More BS1400 dissapointments

[imported_woodypa]

In addition to being disgusted with the vibration problems this saw has, the dust collection really stinks. I attached a small 600 cfm dust collector to it and I still get a lot of dust around the saw. The port is just choked down too much.

The lower door does open enough either for changing the blade. The door interferes with the motor.

[SamB]

Woodypa,

The door was ONE problem that I was able to solve ;)

If you install the link belt then give yourself just a bit more belt and you can open the lower door all the way...

FWIW, I'm not crazy about the motor mounting system... wish it were like a tablesaw where the weight of the motor tensioned the belt...

[Marcus]

I'm getting a little tired of people whining about minor vibration on the BS1400. Return the thing and pick up the next level saw, I'm sure that you'll be disapointed but $200 broker.

At my local woodworking store I had them turn on each machine, and you know what, they all vibrated slightly. Sure they hadn't been tuned and balanced but neither has mine. For $200 I'd rather balance my wheels [almost every BS requires this] and save the money for something else.

As for your whining about dust collection NO BS has good dust collection. The only way that you'll get it better is to put a hole in the side of the door and hook it up to a 4".

[MikeN]

I've had my BS1400 for more than a year. Any vibration is slight and not objectionable. I regulrly resaw oak, maple, and cherry with ease. I use bulk Lennox blades sold by a local saw sharpening shop. I use the Fastrack fence. I think this saw is as good as it gets in a modest priced 14" BS.

Sincerely,

Mike Narges

[imported_woodypa]

Mike,

I am glad to hear someone here say something good about this bandsaw. It gives me some hope that when I receive the replacement wheels that my vibe issues may be resolved. I am surprised that both the wheels on my bandsaw are out of balance. It must mean that that there was a manufacturing problem and it was probably isolated to a specific production run.

[SamB]

I'm a BS newbie so my opinion on what's good or not isn't informed by any stretch. As I've previously written, I got my BS1400 for $250 so I have NO complaints! I have wanted to get the most out of the saw so I have asked lots of questions -- hoping people with more experience would help point me in the right direction.

That said, I got rid of almost all my vibration over the last couple of days. Here are the things I did:

1) New cast iron pulleys on motor and wheel.
2) Link Belt
<these steps helped but not as much as on my tablesaw>

3) Balanced wheels with lead tape from tire dealer (they gave me 6" for free)
4) Swapped out the stock rubber motor mounts for shock absorber bushings from auto parts store ($2.95)
<these seemed to reduce the most vibration>

Things still to do:
1) Add a ply panel underneath the top of the stand.
2) Fix the riser block problem

-- Sam

[bolson]

Here is what you have to do to any bandsaw and I have had great results with my 1400

Balance the wheels

Sand the tires co-centric and true-essential for good resawing

Replace the V-belt with one without memory (link belt is the best)

Replace the stock blade

Adjust the guides and tension the blade one tick above what is stated on the casting

I have done the above and have resawed 10" boards of Jatoba that only needed 1/32" to be taken off at the planer. The key to success with ANY bandsaw or other machinery is knowing how to properly set up and tune the machine.

[imported_woodypa]

The only thing I haven't tried from your list is sanding the tires concentric. I agree that should make a difference. I have some Carter urethane tires that I intend to put on the wheels. Can these be sanded? Someone on this forum stated that the urethane ones can't be sanded and it isn't necessary either.

[SamB]

Woodypa,

I was the one who said "no sanding" on the urethane tires. I was told that by my local bandsaw guru. Forgot to mention in my posting that I did install the Carter Urethane tires. FWIW, I got mine quick at Woodcraft and paid almost $50 for the pair (ouch). I see that Rockler carries a similar tire (not Carter and Orange vs Blue) but they are $26 for the pair... if I had time I'd buy 'em from Rockler.

The tires went on very easily and did seem to help the vibration. Can't say how much because I did some other things at the same time. I don't see how you could sand the urethane tires -- they're way too soft to sand...

