band saw vibration

[john gallacher]

does anyone know how to stop vibrationv a band saw ridgis model bs1400 14 inch can anyone help john g

[Rafael]

Go over the procedures in the manual for setting up the saw. Make sure the feet are solid on the floor.
If you still have alot of vibration then your tires or pulley belt may be worn out.
I set up mine per the manual and I have as little vibration as you can have with this type of BS, virtually none.

[Mashadar]

The belt on mine came as crap right out of the box. Switching to a link belt knocked out 75% of the vibration right off the bat and claims to give me more power etc. Make sure the pulleys are aligned, that the motor is not tightened down too much, and that your belt is not deformed, or that you have a link belt which can not get deformed. This should stop most of the vibration. Right out of the box and assembled, the vibration was so bad I was scared to use the saw. I took the belt guard off, and that made it more quiet, but the link belt really saved me.

[ArtCraft]

I had a lot of vibration when I first set-up my BS14002 because the original v-belt they shipped with the saw was too short.

You couldn’t mount the motor perpendicular to the drive pulleys and get the lower wheel door to open. The motor had to be skewed or it blocked the lower door from opening.

I looked it over, decided something was wrong here, read the parts manual and figured out I didn’t have the correct size v-belt shipped with the BS14002. Looks like they had made a substitution and shipped a v-belt that was about 5/8 of a inch shorter then the original specifications in the parts manual. Now that 5/8 of an inch doesn’t sound like much when it comes to a v-belt, but the shorter v-belt would not work with my BS14002.

I called up Ridgid, explained the problem and they shipped out the correct size v-belt that was listed in the parts manual. I was able to get the motor mounted perpendicular to the pulleys, in alignment with each other, and the lower door opens.

[DaddyCat]

I had serious vibration problems with the bandsaw. I read through the forums and got some good ideas - today I put everything to work. 1) Incorporated a shelf with the horizontal supports on the legs (I had read that helped stiffen the stand and cut vibration). Put on a link belt (woodcraft 25.00) and cool blocks (also woodcraft 13.00). I was having the same problem ArtCraft mentioned so I made sure the belt was long enough. Timberwolf blade from you guessed it, and last but probably most importantly, completely disassembled the saw back down to the way it came out of the box and started over. Made sure everything was tight and that the motor belt wasn't too tight and the pulleys are in line. I also built a mobile base out of casters (Lowe's 12.00) and scrap plywood and 2x4's. Lag bolted the legs to the mobile base and voila - I'm mobile. Now it hardly vibrates at all and it cuts like a dream. A few hours, a few bucks and its gone from a tool I hated to something I'm looking forward to using.

Hope this helps. I'll see if I can't post some pics in a day or two.

[LongWood]

OK I am new to this forum but I own every ridgid tool I can get ym hands on. EXCEPT for the bandsaw. I bought one about a year ago and had terrible luck with it. First thing after all adjustments were made and it was still vibrating like crazy was I returned it and got another one! HA HA Then still having vibration problems I dove deeper. I got a replacement wheel from ridgid and had both top and bottom wheels professionally balanced at a machine shop. I Also bought a new high quality V-belt and a new blade. Still no luck. All adjustments were perfect. Lastly I went back to the machine shop and had a cabinet base built specially for the saw out of heavy guage steel. Motor was moved directly under the bandsaw pully for perfect alightment and the cabinet base was solid as a rock. This FINALLY got the saw to zero vibration. At this point however I just was angry at the whole mess of having to do this and returned the bandsaw for for an in store credit. Almost all of the vibration however was in the base of the unit. a solid steel cabinet base is what this saw demands. If you are not ready to buy a new base then forget the saw all together. I am saving for a larger better bandsaw.

[LongWood]

OK I am new to this forum but I own every ridgid tool I can get ym hands on. EXCEPT for the bandsaw. I bought one about a year ago and had terrible luck with it. First thing after all adjustments were made and it was still vibrating like crazy was I returned it and got another one! HA HA Then still having vibration problems I dove deeper. I got a replacement wheel from ridgid and had both top and bottom wheels professionally balanced at a machine shop. I Also bought a new high quality V-belt and a new blade. Still no luck. All adjustments were perfect. Lastly I went back to the machine shop and had a cabinet base built specially for the saw out of heavy guage steel. Motor was moved directly under the bandsaw pully for perfect alightment and the cabinet base was solid as a rock. This FINALLY got the saw to zero vibration. At this point however I just was angry at the whole mess of having to do this and returned the bandsaw for for an in store credit. Almost all of the vibration however was in the base of the unit. a solid steel cabinet base is what this saw demands. If you are not ready to buy a new base then forget the saw all together. I am saving for a larger better bandsaw.

[Adm Schmickover]

I just purchased the Ridgid BS14002 (B@14002) and I have HUGE vibration issues. I purchased an after market link belt and a timberwolf blade...no luck.

I know it is not the motor, since the bandsaw motor runs smooth with no belt.

My bandsaw tires keep coming off of the wheels AND the wheels (with no blade or belt) settle on the same spot when allowed to spin freely, indicating a lack of balance. Will Ridgid balance the wheels/replace the tires, or do I have to return the saw and buy a Jet or Delta. The vibration is so bad that I am afraid to make any cuts with the saw.

