BAND SAW CARTER STABILIZER

I have an old Craftsman 12” band saw that I wanted to try out a Carter stabilizer on. Carter makes stabilizer kits to fit lots of band saws. However they don’t make one for my saw.

At www.carterproducts.com you can search for “thrust bearing assembly” to find just the bearing with the shaft. That’s all you need to fit the stabilizer on any off-brand of band saw.

To use the stabilizer bearing you need to eliminate the existing blade guides. I removed the upper blade guide assembly from my saw. The lower assembly can just be slid back out of the way.

(Note that I removed the blade guard, just to take the pictures) Now it’s just matter of making an adapter to hold the stabilizer bearing. You will need to make the forward and sideways mounts adjustable. One downside to this is that I lost ¾” on the height of the band saw cut availability. An upside to this is that one of my thrust bearings was going bad. Since replacement parts for this old band saw are obsolete, this is an easy problem solver.

I do admit I find it impossible to cut a straight line with this stabilizer. I’ve been using it for quite a while, and I’m not completely sold on it yet. Even though it may allow you to make sharp turns, I have trouble accurately following a curved or a straight line.

#bandsawbladeguides #bandsawthrustbearing #Carterstabilizer