Carter Products QR1000 Quick Release Band Saw Blade Tension Toggle

This device allows the release of blade tension on your bandsaw, something that will prolong the life of the blade, tires and bearings. It also makes it much easier to change blades per whatever the application needs. Installing it was not routine, but not terribly difficult. On my Porter-Cable 14” bandsaw, (and a number of other similar makes I suspect) i found the bolt holes overlapped the cast in webbing of the frame opposite the side of the tension device placement. I resolved this by slightly off-setting the location of the device by rotating it counter-clockwise in the throat of the frame where the tension mechanism sits. I then carefully drilled and tapped for 1/4-20 hardware, and installed the tensioning device with short flat head screws which were just long enough to fully penetrate the casting, but just shy of the adjacent frame webbing instead of the supplied hardware. The supplied replacement M8 knurled head bolt intended to replace the tracking adjustment knob did not fit this application, which is 5/16-18. I purchased a thumbscrew to solve this. The stock tracking adjustment knob interferes with the tension release mechanism installation, but Carter did attempt to anticipate this by supplying a part. The tracking adjustment part will of course vary from manufacturers. Overall I am pleased with this device, it is robustly made, and should provide long term service.

I installed on my Ridgid 14002 Bandsaw in about 30 minutes as part of a full tune-up of thi 14” bandsaw. It works really slick and makes mounting a new bandsaw blade quick and easy, and prolongs the life of the blade and the tires, which otherwise have the full tensioned blade on them unless you laboriously loosen the blade with the knob. This is a one-second fix when it’s time to saw wood; no reaching high to hand tighten. I should have done this long ago It’s well worth the money. Thanks, Carter Products for a quality product!

This is a nice setup. But I had to take a star back because of build quality, and the trouble I had to deal with because of that build quality.The arm is attached to another part of the arm mechanism with pop rivets. Mine had a rivet that was pulled out of the arm. It would have failed. All that tension on a aluminum rivet. No way! It will fail. Come on Carter Engineers! Figure it out and redesign it. Get it right. It’s a great product, every band saw should have one. But you can’t have a pop rivet hanging out. How did this make it through inspection?This thing is easy to install. It works great. Get the build quality right.On the return end of things, Amazon wanted me to return it, wait for a refund, then rebuy it. I talked to company Amazon sold it for. They graciously sent me another arm, but still took a bit to get done. So that was my experience. Nice tool, but it had an issue and I kind of got a run around to replace it. I need a band saw in my shop. I don’t have time for messing around, waiting on the mail man and ups guy.

Easy to install and a time saver to adjust the tension on the machine.

20 years ago I bought a 14" Delta bandsaw and was never truly satisfied with the way it performed. I did invest in a set of Carter ball bearing blade guides and the best blades available at that time. For 15 years I didn't cut much wood at all so I forgot about the issues I'd been having. Recently I got back into woodworking and rediscovered my dissatisfaction with my Delta bandsaw.After dropping by the local woodworking store I was close to dropping $1000.00 plus on a new bandsaw. Before spending the money I thought I would see if there was anything I could do to improve the Delta's performance so I did some online research and decided to try out a few improvements. I bought the Carter quick release, tension spring and a new set of urethane tires.The quick release and spring were very easy to install and make changing the blades a breeze. It took a little bit of finessing and soaking in hot soapy water but I was able to install the new tires in about 30 minutes. After final adjustments to the tensioning and tracking I cranked up the bandsaw and was amazed at how smooth and quiet it ran. No more wobbles, no more vibration, no more noise. I'm going to keep my 20 year old Delta bandsaw.I have one more investment I'm going to make on my bandsaw and that is a Laguna 3/4" Resaw King blade also sold by Amazon. This blade is a bit pricey but it is carbide tipped and from what I've seen should last for many years of resawing. I will right a review on that after I try it out myself.After receiving the Laguna blade I ran into an issue where I couldn't get the blade to track, and I couldn't get it to tension correctly with the quick release. After much frustration I discovered the problem to be the urethane tires I purchased. However, even after resolving the tire issue I found I still had a problem using the quick release with the Laguna blade. Long and short of it, I had to cut away some of the metal on the upper wheel housing and install shims behind the wheel to allow the quick release to move the wheel up and down freely. Love the quick release, love the Laguna blade. Just had issues getting them to work together.

Although it is marketed specifically for 14" Jet or Delta band saws, it fits like a glove on my King Industrial KC-1433FXR. Works like a charm! Well made and it makes my saw much easier to adjust and use, as I don't have to constantly futz with the blade tension between sawing sessions. It simplifies and speeds up blade changes as well. You do have to strip the shroud, wheel and tensioning block off of the top stanchion and drill two mounting holes to install it, but Installation was simple and took me a leisurely half hour to 45 minutes to complete.Alex Snodgrass of Carter Tools did a YouTube video on installing one on a Delta. Worth checking out to get an idea on how it installs.

This helps make an old bandsaw much easier to use .very well built .