Ridgid BS1400

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have a chance to get a Ridgid Band Saw BS1400. The lady that is offering it said her late husband bought it and never took it out of the box. She said there were 2 more boxes with it. She said one said Riser whatever that means and the other says Timberwolf 3/4". She said she would let me have it all for $300 otherwise if I don't take it she said her son will put it on ebay or a auction. I am just kind of leary as when I did a search on SMC it said that Ridgid was going to discontinue it or be made by someone else. I see it takes up to 3/4" blades and has a 3/4 hp motor. Is this a good unit for say an occasional resaw? I would be cutting some veneer and with the 12" resaw depth would probably saw up an ash log or so for lumber. Thanks.

Bernie

[John Hemenway]

The riser is installed to move the top wheel of the BS higher. It expands resaw capacity. Timberwolf is a saw blade (hopefully large enough to accomidate the riser).
Sorry, I don't know the saw so can't comment on quality.

[Andrew Ault]

I have a Grizzly 14" bandsaw with a 6" riser. It has a 1 HP motor.

I've examined the Ridgid and it seems like a pretty standard 14" bandsaw and should basically perform like mine.

A 3/4 HP motor is not going to work very well resawing. Anything over 6" on mine and things happen pretty slowly. I use a 1/2" blade for this.

For general shop use, the Ridgid should work pretty well. I love having a bandsaw and use mine all the time.

[John Gregory]

What Andrew said. I have that saw and it is under powered. I have considered putting a larger HP motor on it. Other than the power issue, it is a good basic BS.

OH yeah, just for your FYI I paid $499 three years ago

[Brad Olson]

$300 with the riser isn't the best price.

I have this saw and it has worked just fine for resawing with the 3/4 hp motor, not terribly fast, but it did the job. I only paid $200 for my saw on sale and got the riser for $40, which at the time was a good $200 cheaper than alternative saws.

I recently did a motor upgrade to 1.5 hp with new pulleys and now it cuts great.

If you have a few extra $, I'd consider the Griz G0555, I examined and used a few of them now giving resawing demonstrations and they are really well built for the price.

[Lou Morrissette]

Bernie,

I have been using my BS1400 for about 3 years without any problems. I don't have the riser so my resawing has been limited to 6" or less. It wont break any speed records while resawing, but for general home shop use, it's a good saw IMHO.

Lou

[Bernie Weishapl]

Sounds like I had better look for something just a bit bigger. I have access to about as much Ash as I can handle but it is in 4' log form and it is really nice wood. With my Delta BS150 I have to cut these logs down to 7" X 11" in order to cut with its 7" resaw. It does a pretty good job although a little slow. I have also cut 6 1/2" oak to 1/8" veneer. I put it on the jointer and take it down just a hair above 1/16". I can't afford right now to go out and get one of the bigger unit that is according to my accountant and better half. She says $550 and I can't sell the smaller Delta because she wants to scroll with it. I would like to have a 12" resaw so all I would have to do is cut two sides of the ash log and then cut on the band saw. So maybe I would be better off looking at the Grizzly or something with at least a horsepower according to Lonnie Bird's book for what I need and let her son sell it at auction or ebay. Thanks guys I really appreciate it. Have some more food for thought.


Bernie

[Bill Fields]

Hey Bernie--


I have the Ridgid saw--bought it on sale from Lowe's about a year ago--I believe it was around $300. I think it is a copy of a Delta unit, made for Emerson Electric in the Far East.

It is a "compromise" tool in every respect. Of the several things that it does not do well--re-sawing probably is the leading one.

The motor is weak and the belt tensioning options really aren't there at all.
The blade wheels are not true.

Scrolling is OK and that is why I keep it--plus I hate to admit my mistakes re: trying to defeat the law that says "you get what you pay for".

Bill Fields

[Jim Becker]

I am going to add that "most" 14" bandsaws are "underpowered" for what folks try to do with them. Remember, these machines (with metal cutting ancestry) were originally designed for scrolling flat work and doing things like Queen Ann table legs, not the medium to heavy resawing and processing of huge bowl blanks that we all try to do with them! In most cases, there is no problem. But add that riser block... ;) ..and we all get wicked!

Bernie, it sounds like you really do want something more capable and since you already have a small saw, perhaps it would be worth the time and wait to save up a bit more to get a heftier machine.

[John Gregory]

I recently did a motor upgrade to 1.5 hp with new pulleys and now it cuts great.


I want to up grade the motor etc on my BS1400, can you share some details on your upgrade? What motor brand and model. Where did you get the pulleys and belts?
Thanks
John

[Scott Coffelt]

You might want to save your pennies and look at something like the G0513 or compariable BS from other manufacturers. They have much bigger motors, can handle thicker blades. I have the G0513 and it can cut anything I throw at it or at least what I have attempted to cut. Not that I would make resawing an olympic speed sport, it cuts like buddar. I would gracefully decline, they'll be doing good to get $300 for the lot.

[Brad Olson]

I just used a regular tablesaw 3450 rpm motor and I believe it is wired CCW. I bought the motor used because it was cheap and it was a grizzly motor that has a fairly universal mounting plate. For the Ridgid this isn't a big issue since you can just drill new mounting holes. To minimze vibration and stand flexing I also mounted the saw and the motor on a piece of plywood ontop of the stand

Increasing the motor speed requires that you use a 8 or 9" pulley on the saw itself and if you use the same shaft size motor, use the OEM pulley on the motor. I wanted 4000 SFPM of blade speed so I chose 8", but if you plan to use your saw for a lot of scrolling a 9" pulley was about 3500 SFPM of blade speed and probably a better choice. I purchased my pulley from Grainger and it is a cast iron pulley made by Browning (and much better than the OEM pot metal pulley). One thing to consider is that you CANNOT use a smaller pulley on the motor otherwise the belt will slip and thus not taking full advantage of the available power.

The only issue in upgrading is that the belt cover needs to be boosted up a bit.

Other than that, the saw performs great and eats wood for dinner. I resawed 11" wide jatoba (really hard stuff) and the saw didn't even hiccup.

At the end of the day I was well under $325 and at the time the best price for a 14" from another company (with riser) was about $450-500. With better pricing on the Griz G0555, YMMV

HTH

Brad