Rikon 10 Bandsaw

[chopnhack]

Does anyone own the Rikon 10" bandsaw that Woodcraft and Highland are pushing this season? Pro's con's?

Thanks.

[tkarlmann]

Look at Ryobi 9"?

Does anyone own the Rikon 10" bandsaw that Woodcraft and Highland are pushing this season? Pro's con's?

Thanks.

Cannot comment on the Rikon, but I recently bought the Ryobi 9" -- absolutely love it -- for almost 1/2 the price. Cuts VERY well -- you should see the smooth cuts I'm getting -- even though some poo-poo'd it here. The Ryobi is 1/2 the price and has tension release -- can't see that feature on the Rikon's photos. Ryobi also has a light with it. Sears also makes a nice 10".

[affyx]

I love my Rikon lathe - build quality is wonderful, if the bandsaw is built as well it will probably perform well and last a long time.

My recommendation to anyone looking at a bandsaw is a Grizzly G0555 14" bandsaw... it's my second favorite woodworking tool (behind the lathe) - for <$400 (that's under $2 a pound!) you can't beat it.

It looks like the 10" rikon only has a 3.25 inch (model 10-300) or 4.5 inch (10-305) capacity - you might find yourself limited by that over time (by comparison, the grizz and all the other taiwanese cast iron 14 inchers have 6" out of the box and a riser block can be added to increase it to 12" ($70)).

I also see that the 10 doesn't tilt left, only right - a great use of bandsaws is cutting dovetails, but only if you can tilt both ways (the g0555 spec says 10 degrees left, but it goes farther, I use it for 14 degree dovetails and I'm not up against the stops).

Also some feel that 10" wheels represent too tight a curve for metal blades.

[mpc]

I have the Sears Craftsman 10" bandsaw that looks a lot like the Rikon. Rikon says they aren't the suppliers for the Sears unit though many of the parts are identical/do interchange... but not all. I guess whatever factory Rikon uses also builds for Sears.

I've been quite pleased with it overall. The Sears specs listed a little more resaw capacity than the Rikon specs at my local Woodcraft; I don't know why there is a difference. The saws do have a different work table; perhaps the Rikon one mounts a little higher or something. I ended up making a wood table that literally sits on the lower wheelhouse... I gained almost an inch of resaw capacity though my table doesn't tilt at all. But for 90 degree cuts (the majority of what I do) it works well. I relocated the lower blade guide bearing assembly to inside the wheelhouse to allow the lower table. I even made my own upper blade guide assembly; it's half as "tall" as the factory setup gaining me another three quarters of an inch resaw. I don't remember the final resaw now but it's nearly 7 inches. With a new blade, the motor cuts maple with almost no slowdown so I haven't over-done it.

The Sears model does not have a blade tension indicator though; you have to adjust blade tension by the "pluck the blade and listen to it" technique. Since this is my first bandsaw, I didn't know just what to listen for... I popped a couple blades while learning where "too tight" was. In the end I found out that "tensioned enough" is a really wide range: I get quality cuts with what I feel is a minimal tension; a couple turns of the tensioning knob away from "break the blade" tension.

What length blades does the Rikon use? The Sears one uses 70 1/2 inch blades which are not stocked by most stores. Blade suppliers will make blades to whatever you need; it's just you won't find "off the shelf" blades available if you need one "today." I just buy the 72inch ones readily available and re-braze them myself - it's easy. I had to learn how while busting blades learning the "too much" tensioning anyway.

Friday afternoon I'll be stopping at my local Woodcraft to pick up my new Rikon 14" bandsaw (thanks mom & dad) that arrived today. Overall, Rikon has an excellent reputation for their bandsaws; if the 10" one at Woodcraft meets your needs I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. The Sears version used to go on sale for 100 bucks but I haven't seen it that low in over a year now. Usually it's in the $180 to $200 ballpark.

mpc

[chopnhack]

thanks for the 411 all. I did see it for $149 on sale, but didnt have the cash to splurge. I also wasn't sure if it was wise to do that now or just wait until I could get a bigger one, which is what I think I will do