18" bandsaw advice

[Ted Edwards]

I'm looking for some advice on the purchase of a new bandsaw. I'm thinking about either the Rikon 10-345 or the Grizzly G0514X2 (any others?). The Griz seams to have a little edge on specs and features but I've seen several reviews indicating so much vibration it can only be used in the lower speed. Most of what I find is several years old so I was hoping for some more up to date advice. Thanks for the help!!

[Michael Dunn]

I have the Rikon 10-340 (predecessor, minor changes with the 345). I have an incredible amount of vibration despite adjusting the drive belt to various different tensions. I do have it on a mobile base which certainly makes vibrations worse, but I do use shims to try to make it more rigid. It has yet to pass the nickel test, and I have broken the table tilt lock lever 3 times. I've had Rikon send me several extra spares for the inevitable future breakage.

I've replaced the tires, and cleaned it from head to toe (bought it used here on SMC), use quality blades, and proper setup... That being said, I'm sure glad I didn't pay full price for a new one. I've tried to resaw several times, with less than desirable results. Admitedly, there is a lot of technique involved in resawing. Each cut has got better so that may be UOE (user, operator error).

I've never used a Grizzly bandsaw, but I can say that I REALLY wish my 10-340 has a brake. It take about a minute to come to a complete stop.

In talking with Lou Iturra he says that the motor bearing or shaft or something (he knew for sure, I just can't recall what he said...) is not the greatest.

[Tom Giacomo]

I purchased the 10-345 about 6 years ago and have been very pleased with it, no vibration , no problems at all. My reasoning at the time was 2 HP, largest table, and I bought it at a local Woodcraft which meant no shipping, they even loaded on my pick up for me. I liked the Jet then but it was almost twice the price. Probably either one will be a good saw, good luck and I hope you have as much fun as I have had with your new bandsaw.

[Mark Draper]

I would not hesitate to buy the grizzly. I had a older 18" with a 2hp motor and 2 speed capacity. It ran smooth and had plenty of power. I never used the lower speed as it is more for cutting metal.

[Charles Coolidge]

I have a brand new never used G0514X2B sitting in the garage, I just finished assembling the saw. I conducted this nickel test for you a few minutes ago with the blade at the higher 3500 rpm speed, you can see the saw has started and is running smoothly. Now the nickel does fall over after several seconds but I found my saw isn't quite level, the nickel wanted to roll off the saw table to the left before I even turned the saw on and I had some difficulty balancing it in the first place. I think that it stood there through start-up and lasted a few seconds was pretty good. The saw starts and runs quite smoothly. I should mention I have the saw mounted on a solid base so its quite steady (see pic below) I found the saw too large and tippy for the Shop Fox heavy duty mobile base I purchased for it. It wasn't going to tip over by any means but between the slop in the Shop Fox wheels, the flex in the Shop Fox base, and the tall heavy saw it was not nearly as steady as I would want a saw with a spinning blade.

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The saw is bolted to a Grizzly 24"x36" maple base and those are Grizzly 3" machine leveling pads.

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Here's what I have learned about this saw so far for what its worth. First give serious consideration to the G0514X2B instead of the X2, for only $120 more you get the following...

1. Electric motor brake, it stops the saw very fast like 2-3 seconds. I really wanted that foot brake but its hard to imagine the foot brake stopping the saw this fast. Note the 17" G0513X2BF has both e.g. the foot brake simply activates the motor brake, that's the way to go imo. My G0514X2B lower cabinet has the openings for the foot brake hardware, at some point I may contact Grizzly to see if I can buy the parts so that I can activate the motor brake with the foot brake assembly.

2. A much improved fence, the X2 has the "deluxe fence" while the X2B has the "heavy duty" fence they include on the more expensive 21" and above saws and the two high priced ultimate saws. You get a solid 1" fence rail, solid its not a hollow tube vs the X2 has a hollow extruded aluminum fence rail. The X2B also gets the much taller cast iron fence, look closely at the pictures, then check the user manuals for both saws, the X2 has a cast iron fence but its quite short in comparison and has aluminum parts, the X2B fence is all cast iron, both have the additional aluminum resaw fence attachment.

For me the better fence was worth the $120 extra, now that I have experienced the electric motor brake I'm even happier.

Some additional observations

- The specs say it has urethane tires but they appear to be black rubber to me.

- The hand wheels are plastic, the table tilt hand wheel in particular seemed flexible, they are probably fine but I decided to upgrade mine with cast iron hand wheels also purchased at Grizzly. I did run into an issue, the hand wheel handles are not surface mounted, they are recessed into the hand wheel but Grizzly and pretty much nobody else makes a handle to fit this hand wheel. True Value hardware to the rescue, as you can see in the pic I used a 'heavy duty' bushing they are extra thick and the original plastic handle and a jam nut, this worked out quite well.

