MRDucks2
Member
I purchased the Rikon upgrade guides for my 10-324 14" bandsaw soon after they came out as they were discounted for promotion and I have learned nothing gets cheaper in our hobby.
Had the saw about 5 or 6 years now and fits my needs perfectly for the money I was willing to spend at the time.
This I was processing some ambrosia hard maple I got a pickup load of in Cincinnati as I needed the space. It has been sealed up and sit for over a year so it is pretty dry and, of course, pretty hard (hard maple, eh). Things were going well through the first half of my pieces.
Using a nice 3/4" carbide tipped blade, which is about as big as I can use on this saw based on the blade thickness/bend radius, I got an unexpected snag or catch.
Cleared the saw, check my blade and upper guides then proceeded to cut more wood. Over the next couple of afternoons I was beginning to have minor tracking issues but the heavy blade continued to power through. Then I noticed a sound, shut the saw down and saw the tell tale wobble of a blade beginning to break.
I removed the blade, put on a different blade (resale bu non-carbide) and went to saw more when that blade took a twist and tripped my intermediate breaker. Cleared the saw and everything spun fine, no issues with wood, so tried again and same thing.
Removed this blade and noticed a section where the tips of 4 teeth were missing.
Odd as I had found no metal or rock anywhere in this wood. Put on a thin kerf, non-carbide resaw blade and pick a different piece of wood. The blade would not track, would not cut straight, a real mess.
At this point I removed the blade, set up more light and through the saw. Here is where I found the problem. My lower blade assembly was cocked at about a 30-40 degree angle. I removed the assembly and found the inside guide bearing was locked up.
Was able to order replacement bearings and get them 2 days, but a couple of notes:
- the OEM bearing is only marked by size
- there are blue ton of bearings this size for sale from $1 each to $25 each
- the OEM bearing had a lot of sawdust fines in it.
The replacements I order were Timken at about $6 each for 4 and work great. I likely could have ordered from Rikon but was concerned about getting the same thing that failed and the rubber shields were letting a lot of dust in.
Just sharing so you can think about getting bearings ahead of time if you use these. I believe these guides come on their current line of 14" and larger saws.
Sue to the low cost, I will likely replace the bearings every three years going forward. It is a relatively simple process.
Had the saw about 5 or 6 years now and fits my needs perfectly for the money I was willing to spend at the time.
This I was processing some ambrosia hard maple I got a pickup load of in Cincinnati as I needed the space. It has been sealed up and sit for over a year so it is pretty dry and, of course, pretty hard (hard maple, eh). Things were going well through the first half of my pieces.
Using a nice 3/4" carbide tipped blade, which is about as big as I can use on this saw based on the blade thickness/bend radius, I got an unexpected snag or catch.
Cleared the saw, check my blade and upper guides then proceeded to cut more wood. Over the next couple of afternoons I was beginning to have minor tracking issues but the heavy blade continued to power through. Then I noticed a sound, shut the saw down and saw the tell tale wobble of a blade beginning to break.
I removed the blade, put on a different blade (resale bu non-carbide) and went to saw more when that blade took a twist and tripped my intermediate breaker. Cleared the saw and everything spun fine, no issues with wood, so tried again and same thing.
Removed this blade and noticed a section where the tips of 4 teeth were missing.
Odd as I had found no metal or rock anywhere in this wood. Put on a thin kerf, non-carbide resaw blade and pick a different piece of wood. The blade would not track, would not cut straight, a real mess.
At this point I removed the blade, set up more light and through the saw. Here is where I found the problem. My lower blade assembly was cocked at about a 30-40 degree angle. I removed the assembly and found the inside guide bearing was locked up.
Was able to order replacement bearings and get them 2 days, but a couple of notes:
- the OEM bearing is only marked by size
- there are blue ton of bearings this size for sale from $1 each to $25 each
- the OEM bearing had a lot of sawdust fines in it.
The replacements I order were Timken at about $6 each for 4 and work great. I likely could have ordered from Rikon but was concerned about getting the same thing that failed and the rubber shields were letting a lot of dust in.
Just sharing so you can think about getting bearings ahead of time if you use these. I believe these guides come on their current line of 14" and larger saws.
Sue to the low cost, I will likely replace the bearings every three years going forward. It is a relatively simple process.
