Rikon 10-326

For a long time I had a Jet JWBS-16 Bandsaw and I was never very happy with it.  I found it was a pain to adjust the guides and I disliked the Euro style guides.  I could never seem to get them adjusted correctly to get a decent resaw.  I finally sold it on Craigslist and started my hunt for a new bandsaw.  

I wanted to get a 14” bandsaw and started comparing the specs on the Jet, Laguna, Harvey and the Rikon. I tried to find somewhere that had them on the floor to get a look at them.  The only one I found was at Woodcraft and it was the Rikon 10-326.  My son also has that same bandsaw and has had no issues with it.  I liked the saw and ended up buying from Amazon.  It was interesting to compare the prices for all the different places one could buy it.  After comparing the list price plus the shipping cost, they were all about the same.  In most cases, they were all shipped from the same place.  I ordered it and took about 10 days to get it.  The drivers unloaded it and rolled it up the 100 ft driveway and into my shop.  I was very glad as the thing was heavy at about 300 pounds.  Being 75 and having back issues, this would have been a large challenge.  

Specifications

·       Motor: 1-3/4 HP TEFC; 115/230v; 14/7a

·       Cutting Capacity: 13-5/8" Wide x 13" High

·       Cast Iron Table: 21-1/2" wide by 15-3/4" deep

·       Table tilt: up to 45° right or 7° left

·       Dust port: 4"

·       Cast Iron Wheels: 14" diameter

·       Blade Length: 111"

·       Blade Width: 3/16" - 3/4"

·       Comes with 5/8" 4tpi blade installed

·       Cutting Speeds: 1445 / 2950 fpm

·       Overalll size: 33-3/4" wide x 25" deep x 76" high

·       Weight: 256 lbs

·       Footprint: 24" wide x 17-1/2" deep

·       FIVE-YEAR manufacturer's warranty.

I found very good videos of the assembly process and put it together lying down on its back.  My wife and I were not strong enough to lift it up.  I ended up with a small block and tackle attached to a beam in my shop to get it to 45 degrees and then we were able to get it upright.  The next challenge was to get it on the base I built.  I rocked it back and forth putting 2x4 under it until it was far enough off the ground and then used 1 inch pvc pipe to roll it onto the base.  I was greatly relieved to get it there.  

I used the Snodgrass video of this saw to intall the blade and adjust the guides and then put the cast iron table on.  Initially, I used the blade that came with it and did a resaw on a short 2x4 and was able to get a piece 0.080” thick and uniform in thickness.  

I changed blades and put a 3/8 inch 6 tpi and adjusted the guides.  I took a 12 inch length of a perfect 2x4 and resawed to different thickness.  The pieces were uniform front to back and top to bottom.  (The perfect 2x4 I found had at Home Depot had absolutely straight grain, no defects, no pitch, and tight grain.)  The picture shows the results of the resaw.

PICTURE OF RESAW

I had hooked up my dust collection (5 hp Super Dust Gorilla) to the 4 inch port and then looked at the bottom wheel to see how much saw dust was left.  It was absolutely clean.  

Pros

Has an outlet to plug in a light.

Storage Cabinet under Saw

Table nicely machined.  Corners sharp and were filed down a bit

Resaw fence is 6 inches tall and adjustable for drift.

Saw feels very built and sturdy.  

I had a couple of broken parts and emailed Rikon and had replacement parts within a week.

Cons

The fence is too tall for some operations and I made an auxiliary fence 3 inches tall.

 

I also have the Rikon 10-305 which is the 10 inch bandsaw.  It is a light weight saw for delicate work and I use it with the Carter Stabilizer with 3/16 inch blades.