Ryobi Bandsaw Roller/Bearing Guides

thingiverse

This guide upgrade replaces Ryobi's 9-inch bandsaw. If you're not familiar, bearing guides greatly improve performance and ease of use over stock models, extending blade life (in my experience). I designed it to utilize skateboard bearings, which are affordable on Amazon or at your local skate shop. You don't need expensive ones for this upgrade. There's a dimple on the shaft where you'll need to drill a 5/32" hole and tap 10-32 threads into it to use the stock bolt. The guide block has sleeves with a 1mm skirt on one side, which are standoffs that will face the body of the guide when inserted (see photo for bolt-bearing-nut assembly). They space the outer bearing race from the block so it spins freely rather than rubbing. Here are the only hardware pieces you need: two 1/4-20 thumb screws, two 1/4-20 square nuts, and two skateboard bearings. Home Depot sells a pack of two 1/4-20 square nuts, or if you're building your hardware collection, McMaster-Carr carries a pack of 100. Whatever you choose, they must be 7/16" on a side and 7/32" thick. You could experiment with the tolerances on the shaft to eliminate looseness, but it's negligible. If I redesign and make changes, I'll update the files.