My wheels looked fine. The OEM tires looked awful to me (remember this is my first and only Bandsaw and my only comparison is the Carter Urethane tires). The OEM tires seemed uneven in thickness and had about 2 spots of glue holding them down. No comparison to the Carter -- they seemed like precision manufactured products. Very uniform edges and thickness. Soaked them in hot soapy water for 10 minutes and popped 'em on by myself. Quite easy. I like them a lot. They aren't quite as wide as the OEM tires so I left a small gap at the rear of the wheel -- doesn't seem to matter as my blade tracks right down the middle...

Try them and see if it helps your vibration!

-- Sam

[imported_woodypa]

I paid $29 each from Amazon. You did better than me.

[imported_jkl1865]

You all know how long of a 'V'-belt needs to be ordered for the BS1400~???
I saw these for $6 a foot on WoodCraft. Do you know a better deal out there~???
Thanks.

[imported_woodypa]

It looks like that last question was answered elsewhere.

Well after four weeks and several phone calls my replacement wheels finally showed up on my door steps. These are the ones that are supposed to really be computer balanced. We will see.

The package these things came in was about 24" x 24" x 24". I was surprised at the size of the box. The two wheels are only 14" diameter and a maximum of 3" wide at the hub. When I picked up the box it wasn't surprising that it was very light for its size. I also noticed that there was a lot of clanking. I opened the box and there was just a small piece of Kraft paper lightly crumpled a third of the way down the box. I lifted it out and there were two wheels, on on top of the other with not packaging material surrounding them or between them. There were some nicks around them from banging against each other during shippment, but nothing significant.

These Ridgid dealers are great, aren't they. This experience has been somewhat comical at this point. Never again I tell you. Never again. Ridgid will not get my money ever again.

[Rafael]

Between Woody's bandsaw problems and the others here, I am wondering if Ridgid might improve their rep if they either improve their bandsaw or scrap it altogether.

[imported_woodypa]

Well, in the end I did two things that I believe fixed the problem. One was replace the two formed steel stiffeners underneath the stand with a 3/4" piece of plywood on top of the stand. That made the support much stiffer. I could tell the difference in stiffeness by pushing on the top of the saw. Before I could push against the saw and watch it flex at the base. Now it is greatly reduced.

The other thing I did was had the wheels replaced under waranty. Someone here asked why I did that. Well when I saw how out of balance they were I figured I had a good claim againt their precision computer balancing claim. It took a long while to get them but worth it.

My saw now passes the nickle test at startup, during operation, and at shutdown.

Along the way I purchased carter urethane tires, new blades, and a link belt. I don't believe any of these made much of a difference compared to the plywood base and the replacement wheels.

If I knew what I know now about Ridgid tools, I wouldn't have touched this equipment. As I said before, never again.

[Mike3206]

let me toss in my .02.

In the price range that the Ridgid was at, I believe they had the best. The other companies have just started to come down and offer what may be a better product. Second, any company out there will give you a POs blade as stock equipment. The first thing that people normally tell you with any bandsaw purchase is to toss that blade. Third, after tossing the blade, people will tell you to get the link belts. This is with nearly every mfg out there that uses regular V type belts on their bandsaws. Unless you use it every day for hours on end, all V belts will develop the so called memory. as for the eurethane tires, I don't know of any mfg that puts them on as standard equipment that won't be charging $1k or more for that saw. Cheap rubber tires are standard with all of them, and with that comes the potential for varying thichnesses or even densities of rubber. These factors will leave the wheels out of balance.

IMO, the problem with the above didn't make the saw a bad choice. Another problem with bent wheels or bad bearings may have though. In any event, you now have a bandsaw that is most likely better than any $600 or higher 14" saw out there from Jet, Delta or Grizzly.

[Larebow]

My bs 1400 had a bad v bealt pulley.Replaced it with a machined version that was 1/2" bigger and problem was salved.Now I'm spinning my blade faster as well. smile.gif

[imported_woodypa]

My problem with this saw is mostly poor design and and also poor quality control. Poor design because the base, although feeling sturdy during assembly, doesn't properly support the saw. The stiffeners do not provide adequate support and if properly designed it could work well without adding any cost in material. A little bit of design time would have gone a long way to improve this saw.

Poor quality control because this would catch the wheel imbalance problems. They probably need to check a larger sampling, like 1:10 instead of 1:100. However, this adds cost to the saw.

