I finally invested in a band saw for my modest basement shop. I planned on a 14" Powermatic but walked out with a Rikon 10-326. It had double the resaw capacity, more HP, and tool free blade guide adjustments for about the same price.
It's been a real interesting ride. I had a work buddy help me lug the 300# carton down the basement stairs (no woodworkers were harmed). It took about two hours to assemble the saw and perform a basic setup. After I got everything done I noticed that the saw body was welded to the baseplate crooked.
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The main body of the saw was welded to the base plate at an angle of 2-3* off square. It's noticeable by eye and even more so with a square (see pic). It was a little disheartening when I called the retailer. I emailed him photos and he told me the Jets and Powermatic he checked were worse. Gosh, should I feel better now? At least in leans towards the cutting edge of the blade. I can use leveling feet to get everything true to the world. I soldiered on and finished the setup process. The factory blade 5/8" cut well but was noisy and induced vibration. It had apparently taken a set. I swapped out the blade for a new 3/8" and it was night and day. I still need to get the blade tension figured out (I don't trust the gauge yet) as well as the drive belt tension. Tracking seems to be pretty responsive and easy to set, as do the various blade guide rollers. Getting the table square to the blade was a real adventure. There is no "key" or other feature that locks it in place. I wound up using a rare earth magnet to stick a 6" Starrett scale to the blade and use that as a reference. It's dead on now.
Retailer called me back and said he'd appealed to Rikon for relief. They were willing to exchange it for another saw, providing I took it apart, hauled it up the stairs, and took it back to the store in the original packing (that by this time I had thrown out). I was in no mood for another six hours combined travel/moving/assembly adventure so I proposed they admit the defect, make it part of the warranty if anything came up in the future, and buy me a decent resaw blade to replace the junk blade that came with the saw. They were happy to oblige. Rob is a happy boy.
Once set up and aligned, the saw works very well. I'm looking forward to getting a decent resaw blade. More to follow as I get some more miles on it.
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Originally Posted by Tom M King