I have used bandsaws before, but none of them vibrated this bad. There is no way it would pass the nickel test. Heck, I doubt it would pass the dollar bill test...

[oldslowchevy]

http://www.ridgidforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10487&highlight=josh

here is the most complete info about the ridgid ban saw i hope it is of some help to you.

[scrambler28]

Adm Schmickover,

Save yourself the aggravation and take the thing back. Make sure you specifically tell the HD people what the problems are. Hopefully it will get back to the manufacturers so they can start to believe that there are problems with this thing. By the way, Amazon had the open stand Delta BS on sale for $215 yesterday.

[ironhat]

Adm Schmickover,

Save yourself the aggravation and take the thing back. Make sure you specifically tell the HD people what the problems are. Hopefully it will get back to the manufacturers so they can start to believe that there are problems with this thing. By the way, Amazon had the open stand Delta BS on sale for $215 yesterday.


One would hope that by now that they would have gotten the message, right scrabler. But, they haven't. You might just as well take it back. I improved mine but I paid $100 less for it at a Cummings Tools Sale. With that I bought new tires (it wouldn't hold the top tire on from the first startup), replaced the belt with a link belt and balanced the wheels - you wouldn't believe how far off the factory balanced holes were. That took care of my vibration issues. No extra supports in the base needed here. - not that it's a ad idea! I also added cool blocks and a Timberwolf blade as well as a riser kit (second hand) and did some other minor tuning per the Dur???ski Book (sorry 'bout the memory lapse there). I like it. If I had paid full price or even an on-sale price I wouldn't put that into it. They apparently don't care about improving this product. Perhaps they plan to have one of the Euro designs implemented in the near future... nah!!

[weblance]

I am one of the lucky ones. I am using the stock belt and pully assembly and dont have much of a vibration issue. I had tracking problems, but replacement urathane tires solved this problem. IMHO after whatever issues you are having are sorted out, its a fine bandsaw, if you know its limitations. Its underpowered for large resawing, but for scrolling and general cutting its fine for me.

[scrambler28]

weblance,

Doesn't it irritate you that you have to go and buy aftermarket parts just to make a brand new BS work properly? I can understand buying parts just to upgrade, but not to make it work right.

[weblance]

Yes... but I realize what I paid for the bandsaw. I paid $1000 for my Grizzly and didnt have to do anything to make it trustworthy. So... for around $500, my Ridgid is now a great saw. If the only thing I had to replace were the tires to make it a good saw, thats not to bad. The extra money I spent was for a Kreg fence and a tension crank and Carter Stabilizer, none of which the saw needed to operate correctly.

[CheekyMonkeyWrench]

Adm Schmickover,

Save yourself the aggravation and take the thing back. Make sure you specifically tell the HD people what the problems are. Hopefully it will get back to the manufacturers so they can start to believe that there are problems with this thing. By the way, Amazon had the open stand Delta BS on sale for $215 yesterday.


what is there, one decent review on that Delta? you're only here to defame Ridgid.

[scrambler28]

what is there, one decent review on that Delta? you're only here to defame Ridgid.



I like Ridgid tools. I'm disappointed that the quality of the bandsaw doesn't even come close to the excellent quality of my (Ridgid) jointer.

Seriously, how hard should it be for them to install tires that actually fit on their bandsaws?

I do appreciate your completely unhelpful post though.

[woodypa]

The list of things that can cause or reduce/eliminate the problem is lengthy:

1. Pulleys are not parallel or in same plane.
2. Make sure feet are all in good contact with floor.
3. Replace blade with a good quality brand.
4. Replace belt with link belt.
5. Stiffen base with a 3/4" piece of plywood.
6. Wheels out of balance. Try to balance wheels.
7. Tires need to be trued.
8. Replace rubber tires with polyurethane tires.
9. Wheels out of round. Replace wheels.

That is probably not all. I had some viscious vibration on mine. I did all of the above (nearly in that order) and probably more that I can't remember. I spent about 3 months trying to fix it. I probably can't balance a nickle on it still, but it works for what I do. I bought the riser block and notice that the problem was worse with it than without it.

There are many threads hear about the vibration problems with this saw. My vibration problems were mostly due to the wheels being WAY out of balance and out of round and the base not being stiff enough. Ridgid replaced the wheels free of charge. I wound up spending a lot of time tinkering and some money on link belts and tires. I bought carter tires and I think they were $30 each. When I look back I think that was probably stupid. I know they aren't making the tires. They can definately be bought for less. I did get a good deal on the saw fence and riser block ($360 total) and a lot of experience. You get what you pay for. I wish I bought a Rikon.

Good luck.

[woodypa]

By the way, I think the dust collection stinks on this saw. I added a 4" port to the bottom of the lower cover. I connect both ports together via a wye and connect that to a small dust collector and it works pretty well now.

I am not unhappy with the saw now, but I know at one time I was pretty frustrated and dissappointed with the purchase. I bought it to replace a 12" tilt head Craftsman bandsaw. I was really impressed with that saw. It had a huge table on it. I paid about $150 for that used. Probably could find one for $75 to $100 now.