I understand that replacing the blade is expected. I have no problem with that. I chose to replace the belts and tires and did not need to.

I do believe my problems are behind me with this saw. We will see how it holds up now. There doesn't seem to be any parts that will fail in the near future. We will see how the motor and switch holds up.

We obviously get what we pay for. My expectations were higher because of some best buy type reviews I have read about the grey Ridgid bandsaws. The orange one doesn't live up to its reputation and will probably not receive as good reviews.

[imported_m00n]

Have these issues with this saw been resolved? I'm a bit concerned here. I want the ridgid because of price and the fact that I've purchased thier table saw and jointer and am pleased. However, if they are still having these issues, then I'd be more likely to go with the griz.

Biggest concern with all this is that I don't know squat about bandsaws, thus I don't know how to identify defects in them. I simply would not know what to look for or how to fix them.

[imported_Bob D.]

m00n,

if you are in the market for a bandsaw and feel you don't have enough knowledge about the tool to make an informed purchase then get out there and learn all you can about the various tool makes. Even though you may not be interested in purchasing from a particular store or not interested in some brands, use every chance you get to familarize yourself with the features of their model bandsaws. Open the doors and look at how the saw is assembled, the fit and finish of the pieces and parts, etc. Try out all the adjustments and become aquainted with their use. Flip through the oowners manual if there is one available or ask a salesperson if they have a copy you can read there in the store. Then when you go to look at what you think is 'the one', the bandsaw you are willing to plunk your hard earned dollars down for, you will have a better sense of what else is out there are how it performs. Also take advantage of tool demos at places such as Woodcraft if you have one close by. Play with the display models in HD, Lowes, Sears, etc like you were a kid the week before Christmas drooling over the latest whiz-bang gadget that you just gotta have. Read all the reviews and aads on the woodworking Mags and check out their web sites too.

If you have a buddy with a bandsaw stop by and ask him to show you his saw inside and out.

In a short while you will have enough exposure to the various makes to know what designs work and which are crap.

THEN you pull out your wallet and make your purchase.

[fcasavant]

Hello there.

I bought a Ridgid BS1400 or it might be the 1402 a couple of years ago and never used it heavily till now since we had a large order for xmas ornaments cut from old lightweight cedar fence pickets. only adjustments I made is a riser block from Grizzly, the orange tires from Rockler which seem to have a little hump at the seams and Olson Cool blocks. The saw when turned on and looking at the wheels seems real wobbly and kind of noisy, the wheels do not look concentric, they both seem wobbly and the whole saw rocks when cutting. We have been using the Timberwolf 1/8 inch 105" long blades and so far we have broken 6 of them in two weeks and one Olson All Pro 1/8 inch blade. The majority of the breaks seem to be at the weld point on the blade.

Any suggestions? Where do you find cast iron wheels? Also how do you balance the wheels?

Thanx
Frank

[zenophus]

The key to success with ANY bandsaw or other machinery is knowing how to properly set up and tune the machine.

AMEN!! I also had minor problems when I got mine...I got alot of satisfaction making it hum and learned a great deal about bandsaws and this model in particular that made it quite worth the effort.

Zeno

[bigscore]

Unfortunately from everything I've read both here at the RIDGID forum & other woodworking forums, the RIDGID Bandsaw is a bit of a lemon.
Definitely not representative of the majority of their woodworking power tool line.

To that end, even though I have a bunch of the RIDGID tools & really like them, I opted go with Grizzly for my Bandsaw purchase, upping the ante to a 17" (GO513X2) as opposed to just a 14" & am quite happy with that decision.

[ernurse]

I changed the belt to a link belt, and I read someone changed the rubber motormounts with the rubber mounts used on truck shocks. I also did that and I also glued/screwed two 3/4 plywood for a better support between the saw frame and the base. I now get almost no vibration from my BS. Happy sawing.

[Wood_Junkie]

How long of a belt do you need for the BS1400? I want to order a link belt, but I keep forgetting to pull my bandsaw out and measure it and I'm at work.

Sooo... IF you recall offhand, please let the rest of us know. ;)