rikon bandsaw UPDATE

[Michelle Rich]

A week ago I asked about my 10-325 and ya'll said it was the capacitor. I called Rikon and they agreed and sent one. I installed it and it lasted for about 10 minutes. The bandsaw again hums when I turn it on & the wheels do not turn.
A few you you said they sent you a whole new motor and that solved the problem. Well it seems that this issue has been around a long time & yet Rikon is not really dealing with it. Why after 4-5 yrs of people reporting these issues, do they still occur?
To be fair, Rikon did send out a replacement , but it appears that was a band-aid to a bigger problem. I sure hope they decide to fix this once & for all, and I don't have a ton of downtime.

[Phil Thien]

How much resistance is there to turning the wheels with your hand (with the blade tensioned)? Perhaps you have a bad bearing or something binding that is preventing the motor from being able to spin up?

I'd be surprised a replacement cap fixed it for a little while. It is unclear to me how a bad motor could be temporarily fixed by a replacement start cap?

[Malcolm McLeod]

You didn't describe what the saw was doing when cap blew, but trouble-shooting anything is much simpler if you can use what someone told me was "The Law of Halves". (If you can cut the potential sources of a problem in half about 3 times, you'll be staring at the root cause.) ...Is problem mechanical or electrical? In motor or wheels? In wheels or blade (guides)?

With blade and belt off, check all the bearings (friction, noise, sticking) in both motor and wheels. Repeat with belt on but no blade. Repeat with blade on and tensioned. (Screwdriver is a good stand in for a stethoscope.) As Phil said, if nothing here, then its probably not mechanical.

So after replacing the cap, I'd take the belt off and run just the motor long enough for it to reach equilibrium temperature. (Check amp draw if you can. If motor alone is drawing FLA, replace it.) Repeat with the belt on and blade off. Repeat with the blade on and tensioned, but no load. Repeat with it under load.

...Or if its under warranty tell 'em to send you a whole new one!

Forgot this - - the cap could be a symptom, or the actual problem. 99.9% are built in low bidder's factory with a spec for 15yr mean-time-between-failure. They'll last 30 years, or 30 seconds = 15yr MTBF.

I have the 18" Rikon (2.5hp) and mostly use it for sawing veneer. Only gripe is lack of electrical interlock on the blade tension. However, I'm not trying to earn a living with it....

[Michelle Rich]

malcolm: the saw is 8 mos old & under warranty..When I hit the switch (as I described in an earlier post) the motor hums, but does not move the blade...if I turn the wheel by hand I can get it to rev up and spin on it's own. When I first mentioned this here, everyone who had one of these, chimed in and said it was the capacitor, and a few said Rikon sent a whole new motor to fix it. My thoughts are this happens a lot, if this forum has talked about it a lot, and why hasn't rikon got a handle on it at this late date? The replacement cap never blew..the saw worked fine, then the next day the problem started all over again..it won't get going on it's own

[Michelle Rich]

I just got off the phone with Rikon..they are sending me a new motor..I am pleased they are standing behind their product.Kudos to Rikon. Fingers crossed that this will be the cure.

[Malcolm McLeod]

Michelle,
Sounds like the cap is bad (again - as per all the other's opinions). FWIW

I was just trying to help diagnose why it failed. Defective cap? Or, is it blowing based on mech/elec start-up conditions? Sounds like this last one failed when you hit the 'go' handle. (Just speculating, but first day's run may have weakened cap, and next start-up inrush current fried it...?) And, if spinning by hand will get it running, and stay that way under load, there probably IS a motor start winding problem.

Not to defend Rikon, but motor manufacturers typically put the capacitor on the outside of a motor just because it is the weak link and is intended to be replaceable. Glad to hear they are standing behind their products.