# Mako Mike



## Be Young (Jun 16, 2004)

Did you end up getting the Rikon bandsaw?

I decided to wait on it, now I wish I wouldn't have.

It took 3 months to get here, it looked great and everything was pretty well adjusted right out of the box.
I got it all together and mounted on a portable base so I could move it around easily, that was difficult, it is very heavy and akward doing it by myself.
I decided to try it out resawing a piece of 2x4 pine it worked great. I turned it off and got another piece, turned it back on and the motor just hummed and wouldn't turn. I double checked everything and loosened the belt and tried again and it came on but the motor didn't sound right. I cut another piece turned the saw off and then tried to turn it back on and it wouldn't run again. I called the place where I bought it and told them what happened, they said there is no way a tight belt should stop that 2 1/2 hp motor and to give Rikon a call. The guy at Rikon said it had to be the capictor, they have never have had any problems with that motor.

I waited about a week and the cap. came in, I put it in and the motor did the same thing. I called them back and he couldn't believe it. He started questing me about cutting the plug off and what type receptacle I had it plugged into. I told him, look I am a licensed master electrician and now better. Well that was a mistake he wanted me to check every connection, he said it was probably something stupid like insulation pinched under a lug instead of the copper wire. I said don't you have a company in this area that could come check it out. He said I can come check it out if you want to fly me down there.

Well I took the motor off checked every connection, took the motor apart and checked the winding and connections and found nothing wrong. I called him back and he said he had been on the phone all night with the factory in China and they are using a different motor. He said he would send me a new motor like the old ones but it would take 5 days, well it has been 7 days and I am still waiting. He said he would fix me up with alot of free accessories but of course I haven't seen any of that either.

If it wasn't so hard to load up I would take it back but I guess I will give them a few more days and see if the new motor gets here and the freebies. I have been waiting almost 4 months now and of course I had to pay for it when I ordered it. I am getting a little impatient!!

Bill


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## bill (May 21, 2004)

that just suxs, hope it comes in and finally works correct


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## Slip (Jul 25, 2006)

Hope they really hook you with some real assesorries and not stupid stuff too.....


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## Viking48 (Jan 24, 2006)

Sure hate to hear that. Biggreen and I both have Rikons and love 'em. Never had any problem with them at all and they will cut through most anything. Hope they get it resolved for you. Good luck.


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## Be Young (Jun 16, 2004)

I did get the new motor and everything seems fine now. Looks like they were trying to save money over there in China and used a different, much smaller motor, still 2.5 hp but much smaller with a tiny winding. I put a 1" 3 TPI blade on it and it cuts great.

Rikon didn't even know they had switched, said they received about 50 saws in this shipment.


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## Viking48 (Jan 24, 2006)

Glad to know they stood behind it. Hope you enjoy it.


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## Mako Mike (Jun 8, 2006)

Be Young said:


> Did you end up getting the Rikon bandsaw?
> 
> I decided to wait on it, now I wish I wouldn't have.
> 
> ...


Yes sir, I did. Got it in a few weeks ago.

I too had some issues with my motor. I haven't been sent a replacement yet, although Rod promised to send me one. Mine actually had an arc burn on the front bottom of the motor. Rod (Rikon engineering support) said that the motor that it had installed on it wasn't the one that was supposed to be installed.

I got mine to work, I think the leads on the prong were a little short.

I too am an adept individual, albeit a mechanical engineer, I have several wired 220 tools in my shop. I was getting plenty of voltage down to the motor, but it was just humming, no turning. If I left the switch on, unplugged it, then plugged it back in the blade would "advance about 1 inch, then just sit there & hum.

Interesting, locked rotor I though. Put the multimeter (clip type Fluke meter) over to the amperage scale and pulled my locked rotor amps. Squat. I figued it would be north of 15 amps... it wasn't even 1 amp. Wrong scale? Not possible. It kind of sucks that I have waiting since just before Thanksgiving, then since mid January with a promise of "It will be here in the next 2 weeks".

I am not terribly happy thus far, and to here that at least one other person has had the same issue as I have serisouly bothers me.

After replacing the recepticle on my drop line (prongs were closer to the end of the plug), it seems to be working better, but I don't trust the motor.

I went back and talked to Rick Bragg at the Houston SW Woodcraft store, and I noticed the 18" Rikon that was set up on the floor also used the same motor that Rod had told me wasn't supposed to have been used.

I am also noticing that the alignment adjustment seems to grab like the prior model did based on what I read off the woodnet forums. I'm thinking maybe I'll voice my concerns over there and get that motor expedited.

I also picked up a poorly welded 1" blade from Woodcraft, swapped it out for another from the same manufacturer without issue. First one was twisted & wasn't cutting well. Bad score lines, my total cut width was near as wide as my table saw at .112".

anyway, your pics are a little blurry, did your motor look like this?


