Rikon 14" BS 10-325 bearing sources

[Nick Decker]

I switched mine out for the Space Age Ceramic guide blocks. It's so much quieter and easier to adjust now. I went from hating to resaw to loving it.

Jason,

I had heard good things about ceramic guide blocks in other threads here, and your mention of them on your 10-325 prompted me to contact Space Age Ceramics about using them on my 10-326. They currently don't offer them for my saw, but are interested in doing so. They sent me some guide blocks that they felt might work, and we're kind of "experimenting together" to refine what will work best.

As I said earlier, I have not been unhappy with the stock roller bearings, but at this point I'm impressed with the ceramics. The rollers weren't what I would call loud, but the ceramics are near silent. I guess maybe I was hearing roller noise without knowing it.

Dewayne, if the rollers that you ordered for your 325 don't make you happy, you might want to think about ceramic blocks.

[Curt Harms]

Jason,

I had heard good things about ceramic guide blocks in other threads here, and your mention of them on your 10-325 prompted me to contact Space Age Ceramics about using them on my 10-326. They currently don't offer them for my saw, but are interested in doing so. They sent me some guide blocks that they felt might work, and we're kind of "experimenting together" to refine what will work best.

As I said earlier, I have not been unhappy with the stock roller bearings, but at this point I'm impressed with the ceramics. The rollers weren't what I would call loud, but the ceramics are near silent. I guess maybe I was hearing roller noise without knowing it.

Dewayne, if the rollers that you ordered for your 325 don't make you happy, you might want to think about ceramic blocks.

Nick, how are you holding the ceramic guides in place? I too was not too enthusiastic about the ball bearing guides so played around. I'd read elsewhere about simply replacing the bearings with wooden guides and figured " what they hey, why not?" Here is an early effort.
bandsaw_guide1.JPG bandsaw_guide2.JPG
I was afraid that using only one hole the blocks would want to rotate and pinch the blade but that hasn't been an issue. I've since replaced with wooden guides with Corian. Corian is nowhere near as hard as ceramic but can be easily worked with woodworking tools and I had scraps. I find blocks better for narrow blades - if the band's teeth contact the blocks the block's surface may get chewed up over time but isn't hard on the band and the blocks are easy to square up on a sander or just make more. They also don't accumulate pitchy or wet sawdust.

[Nick Decker]

Mine are held in place by the same thumb screw that used to hold the roller guides. The photo doesn't show it, but the thumb screw goes through a horizontal slot in the ceramic block, which allows for adjustment to and from the blade.

Like you, I was concerned about the blocks rotating, but they haven't moved after tightening.

I asked the Space Age Ceramics guy if it might be better to use a circular block for the thrust bearing, but he feels it's better to have a larger surface contacting the back of the blade, that a circular guide results in a point contact which is harder on the blade. I'm not an engineer, so I'll take his word for it.

So far, I've only used them with a 1/2" blade, for ripping and resawing. They're no harder to adjust than the rollers, maybe even a little easier, and they're super quiet. I like.

If there's any problem using a smaller blade for curvy stuff, I'll report back, but so far so good.

[Nick Decker]

I did some cutting today with a 3/16" blade that I use a lot for curves, and wasn't as impressed with the results. The ceramic side guides are still good, although the expected occasional sparking is a bit distracting. Not real happy at this point with the thrust bearings, communicating with Space Age and varying some things.

[Nick Decker]

Just to tie up my impressions about the ceramic bearings for the 10-326, I think what I'll do is just use the ceramic side guides and go back to the original roller bearing for the thrust. The ceramic thrust bearing works fine, but due to the way the Rikon guide holding mechanism is designed, it makes the thrust bearing awkward to adjust. You're trying to adjust the fore/aft movement of the bearing while also keeping the bearing face parallel to the back of the blade. On the lower thrust bearing, you're also in a position that's kinda hard to get to and see clearly. With the circular roller bearing, you can almost do it by feel and quickly be done with it.

[Dewayne Reding]

I received my new bearings from Amazon and all is well enough. It resaws like it used to. The OEM Rikon adjusting system is nothing but tedious though. I will probably install a Highland Woodslicer 1/2" back on it and call it good for all cuts. I would want a different guide system if I intended to flip blades during every project.

[Nick Decker]

Good to hear all is well, Dewayne.

[Jason Lester]

<p>
Here are the ceramic blocks on my 10-325. The kit from Space Age Ceramics came with everything I needed to replace the stock rollers.</p>