blades gullets.

I've ordered a 1/2" blade which should help (the 3/4" was a freebie) but was wondering if anyone knew of an aftermarket guide block holder that fits the BS1400 and would extend farther, possibly from a Jet or another Chinese-made 14" BS??

Thanks!

Do you have the Ridged risor kit on your saw? Mine was fine until I put the risor on then I started having the exact problem you are describing. a 1/2" blade won't help either. I have a set of roller guides similar to the HF guides and they don't even come close. My solution when ever I get to it is to remove the risor block and move the top locater pin. That or just leave the block off.

[BrazosJake]

I do have the riser block, Jim. I can't say what it was like before cause I don't think I fooled with it much before installing the block.

Since reading Michael Fortune's tips in the latest FWW, I've been fiddling with all of this trying to get the blade square to the table and guide blocks square to the blade, etc. I've found a couple issues:

1. The aforementioned shortness of the guide block holders leave much of the blade unsupported.
2. The terrible amount of slop in the guide block holder arm. when I tightened the screw down, the block holder would move a good 1/8" to the right. How ya ever gonna square the blocks to the blade when that happens? I shimmed it up with some pieces of tin flashing to remove the slop.
3. Same as #2 except the blocks themselves. I'm using Hale 1/2" cool blocks and when I tighten the screws, the blocks move quite a bit. I also shimmed them up with some tin flashing (being careful the tin doesn't touch the blade) so they fit much tighter and don't move. Now I need to square them up good, but not sure how I'll do that. I'm thinking of having a machine shop custom mill a set of steel blocks.

I find only way to prevent the blade from deflecting easily to the right is to put the guide blocks up tightly touching the blade. I'm hoping the 1/2" Starret blades will resolve a lot of this, I noticed the weld on my 3/4" Delta is pretty sloppy. With the thrust bearings set 1/32" back and no load on the the blade, the blade hits the TB as the weld passes by.

[final_t]

First off, many resources suggest not to use a 3/4" blade on a 14" saw, because the design can't support it properly. Max 1/2".
Second, I would check to make sure that you have the wheels coplainer. The first thing I would be checking if this was happening to me is if I've got the riser block on square and that the frame didn't get twisted in the process. I've got the Rigid w/o the riser block, and have no problems with the upper blocks.
Instead of getting steel blocks made, try making some out of hardwood. Lots cheaper.

[Jim Boyd]

quote:Originally posted by final_t

First off, many resources suggest not to use a 3/4" blade on a 14" saw, because the design can't support it properly. Max 1/2".
Second, I would check to make sure that you have the wheels coplainer. The first thing I would be checking if this was happening to me is if I've got the riser block on square and that the frame didn't get twisted in the process. I've got the Rigid w/o the riser block, and have no problems with the upper blocks.
Instead of getting steel blocks made, try making some out of hardwood. Lots cheaper.

I have mine in the same plane. I had to add a washer behind the upper wheel to get it that way. The riser can not be twisted because it has a locator pin on the top and bottom, hench my thought about relocating one of them.

[BrazosJake]

quote:Originally posted by final_t
try making some out of hardwood. Lots cheaper.

Wouldn't hardwood burn? I'm thinking UHMW might work.

Jim,

Did you use any special type of washer to shim up the wheel? On my Ridgid, the wheel almost hits the back of the upper cabinet above the rear blade guard, whereas the front of the wheel has a good 1/2" clearance. I removed the wheel and bent the sheet metal back a bit to give some clearance. Then I noticed the axle for the upper wheel is not at 90* to the cabinet, it's about 3* towards the back, which would explain why the wheel is not parallel to the cabinet. I know the cabinet doesn't mean squat, it's just a piece of sheet metal, but axle is set in the upper casting, so I'm thinking I might ought to pull the upper cabinet off and possibly the lower wheel to see if the axles are aligned. I don't have any problem getting the wheels to track coplaner, though.

Thoughts?

[Jim Boyd]

quote:Originally posted by BrazosJake

quote:Originally posted by final_t
try making some out of hardwood. Lots cheaper.

Wouldn't hardwood burn? I'm thinking UHMW might work.

Jim,

Did you use any special type of washer to shim up the wheel? On my Ridgid, the wheel almost hits the back of the upper cabinet above the rear blade guard, whereas the front of the wheel has a good 1/2" clearance. I removed the wheel and bent the sheet metal back a bit to give some clearance. Then I noticed the axle for the upper wheel is not at 90* to the cabinet, it's about 3* towards the back, which would explain why the wheel is not parallel to the cabinet. I know the cabinet doesn't mean squat, it's just a piece of sheet metal, but axle is set in the upper casting, so I'm thinking I might ought to pull the upper cabinet off and possibly the lower wheel to see if the axles are aligned. I don't have any problem getting the wheels to track coplaner, though.

Thoughts?

I have used wood scraps (before the risor kit) and they have worked fine. The washer is a standard thickness that I had to ream the hole out to make it fit. Like you tracking is not a problem but parallelism was. Try the washer and that might take care of 2 of your problems.

[BrazosJake]

WhoHoo! The 1/2" Starrett blades arrived from BCSAW yesterday. I just put one on, set the blade square to the table (tracked to center of the upper wheel) and viola! nice, straight kerfs at last. I haven't tried resawing anything yet, but these cut sooooo much nicer than that POS 3/4" Delta.

[BobSch]

quote:Originally posted by BrazosJake

WhoHoo! The 1/2" Starrett blades arrived from BCSAW yesterday. I just put one on, set the blade square to the table (tracked to center of the upper wheel) and viola! nice, straight kerfs at last. I haven't tried resawing anything yet, but these cut sooooo much nicer than that POS 3/4" Delta.

Proves that good blades are worth the money.