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## Be Young (Jun 16, 2004)

Yes, my first motor looked exactly like yours. When I first talked to Rod he said it was the capacitor, he said they had never had a problem with that motor. After waiting a week for the cap. I replaced it and the motor did the same thing. I called him back and he told me to check the lugs and make sure the wire was under it not the insulation. I told him there were no lugs, the wires were wire nutted together. He said he's never seen that motor wired that way, he would send me a motor that he was familiar with. I took the motor apart and it had a smaller winding than most 1hp motors I have seen.

When I got the new motor it was much heavier and physically larger than the original. It didn't have any kind of nameplate or ratings anywhere on the motor, but it did have the lugs instead of the wirenuts. I called Rod to make sure it was the correct motor. He could not believe that it was larger and heavier and asked me to take pictures of it and send them to him.

He was pretty upset the next time I talked to him, said he had been on the phone all night with the factory, he said he had 50 saws in that shipment and all had a cheaper motor on them, he also said Jack (President) was going to China to check things out.

The other thing I didn't like about the saw, the tension pulley is 5mm smaller than the belt and the drive pulleys. I turned the saw on and could see pieces of the belt comming off. I removed the belt and it was all worn on the sides and warped. I went and bought a belt that fit the tension pulley and set nicely in the drive pulley. It runs fine now and less vibration. Rod said he didn't like the smaller tension pulley and said their reasoning was the belt would seat into the pulley after breaking it in.

Rod was very nice and kept in touch but I don't appreciate the fact that he said he would send me some free stuff to make up for all the trouble, that was about 2 weeks ago and I have heard nothing and received nothing. The manager at Woodcraft also said he would fix me up for all the trouble, nothing from him either, and I have seen him 2 or 3 times since.

My bill at Woodcraft has averaged about 1500.00 a month for the last 4 months, I think I will start trying to buy more stuff online.

I'll see if I can post a better picture.

Bill


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## Be Young (Jun 16, 2004)

Forgot to say, I took a hard very dry piece of elm firewood last night and cut it into a 12" x 12" x 24" square with a very nice smooth cut.

Also DHL delivered my motor, I came home one evening and noticed a tag on the garage door, it said they tried to deliver the motor at 10:00pm the night before. I thought he messed up on his date and time. At 9:10 that evening I got a call on my cell phone, he was in my driveway delivering the motor. I can't believe they make deliveries at that time of night.


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## Mako Mike (Jun 8, 2006)

I was in the process of posting this on the Woodcraft website, then as I was attaching some pictures, it went into the "Service Temporarily Unavailable".

Odd. I'm going to post this to their Facebook page and Woodnet...

Here it is:
Things that are great about the product: This thing looks awesome in my garage!

Things that aren't so great about it: Ordered from Woodcraft during the November 2010 sale, wasn't delivered until Mid February! When I opened the crate and plugged it in, no power to the motor, just a hum and a click... upon closer inspection, it appeared the wire nuts inside the motor junction box were loose. While inspecting this area, I also noticed an Arc Burn on the front of the motor. After tweaking the wire nuts and replacing the receptacle on my 220V drop-line that would grab the short prongs I got the motor to turn good. Upon contacting Rikon Customer Service, I was told (in writing) that they would send me another motor. Here it is over 2 months from my last correspondence and still no motor, and no warm fuzzy feeling.

Against my better judgment, as I got the original motor turning, I tried out the saw. It was way out of tune straight out of the crate... no issues, I expected it. After a six hour or so setup, it was performing better. I swapped out the factory blade with a 1" Timberwolf Resaw blade. Immediate issues with the resaw blade. Wobbly cut, and after trying several things and ultimately ruling out everything but the blade, I painstakingly put a dial indicator on the blade and found that it was both twisted and bowed at the weld... so, bad blade.

Woodcraft made good and replaced my blade... installed it back on my saw and run it up, still not as smooth as I was expecting, but it will suit my needs.

When I was trying to adjust the blade tracking, I had to take almost all the tension off the blade to get it to move and then it would jump to where I had adjusted it. From prior searches, this seems to have been an issue with the prior 18" model that was supposed to have been fixed. http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1604
It has me scratching my head as to why this problem would be recurring. Nonetheless... I was prepared for it, took my time and just considered it part of the turning process, ultimately getting the new Timberwolf blade to track better, by making slow adjustments de-tensioned, then tensioning and checking the track&#8230; I would prefer to be able to do this adjustment live!

At current, I cannot say I would recommend this to anyone else. Other options for a large capacity bandwsaw were rated better in a fairly recent publication. Rikon support is not currently what it has been purported to be in days past and the tool quality is clearly lacking. I am guessing that in the rush to meet the backorders, quality inspections were skipped or ignored.

I've been reluctant to use the saw for what I bought it for, as I am worried about a safety situation with a suspect motor. I have used it enough to want to use it more and feel that I might be more pleased if the customer service would step up.

For what it's worth, I should have spent my money on a different manufacturer. I think with all that has happened, I have been a little too patient and the Customer Service department of Rikon has been quick to forget about their customers. Sorry for the novel but I feel that I needed to be the proverbial squeaky wheels before it is taken seriously and possibly prevent this from happening to anyone else.


