I've had the Rikon 10-325 14" bandsaw for almost 2 weeks and would like to post my first impressions and report how the saw does or does not live up to the manufacturer's specs. This won't be a complete review, I may do that after more time with the saw.
I suppose the first question would be, does the 1 1/2hp motor really have what it takes to fullfill the 13" resaw capacity in the specs? I couldn't immediately lay hands on a 13" chunk of stock, so a 10"+ diameter block of Cherry, 18" long had to do for the test. This Cherry has been air drying for over a year and spalting has started on the exterior.
The BladeRunner II blades had not arrived from Iturra so I initially used a 3 TPI Timberwolf blade.
I am using a bandsaw jig from a recent issue of Wood Magazine.
The jig rides in the miter slot of the bandsaw table.
I made several cuts at 7/8", several at 5/8" and then at ~1/16".
These will be nice bookmatches when finished.
~1/16" veneers that need conditioned, stacked and pressed.
I had problems with the 1/16" slicing with the Timberwolf blade and stopped after ruining 2 slices. The BladeRunner II's arrived and I proceeded testing the saw.
On the Cherry with the BladeRunner blades the saw didn't act like it knew it was sawing 10" stock. I could not feed fast enough to hear any loading on the saw. On all cuts the slices were within a few thousand's top/bottom and end-to-end.
A 46" long piece of Cedar, 10" dia. on one end and 9" dia. on the other end had been tempting me since the LOML treated me to the Rikon. Yesterday I asked Tina if she would help me resaw it. I attached a piece of ply to one side to stabilize it against rolling on the saw table.
We brought it into the shop and readied it and ourselves for the task.
After freehand sawing it was obvious this was not the right way to do this. We were not able to get straight flat sides to ride on. After screwing up a couple of pieces (planer will fix them) we finally got an acceptable surface to ride on.
The resulting stock.
I won't do any more long stock until I make infeed/outfeed tables with miter slots matching those in the BS table, and a long version of the Wood jig, that's for sure.
As for the saw, I am completely satisfied. It surpasses my expections.
A point about the blades. I had changed the stock blade with the TW first thing. I had concerns about the quality of the cut and noise in the saw. I called Rikon and explained my concern and was immediately asked if I was using a TW blade. First the tech told me that TW makes their blades 3/8" (I think I'm remembering the amount correctly) longer than the spec size, making the tension adjustment way off. He also suggested forgetting the 'flutter test' and setting for 1/4" deflection. Then on the noise, he asked me to check the weld, suspecting it was offset. The weld was terrible and he wasn't surprised.
I have been an advocate of TW blades except for resawing, but am now having doubts about their quality. There are threads elsewhere that express the same concern. When I installed the BladeRunner blade the cut quality went up dramatically and the noise was gone.
So, I am very happy with the Rikon and have no reservations about the purchase, I highly recommend it.
ken
I suppose the first question would be, does the 1 1/2hp motor really have what it takes to fullfill the 13" resaw capacity in the specs? I couldn't immediately lay hands on a 13" chunk of stock, so a 10"+ diameter block of Cherry, 18" long had to do for the test. This Cherry has been air drying for over a year and spalting has started on the exterior.
The BladeRunner II blades had not arrived from Iturra so I initially used a 3 TPI Timberwolf blade.
I am using a bandsaw jig from a recent issue of Wood Magazine.
The jig rides in the miter slot of the bandsaw table.
I made several cuts at 7/8", several at 5/8" and then at ~1/16".
These will be nice bookmatches when finished.
~1/16" veneers that need conditioned, stacked and pressed.
I had problems with the 1/16" slicing with the Timberwolf blade and stopped after ruining 2 slices. The BladeRunner II's arrived and I proceeded testing the saw.
On the Cherry with the BladeRunner blades the saw didn't act like it knew it was sawing 10" stock. I could not feed fast enough to hear any loading on the saw. On all cuts the slices were within a few thousand's top/bottom and end-to-end.
A 46" long piece of Cedar, 10" dia. on one end and 9" dia. on the other end had been tempting me since the LOML treated me to the Rikon. Yesterday I asked Tina if she would help me resaw it. I attached a piece of ply to one side to stabilize it against rolling on the saw table.
We brought it into the shop and readied it and ourselves for the task.
After freehand sawing it was obvious this was not the right way to do this. We were not able to get straight flat sides to ride on. After screwing up a couple of pieces (planer will fix them) we finally got an acceptable surface to ride on.
The resulting stock.
I won't do any more long stock until I make infeed/outfeed tables with miter slots matching those in the BS table, and a long version of the Wood jig, that's for sure.
As for the saw, I am completely satisfied. It surpasses my expections.
A point about the blades. I had changed the stock blade with the TW first thing. I had concerns about the quality of the cut and noise in the saw. I called Rikon and explained my concern and was immediately asked if I was using a TW blade. First the tech told me that TW makes their blades 3/8" (I think I'm remembering the amount correctly) longer than the spec size, making the tension adjustment way off. He also suggested forgetting the 'flutter test' and setting for 1/4" deflection. Then on the noise, he asked me to check the weld, suspecting it was offset. The weld was terrible and he wasn't surprised.
I have been an advocate of TW blades except for resawing, but am now having doubts about their quality. There are threads elsewhere that express the same concern. When I installed the BladeRunner blade the cut quality went up dramatically and the noise was gone.
So, I am very happy with the Rikon and have no reservations about the purchase, I highly recommend it.
ken
