High Performance Blade Guides?

[stavebuyer]

LT70s come from the factory equipped with high performance blade guides. I know I have read some posts where a few LT40 owners didn't see much difference and went back to standard rollers. When the blade gets dull or your push too hard you get waves; upper and lower guide pads don't stop it but do they reduce it?

We just realigned the mill and cut a log without the upper and lower guide blocks. Only difference we noticed was that all the sawdust went out the sawdust tube instead of some being deflected by the upper & lower blocks. One log with a fresh blade isn't much of a test but I am tempted to leave the guide blocks off and see if we notice any change.  Any LT70 owners run without the guide blocks?

[slider]

I run mine all the time but I am guilty of not keeping them adjusted like I s for the remindernkshould.Tham



















































I am guilty of not keeping mine adjusted properly ,the pads I mean .Thanks for the reminder.

[Chuck White]

There were HP Blade Guides on my mill when I first got it, but sometimes I needed a little extra clearance between the blade and the bed and the lower part of the HP BG interfered.

I took them off and installed standard BG's.  8)

I do think that if they're installed and adjusted properly, that they can produce a cut that has less waves than the standard BG's.

[backwoods sawyer]

I up graded the movable side to the hp bg with no big difference.
I adjust when I notice a gap forming.

But on the drive side the style of bg on my mill does not have a chip deflector and not having a chip deflector allows build up between the saw and the wheel.

Recently I added a Cooks lube system with a deisel wick. It sits on the saw where the hp bg would be. It tends to send sawdust spraying but has solved the build up on the wheel issue.
 

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

I have the HP blade guides on my mill. If my blade hits metal and decides to extremely rise or fall in the blink of an eye.....the extra blade pressure will be on the guides and not directly on my rollers.
Chuck White had a good point also.....you can get more clearance by removing them.
I prefer to leave mine on.....but I do have an option to take them off if I need to.

[Peter Drouin]

I like mine, but they build up with sawdust.
So I did this.


 
When the blade is tight, it's up agents the piece.

[customsawyer]

I don't use them on my main mill. I didn't notice that much difference and that is that much less time I have to spend adjusting.

[backwoods sawyer]

Like Poston said they help slow the dive or rise after the fact.

[Rachiano]

I removed mine....had a feeling that sometimes the blade was rubbing against them weakening the blades due to heat created. Put more down pressure on the blade.... 1/4 inch or more....pump the tensioning system airbag to 120psi and tension the blade to 130psi....cuts straight if blade is sharp enough.

[Magicman]

I could not tolerate anything that reduced the opening between the blade guides.  I used every bit that I could squeeze today.

[stavebuyer]

We have been running one of the LT70's over two weeks now without them. The crew running the mill was of the opinion that trying to saw without blocks would never work and the mill wouldn't cut straight or fast without them. Since I am the one signing their paychecks ; the guides stayed off anyway. Even the doubters came around and now agree we noticed no difference in production or quality of cut.

[petefrom bearswamp]

Took mine off 3 yrs ago and see no difference in the boards if the blades are sharp and set properly.