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## bill (May 21, 2004)

Man, don't know what to say. I have great respect for bandsaws, always alert when using one and to tell the truth Mike...I don't think I would use yours. I sure hope Rikon steps up. I think most would have jumped up and replaced a defective saw well before someone got hurt.

If you keep it and use it be careful.


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## Tortuga (May 21, 2004)

I think I would turn up the volume on the 'squeaking wheel'..and insist that Rikon replace the whole shebang with another new complete saw (with shipping both ways at their expense).. I might even try to get Woodcraft to replace it with another brand.. No excuse for you to have to go thru all this trouble with an expensive new tool like a bandsaw.. Mine is a Jet and have only had minor pulley screw troubles with it...but I'm skeered of bandsaws (as everyone ought to be) and a brand new one ought to work perfect.... just my .02....Good Luck...


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## Mako Mike (Jun 8, 2006)

Yeah, I posted up many different sites. I'll keep hitting different forums until I hear something one way or the other. I would have been content with getting the new motor & swapping it, but it feels like Rikon is going out of their way to ignore me.

I'll be the bad bearing until something is done. At this point I don't care if Woodcraft takes care of me or if Rikon does. I'm just tired of being left out in the dark. I will likely be sticking with Grizzly in the future giving the lack of customer support.

I'm just fed up.

End rant.


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## Hooked (Oct 15, 2004)

In today's world of communication it's hard to understand why a company wouldn't jump at the chance to correct this kind of problem and do everything possible to satisfy their customer. It just doesn't make sense to do otherwise due to the ease of spreading the word -- good and bad. 
Hate to hear these kind of experiences.
Hope you get things resolved MM.

Those motors look to be the same as is on my Jet dust collector. I had a similar problem but a different response. When I called Jet customer service and described the problem they immediately shipped me a new motor and told me to trash the bad one.


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## Mako Mike (Jun 8, 2006)

Wheel has been squaked, and lube applied where needed. That almost didn't sound right...









Rod stepped up and took care of it for me and will be sending me a motor from his office up in MA. He even threw in a miter gauge to step up the customer service and make things right.









It looks like there was a shipping Snafu from the factory back when I was supposed to have received a motor. From talking with Rod about how the problem came up to begin with... It sounds like I got the first bad motor of a changed manufacturer from the factory and Rikon USA was left out of the loop. It also sounds like this motor issue caused a "Come to Jesus" talk between Chinese Factory and USA office.









That original post I put up was a very difficult one for me to write , I'm normally a patient person and don't mind waiting and have been using that time to learn more about the saw and make a few more jigs for it.

I'll go back to being the patient person I am. Thanks for stepping up Rod, and again, my apologies for the somewhat scathing initial review.

On the blade issues, it looks like rather than the Laguna Resaw King, I'll be going the Lenox Trimaster Carbide Tipped route instead. Don from www.toolcenter.com took care of me there as well (thanks again Rod for the recommendation).

I'll link some resaw work I'll be doing when I get the chance once I get the new blade installed.

Fingers crossed.


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## Be Young (Jun 16, 2004)

They are not being very honest with you, they say you are the first one with the bad motor. I know I received mine a few weeks before you, they sent me a motor back in March. They were very aware of the cheaper motors on the whole shipment of 50 saws they were sent. They should have recalled the whole shipment or immediately sent everyone who bought one a new motor ASAP.

I'm glad you are finally going to get your's fixed, there is no excuse for it taking this long.

By the way Rod promised to send me some free accessories to make up for the problems, he never did!

Bill


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## Mako Mike (Jun 8, 2006)

I'll let you know tomorrow about all the stuff. He sent me a packing slip and tracking number. I should have it all tomorrow.

I went to Woodcraft and spoke with Rick about what they had told me. The saw he has in his store has the same motor. He is a little worried about Rikon stepping up and replacing it. I did some research and Rod was right, changing the motor out like they did voids the UL certification on the saw. Interesting little nugget there, I am interested to hear what Rick finds out from Rikon.

Anyway. I went ahead and got the Carbide trimaster blade from toolcenter.com it will be a week or so before I get that blade, as they are made from coil stock and there is a short backlog of work.

After trying out the 15" Powermatic planer at the Woodcraft store, I fell for the shelix cutter head. I own the 15" Grizzly equivalent to that planer, so I ordered it as well... I should get it Saturday sometime. I'll start a new thread as this one has about petered out, I want to be more optimistic and it seems odd to do so at the end of what became a rant thread.

Goodnight all!


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## Tortuga (May 21, 2004)

Hey, Mike...while you're setting up the 'perfect' (LOL) bandsaw..you might want to look into these Wood Slicer blades.. SlipKnot put me on to them a couple of years ago when I was having troubles. They are real jewels. Slice thru EVERYTHING like butter..... Just a thought...

http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/woodslicer-resaw-bandsaw-blades.aspx

OK..now I'll let the thread die...


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