Rikon 14" deluxe B/S, Manual says bolt to floor?

[Patrick Taylor]

I got around to unpacking my new rikon 14" deluxe BS last night. I assembled the cabinet base, and now I'm recruiting a coworker to help me lift the saw onto the base. ;)

Question: I was browsing the manual, and it claims that bolting to the floor is necessary for stability. I have a concrete floor beneath the saw that I don't really want to drill. Is the bolting really necessary or is that a "cover your" move by Rikon's lawyers that everybody just ignores?

Also, my garage floor is not flat, and I've read some threads regarding shims being the preferred method of leveling. Well, has anyone tried these leveling feet that have a neoprene damping pad on the bottom? (see picture) I'm wondering if that would help reduce vibration. Thoughts?

http://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/113/gfx/large/6167kp1l.gif

[Cody Colston]

You don't need to bolt it down. What if you wanted it on a mobile base? We should have taken Shakespeare's advice. ;)

I shimmed the base of my band saw but the leveling feet should work if your floor is that uneven.

[Tony De Masi]

Pat, I agree with Cody that you don't have to bold it to the floor. You certainly could use the adjustable feet you pictured, but you may also want to consider a mobile base too.

Tony

[Patrick Taylor]

Has anyone else tried a mobile base with this saw?

[Curt Harms]

Has anyone else tried a mobile base with this saw?
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=51342&highlight=rikon

I don't have the saw bolted to the mobile base and it should be, it rocks some. I'm debating building a replacement for the cabinet the saw sits on. I'm short and would like to lower the saw 4"-6". It's fine for scroll-type work but is really too high for resawing for me. For people of statistically normal stature;) I'm sure the higher base is fine.

[Patrick Taylor]

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=51342&highlight=rikon

I don't have the saw bolted to the mobile base and it should be, it rocks some. I'm debating building a replacement for the cabinet the saw sits on. I'm short and would like to lower the saw 4"-6". It's fine for scroll-type work but is really too high for resawing for me. For people of statistically normal stature;) I'm sure the lower base is fine.

Thanks Curt! That's a ton of great info there.

[Scott Rader]

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=51342&highlight=rikon

I don't have the saw bolted to the mobile base and it should be, it rocks some. I'm debating building a replacement for the cabinet the saw sits on. I'm short and would like to lower the saw 4"-6". It's fine for scroll-type work but is really too high for resawing for me. For people of statistically normal stature;) I'm sure the lower base is fine.


...mobile base. It was still a bit unstable. I don't have any pictures, but I wound up attaching the base to two long pieces of MDF that I placed the BS on top of. They extended out 2 feet on both the front and the back of the saw. I stand between it and now it's stable.

[Ray Glynn]

I put my Rikon 18" bandsaw on a mobile base and found it a little wobbly due to its height. I have since put it on large (4" square) teflon furniture pads (1 per corner) and can slide it around the shop pretty easily. My floor is epoxy coated and pretty smooth.

[Patrick Taylor]

I put my Rikon 18" bandsaw on a mobile base and found it a little wobbly due to its height. I have since put it on large (4" square) teflon furniture pads (1 per corner) and can slide it around the shop pretty easily. My floor is epoxy coated and pretty smooth.

Does it ever slide when you DON'T want it to?

[Don Bullock]

My Craftsman band saw manual says the same thing. I just bolted it to the mobile base instead. It works for me.

[Randy Klein]

Has anyone else tried a mobile base with this saw?

I have mine on one of those woodcraft mobile bases. I made it a little wider than the base for stability purposes.

[Ron Blaise]

18" to a Mobile base:D . Gave it a wider foot print, very stable and easily movable as are all of my heavy tools.

[Ray Glynn]

Does it ever slide when you DON'T want it to?
Definitely not. You have to "put your back into it" to get it to move. I only need move it a foot or two ever though. It might not be the solution if you needed to move it across the room twice a day.

[Carl Oresick]

Has any tried putting about 50 lbs. of weight in the bottom of the stand to make it more stable? My 10-325 is partially assembled, I have the Delta mobile base that you build to size and the Woodcraft plywood one - debating which to use or what size to cut it.

[Josiah Bartlett]

I have a few sacks of old, set-up-in-the-bag sackrete that I use for this purpose. The paper protects the paint on the tool, and 150 pounds of ballast really helps for stability. They are holding down the lathe right now.