Seeking some bandsaw purchase advice

[Steven Galonska]

Hi Everyone,

I'm currently struggling with deciding which bandsaw to purchase and was hoping to solicit some advice. I walked into the local woodworking equipment dealer yesterday thinking that I had narrowed my options down to two models (the Rikon 10-325 or the Powermatic PWBS-14CS). Unfortunately I walked out of the dealer an hour later more confused than when I walked in.

The biggest problem I'm dealing with is that none of the local dealers have any saws in stock and I'm not entirely comfortable with the prospect of deciding between machines when I've never even seen an example in person. I had been leaning towards the Rikon as a friend of mine bought one a couple of years ago and has been happy with it. However, the dealer recommended I avoid the Rikon as several of his customers have had problems with them in the past year. His personal recommendations were the Powermatic PWBS-14 and the Shop Fox W1707, both of which could be had for around $1k. As I understand it the W1707 is very similar to the Grizzly G0513X which has received generally positive reviews. Alternatively, the Powermatic seems to get very good reviews but many people think it is too expensive.

As I see it the positive features for each saw as compared to the other are as follows:
Powermatic PWBS-14:
Longer warranty (5yrs vs. 2 yrs)
Better guides
Nicer tension release setup
Includes light
Free riser block

Shop Fox W1707:
Slightly larger table
2hp vs. 1.5hp
No need to install riser block
Larger wheels potentially allows use of 1" blades

Can anyone share their experience with either of these saws? I wish I could just examine them side by side but unfortunately this isn't possible.

Thanks.

[Jeremy Greiner]

I purchased the powermatic bandsaw during the 15% sale for st. patty's day (they're having another 10% sale at woodcraft april 9th) .. My reasons were:

Free Riser block, (though the rikon and some other models did not need one), Installing the riser block before assembling wasn't to bad.
Free Fence, (100$+)
Free Carter Blade tension release (150$) .. which also can save you money in tires due to allowing them to last longer, but changing the blade with the carter release system is really easy.
Powermatic Support is very good.

I had heard the same about the Rikon, though many of the online reviews for it were good. So I'm not sure if that was just salesman talk or not.

*Edit
So far I like the saw, but have only really had it for a week or so, I can't offer any long lasting information about the use of the saw.

-jeremy

[Steven Galonska]

I had heard the same about the Rikon, though many of the online reviews for it were good. So I'm not sure if that was just salesman talk or not.

Thanks for the reply Jeremy. The dealer's main complaint however is that apparently Rikon's warranty only covers parts and not labor. He also mentioned problems with bad motors in the past few months.

[Andrew Kertesz]

Wood magazine just did a review on 14" BS and the Rikon was a top pick. I believe it was the March issue.

[Doug Colombo]

Wood magazine just did a review on 14" BS and the Rikon was a top pick. I believe it was the March issue.

I bought the Rikon about 4 months ago and am very pleased with it. I have used it for only about 1 hour of cutting (been traveling for work), but have had no issues with it. I did some checking and both Rikon and Shop Fox warranty is 2 years parts only. Powermatic said that they cover both parts and labor, but you have to get the saw to one of their service centers. When I talked to them they indicated that most of the time they just send you the part and have you install it – which is what the other two do. One plus for Powermatic is the extra 3 years of warranty but IMO, I would not rule the Rikon out.

[glenn bradley]

Well, if you look around here enough you will find folks who love and hate all those saws. I have been reading and posting here for years and can only offer my general opinion based on that experience (greatly biased as I have a G0513X): Most folks love their G0513's, most folks love their Rikons and most folks love the PM's. Many folks feel that Powermatic is a bit over-proud of their versions of a given tool. Many people feel that something is not so great about Grizzly and/or Rikon. It is a lot of info and you get to filter through it ;-)

I only offer this as my general sense of things from participating here and on other forums. That doesn't make it valid and I'm not trying to start a side-discussion. Just as you will find more bad reviews then good (people like to complain more than they like to praise), you will find merchants, professional and forum members all have a bit of a bias based on their actual experience and their exposure in discussions such as these. You are saddled with the enviable (although sometimes frustrating) job of rendering down all the reviews, articles and forum posts to hopefully end up with a decision that suits your needs and makes you happy.

[John Sanford]

Go with the Rikon or Shopfox. A steel frame bandsaw is a better engineering solution than a cast iron frame with riser block, at the same price point. You'll notice that the only place you see the cast frames anymore is in 14" saws, all of the larger saws are steel.

This isn't to say that the PM is a bad saw, but if I were spending that kind of money, I'd skip the cast iron frame. In the interest of full disclosure, my first bandsaw was a 14" Jet, with a cracked cast iron frame. My second bandsaw (current) is a 14" Delta, also with a CI frame. I only paid $100 for the first and $150 for the second though.

[Dave Aronson]

I guess the other saw to include in the mix is the 17" grizzly. I'm with you on the confusion as I am also in the market for these same saws. FYI; the woodcraft 10% sale excludes power tools. :-(

[Jeremy Greiner]

I guess the other saw to include in the mix is the 17" grizzly. I'm with you on the confusion as I am also in the market for these same saws. FYI; the woodcraft 10% sale excludes power tools. :-(

Its a jet/powermatic sale, it may be at other places than woodcraft it was just on the woodcraft flyer I got in the mail a few days ago.

[Andy Haney]

Do read the Wood Magazine test if you can. I think it is a valid test because I've been comparing for a long time. There are a whole lot of Grizzly fans out ther, both for the 555X and the 17-incher with cast wheels.

I just went through the same process and decided on the PM during the sale. I haven't finished getting mine set up yet, and don't have anything to compare it to. The only down side I've heard about on the Rikon is that the blade guides are sometimes a buggar to get adjusted properly. The PM INCLUDED many of the top-of-the-line bells and whistles. The sale price was comparable to the Rikon.

Andy

[Steven Galonska]

Thanks for the replies. I picked up a copy of the Wood Magazine article this afternoon and read through it. I also called around to some more tool dealers and found one that has both the Powermatic and the Rikon in stock. It's nearly 50 miles away but I'm going to try to head there this saturday and take a look at both saws first hand.