Rikon 10-370 Wood and Metal Bandsaw, 18-Inch

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Price: $2,299.99    

Product Feature

• Wood and metal band saw
• Adds stability and reduces friction for longer blade life
• Quickly release the blade tension when changing blades
• Helps power through the tough jobs
• Measures 12 inches high and 18-3/8 inches width

Rikon 10-370 Wood and Metal Bandsaw, 18-Inch Review

Since it seems that there is a serious lack of helpful reviews on band saws out there, thought I would share my experience on the saw that I ultimately decided on.

In my research, I compared the following band saws:

Dayton 4HEW3
Jet J-8201K
Jet J-8201VS
Jet 414418
ShopFox M1113
Grizzly G0640X
Rikon 10-370

I chose the Rikon primarily because it offered the slowest blade speed along with a 230 volt motor which gave me some confidence that it would be able to handle stainless steel cuts along with some of the higher speed cuts on plastic that I also need to make. Marketing info coming from Rikon suggested that they are producing a higher quality Chinese manufactured product over some of the other options.

After receiving my Rikon 10-370 and removing the slightly damaged shipping container, it was revealed that the saw had apparently been tipped over and the top wheel cover had been damaged in the fall. Further inspection and setup uncovered a couple of other small parts that had apparently vibrated loose during the ride and gone missing.

After setting up the saw and attempting my first test cuts, I was VERY disappointed with saw.

1. I was able to easily stop the blade attempting to cut some stainless steel at the slowest speed settings.

2. Variable speed adjustment was extremely sensitive with just a slight touch causing large changes in blade speed.

3. Turning rheostat to highest speed setting would result in the saw suddenly slowing down as if it had been turned to the slowest range of the speed control. The rheostat also felt a bit "crunchy" in spots which led me to believe it was defective.

4. Setting the saw to the highest speed would result in serious vibration coming from the upper wheel and a saw blade that was moving forward and back in the cutting axis at least 1/4".

5. Putting a dial indicator on the upper wheel revealed that it was about 1/10" out of true which was causing the severe vibration when running at higher speeds.

Needless to say I was unimpressed.

I had alerted the freight company to the damage when it was delivered. I immediately called Amazon to let them know about the damage and about my overall dissatisfaction with the product. Amazon indicated that they would be happy to take the saw back and refund my entire purchase expense or they also offered that they would be willing to pay me to keep the saw as is.

I called Rikon Monday morning and let them know about the issues.

1. Rikon let me know that they have had an issue with some saws shipping with motor jumpered for 460v. After checking that issue, it was in fact a problem with my saw. Items #1 and #2 above were likely solved by this change as the saw was MUCH more powerful at 220v.

2. Rikon agreed with my diagnosis on the rheostat and shipped me a replacement. While the saw is still very sensitive to rheostat adjustment to set blade speed, it is somewhat better and does not have the problem of dropping out at upper ends of the speed adjustment.

3. Rikon agreed that the runout on the upper wheel was out of spec so they shipped a new wheel with bearing installed. After replacing it and measuring the trueness again with the dial indicator, the wheel was within .007. Vibrations were now reasonable at highest blade speeds.

4. Rikon has supposedly backordered a replacement wheel access panel since they did not have any in stock. Now over a month ago.

Other general issues that I am disappointed with.

1. With all of the issues that this saw had, Rikon didn't bother to expedite any of the replacement parts which ended up taking a week to get to me. While I recognize it would have cost a fortune to ship the 20 lb replacement wheel, it sure would have been nice to get the replacement rheostat ASAP.

2. In the process of doing my test cuts with the provided blade, I pretty well destroyed the blade given the fact that I was able to stop the blade complete (motor set to 460v) and of course, it was a wood blade. Seems strange to me that you ship a "Wood/Metal" band saw with a wood blade.

3. The rheostat that Rikon sent as a replacement of course has a different diameter shaft, so the knob is loose and no longer works. My email contacts to Rikon have not resolved this issue and nearly two weeks have gone by without any follow-up response to my email that provided the dimensions of the new shaft.

4. The saw doesn't come with any kind of leveling feet even though there are nut inserts in the base that could accommodate them. Not asking for casters, but leveling feet would sure be warranted.

5. I obviously decided to keep the saw and Amazon did "pay me to keep it". But $265.00 payment seemed like a pittance given it would have cost them twice that to pick it up and ship it back.

Oh well, I have work to do and needed to put the saw to work. Picked up a couple of nice bi-metal bandsaw blades from SuperCut Bandsaw Co. and the saw does nicely on the stainless which is the true test.

Hope this helps someone else.

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