Ridgid Band Saw....

[Justin Jump]

Hello all,

So - even though all the bad reviews were out there, I still bought the Ridgid Band Saw. For $223, then another $80 in upgrades, I feel I got a decent saw for $300.....

Here are some pics of my upgrade.....

Reinforced the stand with 3/4" mdf
Polyurethane tires
Balanced wheels
1/4" Olson blade from Rockler
Replaced the v-belt with a good one from the auto parts store (Dayco GPL Premium - L441 to be exact)

When I bought the saw - the first time I tried the nickel test - I had 5 pennies when I was done.

The second picture is the saw running, and a nickel on edge after I made the mods.......






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[Dell Littlefield]

I put a riser on mine and so far have been quite happy with it.

[Milind Patil]

I picked up mine on CL for $100 a few months ago. For that price, I thought it was a great tool (I certainly do not think this tool is worth it's retail price). Anyway, yesterday the hinge block (upper wheel) broke. Apparantly it is made of cheap pot metal. I am now finding hard time finding a spare on now. Pretty much every website I hit so far is out-of-stock with no ETA. One website actually said "part discontinued", pretty scary ! I hope this does not happen to you.