Why no love for Rikon?

[ed vitanovec]

I had the 2nd gen 18" Rikon and it was a great Bandsaw. When I get into the market for another Bandsaw I will most likely get a Rikon.

[Patrick Curry]

When I was in the market for a bandsaw ~$2k, it was either Rikon or Laguna.

There is a lot of love for the Italian made bandsaws on this site. I have no experience with Italian or 1960 era domestic saws so I can't speak to them.

I ended up up purchasing the Laguna LT3000. It has a 4hp, 18", love the ceramic guides, and the frame is more than stiff enough to run my 1" resaw king blades tight. no complaints with the saw. If I'm missing anything, I don't know it.

I sold my POS table saw earlier this year and have been working with a track saw and this band saw. Hardwood projects aren't slowed down a bit.

Table or slider saws certainly meet a number of needs, and I'll probably buy one or the other letter this year, but a god band saw is essential to my work

[Mike Cutler]

Chris

I've had an 18" Rikon 10-340 for almost 12 years, and it has been a very good machine. I have zero buyers remorse.
When I did the review of the Rikon 10-340 in 2/2005, here on the board, I was pretty honest about the machine. I did have two issues, but they were minor in my opinion.( I've had quite bit of contact about that review through the years.)
At that time Rikon reached out to me and offered to replace the machine. I declined as I had had already fixed it and it cost me zero dollars. They did send me a starting capacitor for the motor, which suffered from infant mortality, and it took all of 10 minutes to replace.
I have run many board feet of hard, dense, tropical hardwoods through that machine since I've had it. The tuning I arrived at for it in the spring of 2005 is still being held. I literally walk out, apply the tension, check the tracking and go. I have not adjusted the tracking on that saw between blade changes in 10 years. It gets adjusted only when a new blade is put on. I set the table and blade for 90 degrees and it is still there. My fence runs parallel to the blade and requires no compensation for "drift".
I did alter the fence pretty significantly, but my machine is re-saw specific. I have another bandsaw for "curvy" work.
For the $$$$ it was a heckuva deal.

[John K Jordan]

...Does anyone have any idea why bandsaws are not more common topics of woodworking conversation and why so many people have a negative opinion of Rikon?

Bandsaws may be discussed more by woodturners since they are widely used for cutting up green wood and for prearing wet and dry blanks for turning and there is quite a bit of discourse there. On the other hand I know flat workers whose bandsaws get only rare use and you will probably never read discussion starters from them.

As for Rikon, due to the price I suspect they sell a LOT of saws and if even a small percentage of those wrote about an issue it might seem like "so many" people.

I personally have used the 18" Rikon for over a decade and it sees almost daily use, much of it with very thick green and dry wood. Like most bandsaws it did take some initial adjustment but nothing major after that. The saw is accurate, powerful, and has good dust collection. I'm not a big fan of their guide adjustments but I've learned to use them effectively. I replaced the tires after about 10 years of use. The starter capacitor went about the same time and Rikon was prompt and reasonable with a replacement (unlike Jet with their 600% markup on starter caps!) Everything else has been flawless.

I also have a 14" Delta purchased around 2000. It took a lot more tuning to get it right and I also used it heavily with big wood. Even considering the expected beefiness needed for the larger saw, I consider the Rikon a better design and the materials and construction higher in quality.

JKJ

[Al Weber]

I bought one of the 18" models probably 10-12 years ago. It was a kit needing major work to ream holes in the frame to align the lower bearing guides, problems with the shaft alignment that caused blade oscillation, and any number of other quality problems. After about a year of working on it, I finally got it set up so it worked well. I think the biggest issue is whether you get a good one or one that slipped through their quality checks. I sold it a year ago as I was downsizing my shop and did not have access to 240 v electrical service in the new home. I bought a Laguna 1412 that was perfect in fit and function upon assembly. I do think Rikon is a viable option at their price points as long as you get a good one. If you get a bad one, all bets are off.

[Chris Hachet]

Bandsaws may be discussed more by woodturners since they are widely used for cutting up green wood and for prearing wet and dry blanks for turning and there is quite a bit of discourse there. On the other hand I know flat workers whose bandsaws get only rare use and you will probably never read discussion starters from them.

As for Rikon, due to the price I suspect they sell a LOT of saws and if even a small percentage of those wrote about an issue it might seem like "so many" people.

I personally have used the 18" Rikon for over a decade and it sees almost daily use, much of it with very thick green and dry wood. Like most bandsaws it did take some initial adjustment but nothing major after that. The saw is accurate, powerful, and has good dust collection. I'm not a big fan of their guide adjustments but I've learned to use them effectively. I replaced the tires after about 10 years of use. The starter capacitor went about the same time and Rikon was prompt and reasonable with a replacement (unlike Jet with their 600% markup on starter caps!) Everything else has been flawless.

I also have a 14" Delta purchased around 2000. It took a lot more tuning to get it right and I also used it heavily with big wood. Even considering the expected beefiness needed for the larger saw, I consider the Rikon a better design and the materials and construction higher in quality.

JKJ

Thanks for your response, it did look like a really decent product when I checked it out.

[Chris Hachet]

I bought one of the 18" models probably 10-12 years ago. It was a kit needing major work to ream holes in the frame to align the lower bearing guides, problems with the shaft alignment that caused blade oscillation, and any number of other quality problems. After about a year of working on it, I finally got it set up so it worked well. I think the biggest issue is whether you get a good one or one that slipped through their quality checks. I sold it a year ago as I was downsizing my shop and did not have access to 240 v electrical service in the new home. I bought a Laguna 1412 that was perfect in fit and function upon assembly. I do think Rikon is a viable option at their price points as long as you get a good one. If you get a bad one, all bets are off.

The 14/12 is an amazing saw, congrats and thanks for replying.

[Shawn Pixley]

I bought the Rikon 10-325 (14") about ten years ago. After getting it set up, it has been a workhorse ever since. I use it primarily for resawing. Are there better saws? Yes. But I got mine for under 400$. IfI had to get a new BS, it would have more HP to give a faster feed rate. That would be a more expensive saw and I would need to upgrade my electrical panels and distribution.

Am I happy with my Rikon, yes!