Keep riser or remove it?

[Cliff Polubinsky]

Picked up a Rikon 14" Deluxe bandsaw during the sale. I considered getting a Craftsman 12" for curves and selling my Grizzly G0555 but luckily I came to my senses and kept the G0555 for curve cutting.

The Grizzly has a riser installed. Is there any benefit to taking off the riser and going back to the stock configuration? Or just leave well enough alone.

Thanks for any input.

Cliff

[Jeff Monson]

I'd say leave it on, if it tunes up nicely. I have a riser on my 14" pm, I had some issues getting everything lined up, but now its super easy to change blades and set. I suppose it would be more economical to buy shorter blades.

[John TenEyck]

I see no downside other than a slightly higher cost for blades. Mine Delta cuts just as well with a riser as w/o, and having that almost 12" resaw capability keeps me from buying a new saw.

John

[Jay Park]

I remember this video in Matt's Basement Workshop where he talked about why he removed the riser because he felt the bandsaw blade couldn't be tensionedfully with the riser block.

Jay

[John TenEyck]

I remember this video in Matt's Basement Workshop where he talked about why he removed the riser because he felt the bandsaw blade couldn't be tensionedfully with the riser block.

Jay

What a crock. Tension is tension. If he had the spring deflected to the same position, he had the same tension. I think what he was seeing was that the blade had more lateral deflection with the riser block and he misinterpreted that as lower tension.

John

On further reflection - I'm wrong ! Tension is tension if we are talking about force, but in this case the guy was talking about the indicator position. At equal position he's right, the tension will be lower because a longer blade stretches more, by the ratio of 105/93 in the case of my 14" Delta with and w/o a riser block, which is about 13% more. So he would have to increase the spring indicator about 13% higher on the scale to get approx. equal tension with the riser block installed.

My apologies to the video guy and for any confusion from my first response.

John