Yet another Bandsaw question

[Prashun Patel]

I'm ready to upgrade my bandsaw finally. I have a 14" Grizzly G0555. Besides its capacity, things I wish I had:

easier blade tensioning/changing/adjusting.
wider table.

I'd like to come in as close to $1000 as possible.

What's the best, easiest, most convenient bandsaw in this range?

I'm looking at these:

Grizzly G0513X2B
Steel City 50250
Rikon 18"...

Any advice?

[Robert Parrish]

Shawn take a look at the Rikon 14" deluxe or the 18". I have the 14" deluxe and it is the best resawing bandsaw I have owned. Changing blades is easy and tension adjusting is a snap and dust collection is built in. The blade is 111" for the 14".

[Greg Portland]

Have you upgraded the tensioning spring in your 14" saw yet? Also, you can build a larger table out of good plywood & mount it to the saw.

Just some options before you drop $1k on a new saw....

[Mike Reinholtz]

Shawn- Your post has fantastic timing, I have been eye balling the same equipment and planned on posting about them today. I plan on going to check out the Rikon 18" this week and was hoping someone on here had experience with one. I read somewhere there are 2 versions of the Rikon 18", the older one had some issues that were corrected with an updated model but the new one had some problems with vibration. This may be old news that has since been corrected... anyone more familiar with these?

I also checked out the Grizzly machines and started getting that problem with size... all of a sudden the 17" looks nice, but for only a little more a 19" would be great and come with a 3hp motor...

[Prashun Patel]

Thanks for the posts so far. If I'm going to change my saw, I think I'm going to go for a 17" - not another 14" with a riser. I want this to be my last bandsaw (famous last words).

I really like the Grizzly below, and I'm hoping someone can tell me how it tensions relative to its smaller siblings.