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- You may need some Locktite for the setscrew on the X2B fence the fit was pretty loose.

- You may need some M6 16mm socket head cap screws for the "table tilt sliding plate". The assembly instructions show hex head bolts, the on-line manual show's M6 12mm socket head caps screws and that's what was included but they are too short, you may get 4 threads in the cast iron. I picked up some M6 16mm screws and they were perfect.

- Table flatness is sensitive to the table alignment pin, it can effect table flatness even at the rear of the table where its solid. I found that my table was slightly peaked with a high spot in the center, as I slowly tapped the alignment pin in the table flattened, tap it in too far and the table develops a dish which makes sense since the alignment pin is basically a wedge being driven in at the bottom of the table. So it helps to throw a steel ruler on the table when tapping in that pin. The sweet spot on my table resulted in gaps of .0015 to .002 with one gap measuring .003 that's pretty good for a band saw. I'm using a high precision ground Starrett rule to measure this. Most of the table is completely flat, but where I did find a gap this is what they measured.

That's pretty much it I did not have many quality issues with this band saw. I recently purchased a Grizzly 8" jointer and Shop Fox mortiser and both had far more minor issues to fix. Here's some final pics...

Here's the table top, I gave it a coat of Boeshield and got a pretty good reflection.

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Here's the fence

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[Charles Coolidge]

Here's pics of the two fences X2 vs X2b

X2

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X2B

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[Mike Cutler]

That's a nice review and post Charles. Well done!!

Ted
No matter what saw you get, of that size and in that price range, expect to do some "fiddling' an fine tuning". The 345 is an excellent saw, and I am certain so is the Griz'.
Like Michael, I too have one of the older Rikon 340's,( probably one of the first ones sold.) and while I had some initial issues with it, specifically the tracking mechanism, the saw is more than capable. I use it specifically for resawing, but unlike Michael, it's resaw capability is excellent. I still have to go to the drum sander after, but a measurement anywhere, along any edge ,will require a vernier to measure the deviation in thickness. It's good!

Bandsaws on mobile bases are a hit and miss proposition. The saw is tall, it's center of balance is well off the floor, and all of the forces being applied want to push it over while in use. Mine vibrates on the mobile stand, but when taken off the stand and floor mounted, it's solid. I've only done that once to resaw some 22' long Sitka Spruce beams. I don't have room to leave it that way.
When I was in school the bandsaws and lathes were the only machines shock mounted and bolted to the floor.

Michael
Try going the opposite of "rigid". If the saw is mechanically mounted in a rigid, non yielding fashion, all vibration will be transmitted throughout the frame of the saw, possibly even amplified.
Get a section of stall mat and "bed the saw " on the base. If you have to shim it level do it under the stall mat so that only rubber is contacting the base. Through bolt the frame of the saw through the stall mat, shim plate, and to the mobile base, but use bellville washers, or some other type of live loaded washer, instead of a flat washer. Essentially the saw is "floating", and the rubber pad will hopefully serve to damping the vibration out.

Here is my initial review of the Rikon 340. Check to see if you have the same blade tracking issue I did. If you do you will need to remediate it, or it will never be consistent from use to use.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?17055-Rikon-18-quot-Review&highlight=

[Charles Coolidge]

Now if you want a pimped out band saw here's a 17" PM I saw at the recent woodworking show.

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Man look at all that bling.

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It's got a bling price tag to go with it ouch!

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I did experience a bit of fence envy.

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[Prashun Patel]

I have the G0514X2. I love it. I don't notice any vibration. I think it's a very good saw.

[Tai Fu]

I have the same fence as the X2, retrofitted my no-name 18" bandsaw that came with a really crappy fence (basically a short cast iron fence that keys into a slot in the table, the fence would rotate unless you clamped the fence to the table, then locked it down). I had to smuggle that Grizzly fence to Taiwan because they absolutely refuse to ship that to Taiwan. This mod turned my bandsaw from a source of frustration to a truly versatile machine. The fence on the X2 is pretty good, if you're sawing anything that can deflect this fence I would seriously consider a band mill because a vertical bandsaw is NOT the right tool for cutting up a log!

My only gripe with that fence is I have no idea how to adjust it for drift... the bolts are accurately drilled without any slop so I can't just loosen them and move the fence to match the drift angle.

[Ted Edwards]

Thanks to everyone for the advice and info, now another twist with black Friday discounts. What about the Jet JWBS-18QT-3?

[Chris Friesen]

My only gripe with that fence is I have no idea how to adjust it for drift... the bolts are accurately drilled without any slop so I can't just loosen them and move the fence to match the drift angle.

You can adjust drift slightly by tweaking where on the wheel the blade rides.

[Tai Fu]

What if the blade is too wide to allow for that?