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I have been considering upgrading the guides on my 20 year old Laguna LT16. It currently has the original round, metal Euro guides. I am aware of two options, both ceramic. Laguna has these square ceramic guides:

https://lagunatools.com/product/accessories/bandsaw-accessories/ceramic-guides/smooth-ceramic-bandsaw-guides/

And a company called Space Age Ceramics has these replacement guide pins that would be easy to swap out:

https://spaceageceramics.com/laguna-18-euro-guides/

Does anyone here have any experience with either or know of any other options?

yes love them I use them

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John Hall
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Thanks for responding John, but could you tell me which ones you have? Laguna or Space Age Ceramics?

I’ve got the Laguna guides in my 14-SUV, and the Space Age Ceramics in my 10-325 Rikon. The Laguna ceramic guides are excellent! I’d go with them if $ permit. The SACs turned the Rikon into a decent saw. The skateboard bearings guides on the Rikon don’t hold up and would often start making a racket after only a few minutes use.

M

Thanks Michael. The comparison of the two is what I was hoping for.

This is the truth!

I have the space age ones on both a 14” and 10” Rikon. I keep the 14” set up for resaw. I haven’t noticed extended life on the blades but I use the cheap wood master blades so take that with a grain of salt.

I tried to post this before and it failed so if it’s a dup I’m sorry.

Brad




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Thanks Brad.

I put the Laguna guides on my 18 inch Jet saw a few years ago--the original Jet guides were the one part of the saw I always hated. They were having a Christmas special, so I got a good deal on them too.

The Laguna guides are absolutely great. Worth every penny in my opinion. My saw is what it should have been to begin with now.

Dave

OK, I'm sold. Thanks guys.

Dave, I got a set of the guides for my 18" Jet yesterday. They did not send any installation instructions. I think I understand how the top one works but not the bottom guide. There's the guide, a drilled plate and a bag of bolts none of which match anything on the Jet. Have you got any tips?

Here's a couple of pictures of my lower guide--hope it helps. Basically, there's an angle bracket that mounts to the saw frame with a couple of bolts. Then the guide block bolts to the angle block.

Edit--my Jet 18 is quite a few years old, and apparently the newer ones have some slight differences. I found this on Sawmill Creek about fitting the lower guides to the newer model 18 saw:


"Did some back and forth with Laguna technical support and though they didn't have any specific guidance, (no official instruction). Ended up determining that the lower guide assembly mounts to a separate mounting plate that must be fastened to the saw housing. These parts including the fasteners for the mounting plate are provided in the retrofit kit.

In case anybody else can benefit from my experience, here is what I determined needed to be accomplished to mount the lower guide assembly.

Remove the bandsaw table, the factory lower guide assembly and the hinged blade blade guard that is mounted below the table. No portions of the factory lower guide assembly are to be reused.

When the factory lower blade guide is completely removed, there is an exposed flat ledge on which this mounting plate can be installed. I positioned the blade guide assembly on top of the mounting plate and then tried to align it, as closely as possible, with the upper guide which I'd previously installed on the saw. Once i had the plate in position, i then marked the holes where I needed to install the fasteners to hold the plate in place. The supplied bolts are 1/4-20 machine screws, so drill and tap accordingly for them. Secure the mounting plate to the saw and then attach the guide assembly to the mounting plate. Adjustment of the guides is per their instructions after that."


Dave

One other thing I had to do on my saw that I don't think was included in the instructions was to shorten the blade guard. Without shortening it, the saw line was hidden unless the guide was adjusted way too high to use. Here's a picture:

I must be the only person that hates (hated) the Laguna guides. I found them a pain to set up because every time you tight things down, the guides would shift. I would really like the ceramic guides but done in a manner similar to the euro-style guides.

I've been looking at various guides over the years, but haven't found the need yet. I've got an old cast iron 14" Delta with a riser block. I bought two sets of Cool Blocks back in the 1980's and I'm working on the second set right now. I resaw rosewood, bubinga, sapele, birdseye maple, ovangkol and african blackwood with a half inch Timberwolf/Viking blade. There's a youtube video from Stockroom Supply that shows a guy (Ethan ?) resawing without guides and almost no tension on the blade. I guess if you tune-up your bandsaw right, or get lucky like me, you don't need anything special.

For me, it was the fact that the factory guides on my Jet saw were just plain bad. The lower one in particular--danged near impossible to adjust. Once adjusted, the blade tracked fine, but there was always a lot of cussing involved whenever I'd change blades. The Laguna is reasonably easy to adjust (much easier than the factory guides) and does track better.

I have cool blocks on my 14 inch saw, and they work fine.

Dave

Hi barry greetings from OKC . I have an 04 laguna 20in BS with the the ceramic guides and rear ceramic thrust bearings. I Find they were great for resawing and the resaw king blade . No laguna does not pay me. I also have a scmi 18 in bs from 96 .I had metal bearings and rear thrust bearings. The lower one has OO wood guides and a ceramic rear thrust bearing . The top has the original side bearings which I clean with solvent every few months . The upper thrust bearing is a replacement ceramic thrust bearing. IMHO . the ceramic bearings are way more efficient and can be easily touched up on a quality flat diamond stone. Hope this helps. I also got some exc. help from lagunas tech dept,

Thanks Ernie. Hope your not freezing your tush off up there in OKC.

My 14” has always cut well with Cool Blocks. No drift, etc. But I just ordered $100 worth of maintenance parts and realized I’ve lost a thumbscrew from the lower guide somewhere along the way. I started wondering if I should pony up for Carter guides.

These Space Age Ceramic guides seem to replace the guide blocks and rear thrust bearings I already have, but use the same hardware. I’m going to check them out as a happy in-between with the Carter guides price-wise. My rear thrust bearings are as old as the saw, which is about 15 years.


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Okc is getting that winter blast of the so called artic vortex , so I/m blaming all my friends and family all over canada for sending us this unprecedented 10 to 12 days of cold weather. I stay warm by being active in my shop . Hand planing helps too!