Rikon 10-345 Bandsaw

[James Hicks]

Woodcraft has this saw on sale for $999.99. Does anyone have this saw and could you help with opinions? I'm considering this or the Grizzly G0514X2. Any help would be appreciated.

[Peter Hawser]

Hi James, I have the 14" Rikon and use a friends 18" Rikon, the saw you are looking at, quite often. Both are good saws, but I think the 14 is a better model for Rikon. The 18 does what it is supposed to, but it's not like meeting the girl of your dreams. It's kind of boring with nothing special, but it does the job. So, as long as the quality is good, I'd have a hard time not considering all the extras on that Grizzly even if it costs $500 more. You get a beefier motor, better fence, better guides and a foot brake. That's a lot! However, is it like so many Grizzly tools, you know where guys come online to say how happy they were with Grizzly because they graciously sent out parts to fix a brand new yet defective tool?

Oh, can you pick this up from a Woodcraft yourself? Saving on shipping is making this deal much more attractive.

[ed vitanovec]

I have for 6 years now and have been really happy with it. I had to replace the upper wheel and Rikon took care of that promptly. Rikon customer service is top notch. This past summer I added the Laguna driftmaster fence and this upgrade is expensive but I think well worth it. For the price I would recommend this bandsaw.

[Paul Johnstone]

I would chose the Rikon over the other vendor you are considering.. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to elaborate on this board on the reasons why. Other forums have a more details comparison.. Go to Woodcraft and check out the Rikons, I think you will like them.

[Peter Hawser]

I would chose the Rikon over the other vendor you are considering.. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to elaborate on this board on the reasons why. Other forums have a more details comparison.. Go to Woodcraft and check out the Rikons, I think you will like them.

Interesting. I don't hang out here too much, but that sounds new. I don't have a tool by that company that shall not be named, so I have no experience.

[Matt Day]

I would chose the Rikon over the other vendor you are considering.. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to elaborate on this board on the reasons why. Other forums have a more details comparison.. Go to Woodcraft and check out the Rikons, I think you will like them.

Why can't you do a side by side comparison of two machines, as long as you don't go on a tangent about CS or something?

[Matt Meiser]

A friend of mine has a review of the older version of the Rikon here. There's a link back to a thread here embedded there as well.

There's also numerous previous posts on both saws here. Not that there might not be new information, but there's some good old information. One of the first hits was someone looking at the same two saws: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...r-Rikon-10-345

Unfortunately, we are not allowed to elaborate on this board on the reasons why.

That's not true at all. It just has to be factual.

[Luther Oswalt]

"Unfortunately, we are not allowed to elaborate on this board on the reasons why. Other forums have a more details comparison.. Go to Woodcraft and check out the Rikons, I think you will like them." And why can't one express an opinion ... other wise this forum isn't a very open one.
Leo

[Luther Oswalt]

Matt - Now that is the way I beleived it to be and I agree whole hearted!
Leo

[Joseph Tarantino]

i presently have a 10-340. it replaced an 18" jet and now i know what a really well built and capable band saw looks and performs like . i categorize my 10-340 as a beast relative to the saw which preceeded it so, with 1/2 hp more, i can only imagine how substantial the 10-345 must feel and how well it must perform.

[James Hicks]

Thanks for the information. I have several Grizzly tools which have given excellent service, but $500.00 is $500.00 as long as the quality is simular. I wish the Grizzly had a better price than what is listed in their Christmas sale,

[Jay Park]

Pretty good prices on the Rikon bandsaw sale at Woodcraft. I wish I had money to upgrade my 14"

[Curt Harms]

I have no firsthand knowlege of the Rikon 10-34X saws. I have a 10-325 and am happy with it. I seem to recall when the 10-345 first replaced the 10-340, there was some issue with the upper wheel tracking/tensioning mechanism. Never was? Just a one off problem? Since corrected?

[Mike Cutler]

A friend of mine has a review of the older version of the Rikon here. There's a link back to a thread here embedded there as well.

There's also numerous previous posts on both saws here. Not that there might not be new information, but there's some good old information. One of the first hits was someone looking at the same two saws: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...r-Rikon-10-345

That's not true at all. It just has to be factual.

Well, since I'm the guy that the embedded link linked back too, I'll give you my impression 6- 7 years after the sale. I have the original 10-340, but the 10-345is very similar in build as delivered.
Since I set the Rikon up that cold day, and then fine tuned it one month later, I haven't touched it, except to replace the guide thrust bearing. The tuning I achieved then is the same as now,and it still takes a vernier to measure the differences in thickness of material. This is on long tall resaws of tropical hardwoods.
I will tell you that the saw doesn't like to work below 12 degrees ambient air temp, the bearings squeal until they warm up, but then so do the bearings in my dust collector. Yes, I do work occasionally well below the point of freezing. My shop is unheated.
Virtually all of my material choices are tropical hardwoods with hardness well above domestic hardwoods, and this saw handles them no problem up to full resaw height. I've resawn up to 10' long material on the saw, and did some 22 foot stringers, and sides out of soft wood for a canoe, for a friend. (Some day I'll do a project I can pick up and carry when I'm done, but it hasn't really happened yet.)
In fairness my Rikon is set up only to resaw and has been used for no other purpose, as I have a Jet 14" for that type of work. I also modified the fence on my Rikon as the stock fence just wasn't up to the task of resawing wide material.
I own no Grizzly tools, so I have no insight to offer on their products, I also have nothing bad to say about them. All I can tell you is that I do not regret the purchase of the Rikon one bit, even considering the issue I had with mine which is detailed in the link.



From Curt Harms

"I have no firsthand knowlege of the Rikon 10-34X saws. I have a 10-325 and am happy with it. I seem to recall when the 10-345 first replaced the 10-340, there was some issue with the upper wheel tracking/tensioning mechanism. Never was? Just a one off problem? Since corrected?"

Curt
I seem to be the only person that wrote about experiencing the issue, so it has to be a fluke with my saw. Even still I don;t regret buying it,and that defect, which I corrected, is still present in my saw today and it functions just fine.

Mike

[Paul Johnstone]

Why can't you do a side by side comparison of two machines, as long as you don't go on a tangent about CS or something?

You can only do a side by side comparison if Grizzly wins.
They are a paying advertiser on this board, it is not tolerated to post something negative about them.
People in the past have been treated harshly for doing as such. Not worth the trouble..
I'm not even allowed to post a link to the comparison on the other board where someone owned both of them.

This is not a complaint, just the way this board is run.. It's a nice message board for everything except getting a balanced opinion on a product that is advertised here.