Powermatic bandsaw riser trouble

[Chris Brault]

I got a powermatic 14" bandsaw back in April,, with a free 6" riser kit. I've ran the saw up until a couple weeks ago without the 6" riser on---- with absolutely no trouble in adjustments and working with it. Decided to put it on about a week ago,,,,(the riser kit) and have had trouble getting everything lined up properly?????? Have any of you had trouble with this on this model,,,, and if so , what did you do? I've been having trouble getting the blade tracking properly,, and then I thought I got that today,,,,,,, and then could see the blade on the upper bearings is sidewashed pretty heavy on one side? How do you get this thing lined up good? I'm half tempted to go back down to 6"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dewey Torres]

I have that same saw and while I am sure the extra cutting capacity would be nice, I heard horror stories about risers and decided to stay stock. I hope this works out for you. Maybe someone here has been through this and can offer some help. You should probably pay more attention to the posts that have to do with this same saw though, as I am sure you will get many generic responses that may or may not apply to the Powermatic.

[Samuel Brooks]

This message is just for encouragement. I added the 6" riser to my saw about a year ago and I am not having any alignment problems and it has been working great. I really appreciate the extra capacity. I would recommend that you give Powermatic tech support a call and see if they have any recommendations. You might have a bad riser block and if that is the case then tech support will be the best place to start.

Stick with it and good luck.

Sam

[Doug Shepard]

As a general rule riser blocks are pretty notorious for having excess powdercoat in places it shouldn't be. If there's any on the upper/lower faces that mate with the frame or on the alignment pins/holes, it could be stopping the block from seating straight and throwing things out of whack.

[Chris Rosenberger]

I have had riser blocks on 3 different saws & not had any problems. Like Doug said check for paint on the faces.

[Chris Brault]

ok, thanks guys, i'll check for paint and take it back apart. if it's not that, I'm not sure what to do.

[Doug Shepard]

While you're at it, set it in on your TS (both ends) and put a good square up against it and check it. You could have just gotten a turkey with the mating ends not machined perpendicular.

[Don Brubaker]

ok, thanks guys, i'll check for paint and take it back apart. if it's not that, I'm not sure what to do.
Chris,
I've been looking at the powermatic for purchase and noticed that a couple places are including the riser, but it is the Jet (white) version. I don't know if perhaps that is what you have and maybe the Jet does not work with the Powermatic even though the same company? Just my two cents of thoughts!

[Chris Brault]

Thanks guys for all the good advice. Doug, I thought of that also-----checking the squareness of that block-------because something just isn't plumb. Don, the riser kit I have is yellow------------powermatic---bought it in April at Barbo Machinery, Portland,OR. A friend of mine has the Jet model (white) . (1-1/4 HP) As a matter of fact that friend of mine is darn good with alot of things I'm not---- I talked to him tonight and we are going to tear into that thing this week and try to figure it out. I'll keep you guys posted what I found out-------- or do!!!