SHORT OF IT: UPGRADE TO URETHANE BAND SAW TIRES. THEY WILL REQUIRE SOME TRIMMING TO NARROW THEM, BUT THE DIFFERENCE IS DRAMATIC.
After reading quite a few positive reviews I finally pulled the trigger on a used Rikon 10-325 that I had been eyeing on craigslist for awhile. When I went to check the saw out I noticed that the blade was undulating forward and backward and there was a decent amount of vibration in the table. Having done the research ahead of time I knew that this was a potential issue but also knew that people have had some success in dialing the undulations down using the lower wheel adjustments…
...Sooo….I pulled the trigger and brought it home. Not wanting to rely on the stock blade for setup I ordered a 1/2" Woodslicer and started tuning it as soon as it arrived. After almost an hour of micro adjusting the lower wheel I could not, for the life of me, get the undulations to go away or the vibration to stop. No amount of tuning was going to correct it. I checked coplanarity, checked for runout on the tires (there was some very, very slight runout), checked for twist in the wheels, confirmed the welds on the blade were good and it was flat, etc. etc.
I was about to give up but decided to try the next cheapest 'fix' which was ordering a pair of urethane band saw tires. After restoring a vintage Delta and a modern Ridgid band saw I knew what kind of difference a urethane tire could make. I ordered the orange ones (14"x1") off of Amazon.com.
Unfortunately the urethane tires are too wide for the the wheels on the Rikon. Once you get them seated and pressed between the outerlips you get a bubble running down the middle of the tire. No good. So, I had to slide the tire so it was just hanging off maybe 3/32" off the edge and then used a razor blade to trim the edges off. Then I ran the rough edges across my 1" belt sander to clean them up and smooth them out.
They now slid into place easily and I reinstalled everything, tensioned the blade, adjusted tracking and started it up. All I can say is WOW. An absolutely insane improvement. Went for basically 1/8" undulations to no perceivable movement at all. The band saw is MUCH quieter and all of the vibration is gone. I seriously can not believe the improvement.
If you own this saw and are having issues I HIGHLY recommend scrapping the stock rubber tires and upgrade them to the urethane variety. I'm beyond ecstatic about this saw now.
After reading quite a few positive reviews I finally pulled the trigger on a used Rikon 10-325 that I had been eyeing on craigslist for awhile. When I went to check the saw out I noticed that the blade was undulating forward and backward and there was a decent amount of vibration in the table. Having done the research ahead of time I knew that this was a potential issue but also knew that people have had some success in dialing the undulations down using the lower wheel adjustments…
...Sooo….I pulled the trigger and brought it home. Not wanting to rely on the stock blade for setup I ordered a 1/2" Woodslicer and started tuning it as soon as it arrived. After almost an hour of micro adjusting the lower wheel I could not, for the life of me, get the undulations to go away or the vibration to stop. No amount of tuning was going to correct it. I checked coplanarity, checked for runout on the tires (there was some very, very slight runout), checked for twist in the wheels, confirmed the welds on the blade were good and it was flat, etc. etc.
I was about to give up but decided to try the next cheapest 'fix' which was ordering a pair of urethane band saw tires. After restoring a vintage Delta and a modern Ridgid band saw I knew what kind of difference a urethane tire could make. I ordered the orange ones (14"x1") off of Amazon.com.
Unfortunately the urethane tires are too wide for the the wheels on the Rikon. Once you get them seated and pressed between the outerlips you get a bubble running down the middle of the tire. No good. So, I had to slide the tire so it was just hanging off maybe 3/32" off the edge and then used a razor blade to trim the edges off. Then I ran the rough edges across my 1" belt sander to clean them up and smooth them out.
They now slid into place easily and I reinstalled everything, tensioned the blade, adjusted tracking and started it up. All I can say is WOW. An absolutely insane improvement. Went for basically 1/8" undulations to no perceivable movement at all. The band saw is MUCH quieter and all of the vibration is gone. I seriously can not believe the improvement.
If you own this saw and are having issues I HIGHLY recommend scrapping the stock rubber tires and upgrade them to the urethane variety. I'm beyond ecstatic about this saw now.