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Thread: Using a misfitting bandsaw riser block

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Location
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    Posts
    968
    Something I haven't seen discussed is how easy these changes can be to reverse, if and when you get a bigger bandsaw, or if you don't like the performance. For me the $50 and a few hours to re-do a Grizzly kit was well worth the gamble.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Cambridge Vermont
    Posts
    2,282
    I put a riser block on a HF bandsaw that was given to me. It was one of the newer ones so there wasn't a block mad specifically for it. It actually wasn't very hard to do. The pins are roll pins and a set of vice grips can pull them out. Leave them out as what you'll want to do is set up the wheels so the blade tracks correctly. I put masking tape on the top of the lower half of the saw and on the top of the riser block. Once I had the block where I wanted it I marked the holes for the pins so I could drill them out after taking it apart. Since the HF version is not the finest example of a band saw made today it doing this actually made it much more acceptable as no amount of adjusting the upper wheel was ever going to make it track correctly. If your saw is running well I would check the coplanar of the wheels first and then set them up exactly the same with the riser block.

    On the HF I couldn't use all the parts of the kit. The extended rod for the upper guide was the wrong diameter but a 3/4" steel rod was easy to source. The blade guard that goes near the riser block didn't fit but was easy to modify. The best thing is that you can always go back to as it was with not much work. Will any of the parts for the Delta cast saws fit the Hitachi? This is where you have to be careful. You can spend hundreds on all the upgrades on a saw that's never going to excel at resawing.

  3. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Tom M King View Post
    My single biggest, and also only memorable regret that I have in putting time, and money into equipment, is all the time, and effort I put into upgrading my 14" old Delta, trying to make it something that it isn't. I don't think I left out many possible upgrades, including changing the motor to a horse, and a half Baldor.

    A few years after all that, and after I finally bought a big bandsaw for resawing, Rikon came out with the 10-326, on sale to start with, for 899, which made the regret even more painful. Even as the price has gone up, if someone came along wanting the old Delta, I'd probably sell it, and upgrade to one of the new, steel backed saws.

    Now I have four bandsaws, and for what I use the 14" for, it could just as easily served its purpose in stock form.

    Just my .02.
    That is what I needed to hear, thank you.

  4. #19
    You said...
    Quote Originally Posted by Myles Moran View Post
    I have a Hitachi CB13F. The next project I have lined up from my wife is a bed, which includes some pretty hefty resawing to do some bookmatched panels.
    Pretty hefty resawing requires a better saw like the Laguna or another brand without a riser block. Ask me how I know. I tried for months throwing money at my Delta. Make the investment. You won't regret it, you just don't know it yet because you haven't spent hours, days and weeks trying to coax a tool to do something it wasn't designed to do and destroying your stock in the process. Resawing hardwoods with a riser pushes that saw to the limits of it's capability.

    Also, bandsaw wheels do not need to be coplanar. They need to be parallel. Watch this Alex Snodgrass vid but pay attention @6:00 when he talks about coplanar wheels.

    Laguna 14/12 with a 3/4" Resaw King blade on 10/4 cocobolo. Here is my review of the saw. It doesn't have to be a Laguna,
    IMG_2750.jpg IMG_2751.jpg

    Apparently I now have to pay to help people by posting pictures?
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Andy Bryant; 01-20-2020 at 7:32 PM.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298
    Quote Originally Posted by Andy Bryant View Post

    Apparently I now have to pay to help people by posting pictures?
    Not true. The policy was changed last year to help keep the doors open. You can still post all the pictures if you want, you just can't see them although everyone else can see them fine, well, everyone who contributed at least $6/year. Contributor status also enables posting ads in the Classified section and a few other things. https://sawmillcreek.org/payments.php

    As I mentioned elsewhere, I sectioned and resawed thick hardwoods and softwoods for years on a 14" Delta with a riser. I also processed hundreds of green log sections to make woodturning blanks. I don't know what defines "pretty hefty" but one evening a friend and I resawed a 12' long Douglas Fir 2x12 into four thin boards, straight enough that one light pass through the planer gave a good surface. It wasn't quick but it wasn't difficult.

    I did have to figure out how to set up the saw properly but it wasn't rocket science. And I had to learn to tension properly, something some people never quite get.

    JKJ

  6. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by John K Jordan View Post
    Not true. The policy was changed last year to help keep the doors open. You can still post all the pictures if you want, you just can't see them although everyone else can see them fine, well, everyone who contributed at least $6/year. Contributor status also enables posting ads in the Classified section and a few other things. https://sawmillcreek.org/payments.php

    As I mentioned elsewhere, I sectioned and resawed thick hardwoods and softwoods for years on a 14" Delta with a riser. I also processed hundreds of green log sections to make woodturning blanks. I don't know what defines "pretty hefty" but one evening a friend and I resawed a 12' long Douglas Fir 2x12 into four thin boards, straight enough that one light pass through the planer gave a good surface. It wasn't quick but it wasn't difficult.

    I did have to figure out how to set up the saw properly but it wasn't rocket science. And I had to learn to tension properly, something some people never quite get.

    JKJ
    Understood, but proper tensioning is not easily learned. You had better luck than I did. Just too many variables to be able to easily dial it in. There was no learning curve with the new one piece saw. Besides, he has a 12" Hitachi, not a 14" Delta. I just don't think you can do a proper resaw project with hardwood on a 12" saw with a riser. I may be wrong.

    This is a great site but I only come to this site a few times a year for no particular reason. I'm on lumberjocks almost daily. It's not the $ but it does seem a little strange that I have to pay to see my own pictures. Most posters seem to be contributors so that's a good thing.
    Last edited by Andy Bryant; 01-20-2020 at 10:03 PM.

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