Rikon bandsaw assembly

[Woodman2k]

Is there anybody close to Mooresville that has either assembled a Rikon bandsaw or a Band Saw in general.This is my first one so I'm a little in the dark and could use some guidance on finishing up the setup on this baby.I'm trying to figure a way to check that both wheels are in alignment with each other.The blade position is different on the two wheels,centered on the bottom wheel but towards the back on the top.Also my tension needle does not read accurately, with NO tension on it at all it only drops down to the 5/8 setting so I was wondering if I should reset that up to the top of the gauge near the 1/8 setting and then go from there.I've not even started on the blade guides yet,will progress slowly.

[FredP]

just finnished sawdusters an hour ago. too far away for mooresville. check both top an bottom thrust bearings to be sure they are away from the blade them spin the wheels by hand to see if the blades tracks center of the wheel top and bottom. if not you will have to make some ajustments. his was good from the factory on his so I didnt have to figure out how. sorry i couldnt be more help.

fred

[Tarhead]

Greg,

I would go ahead and loosely set up the blade guides. If it's like my 18" Rikon and 10" Craftsman (made by Rikon) the top wheel is fixed and you have 4 adjustment bolts on the outside of the bottom wheel axis to adust co-planarity (new vocabulary word for the day)

Like Fred said, spin the wheel and adjust tracking before fooling with the adjustment bolts. If it won't stay on the center of the wheel you can tilt the bottom wheel to compensate. It should be correct but my 10" needed a small amount of adjustment...like a 1/2 turn in on the top and out on the bottom bolts to tilt it out. If you have to make adjustments I would suggest putting a small drop of paint (fingernail polish works well) on each bolt at the 12 o'clock position to keep track of your position. You will need to back out the opposite bolt to allow it to move.

If everything works ok set your blade guides and put your top on.

Call me if I can help further. 704906-5627

[Woodman2k]

Mark,
the time got away and I didn't want to call to late.If you don't mind I will call you tomorrow evening as I do still have some questions.My saw also has some issues that need to be addressed by Klingspor.I'm gonna call them in the am and find out where I stand.