Thanks for putting this together. Rather than turn the blade in the direction it turns when operating the saw, turn it backwards, when installing blades and setting them. Turning the wheels clockwise opens the door for dragging the teeth across things and damaging them. Run it backwards, until you KNOW everything is clear. There is no reason, whatsoever, to put the guide and guard down to check tension. Either the bearings are backed off and will not effect the side movement of the blade, or they aren't. If they are backed off, bringing the guard down does nothing.
This was very helpful. I looked everywhere to get help setting up my new Rikon, and there wasn't anything else out there that was demonstrated professionally and so concisely.
I think the Bandsaws should have a sticker that saws CC and shows with an arrow which direction adjusting CC would send the blade it would be handy for new users and not annoying for people used to setup.
@@richardmorris7595 thank you. Specifically for Rikon bandsaws they have a lower wheel adjustment knob. I made the mistake of trying to fine tune blade tracking by minor adjustments to the lower wheel. Big mistake. Now I am chasing my tail between the upper and lower wheels.
@@richardmorris7595, from first hand experience, there are occasions tracking of the lower wheel has to be dealt with. As Eric says, dealing with it can be frustrating. Mine came from the factory with the belt rubbing on the case. Repositioning the belt was a 30 second remedy. Then there was the intolerable pulsing not caused by a bad blade. Both these things had to be dealt with at the lower wheel. Of course, the manual talks about blade tracking position too. To deal with it took an entire day of experimentation: 1) Loosen tension blade tension 2) Loosen shaft tension 3) Back off the appropriate bolt for vertical bolt adjustments (tracking), or for horizontal bolt adjustments (pulsing). 4) Back off the appropriate bolt a little or a lot (we're at the art stage here) 5) Move the opposite bolt forward until tight 6) Re-tighten tension bolt 7) Re-tighten blade tension 8) Spin wheel and check upper tracking. Adjust if necessary. 9) Spin wheel some more to check lower tracking. 10) If okay, turn unit on and check for pulsing. If not, go through steps again with upper and lower bolts to move blade in or out. 11) Probably, do this all about fifteen to twenty-five more times.
If I set the side bearings to 3/16" behind the gullet of the blade as say at 8:40 on a 1/4" blade they will not be in contact with the blade at all. On a 1/4" blade the teeth are at least 1/16" high, so that only leaves 3/16" of blade behind the teeth. The manual says 1/8" behind the gullet but that still seems extreme for smaller blades.
In the demo we do not see you restoring the bottom bearings to their proper position. The only mention you make of them after the new blade is in place is that they have to duplicate the position 3/16" behind the gullet as the upper bearings are. It would have been reassuring to this newbie to see how they are adjusted back into their proper position.
Setting the lower guides are difficult because the plastic blade guard obstructs your view. Is there any reason why one should not remove the guard ? How can you judge the space between the blade and the side bearings?
What I do is remove the table as Alex Snodgrass suggests, you might want to check out his video too. I like this video because it shows that you have to loosen the bearings before you use the micro adjuster. The manual isn't clear on this topic. Good video thanks.
