Rikon?

I haven't heard of this brand until I recently got a mailer from Woodcraft. They are pushing the 6" model for only $399 right now.

That is an AWESOME price compared to the Steel City which I was originally looking at for $600 (after mail in rebate).

Does anyone have experience with them?

One of the big differences I am seeing between the two is the Warranty. The Rikon has a 2 year warranty while the Steel City has a 5 year warranty.

What do you guys think?

Reply to
Airedale
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"Airedale" wrote

Ping Leon ... IIRC, his hands-on experience was not very good. There seems to be a real mixed bag of reviews on Rikon equipment .... the preponderance not being all that favorable, is my impression.

Reply to
Swingman

My buddy at WC seems to agree. He likes their new revamped mid/mini lathe, but they struggled with quality control issues of fit and finish. He likes one bandsaw they make, but not another. I think Rikon is one of those tool guys that simply job out what they need and assemble the parts like Jet/Powermatic, Delta and most others.

As they have gotten more popular due to their pricing, they seem to be getting better, but then some of the mag reviews only put them in the middle of the pack. The only way they seem to be up top on the list is due to price.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Well price is a big consideration, but quality is another key too. It is hard with the WAF to convice that the extra $200 is buying me a lot more. The one other benefit I missed on the Steel City is the bed is

68" long versus 46" for the Rikon. While that is a great benefit, in my smaller shop, it may be more of a pain.
Reply to
Airedale

Not real sure what piece of equipment you are talking about but do you think

6" is big enough for you? ;~)

I bought their 18" band saw about 2 years ago and returned it. I wanted a total upgrade from a 12" Craftsman band saw and IMHO did not get that. I view Rikon as a reasonably priced brand but you will probably want to upgrade later if you are going to use the machine very much. Yuh get what you pay for.

Reply to
Leon

Well price is a big consideration, but quality is another key too. It is hard with the WAF to convice that the extra $200 is buying me a lot more. The one other benefit I missed on the Steel City is the bed is

68" long versus 46" for the Rikon. While that is a great benefit, in my smaller shop, it may be more of a pain.

The space it takes up may be a pain, but I'll bet not as big a pain as a machine that doesn't perform up to standards. IIRC, Leon's issue with Rikon was with one of their larger bandsaws. He sent it back.

Joe Pay for quality and only cry once.

Reply to
joe

I can't speak to quality on Rikon or Steel City jointers, but I can speak to quality of a Steel City 16" bandsaw: it is a formidable tool for the price...and for more.

Reply to
Charlie Self

Personally, I'm going with the 8" and am quite pleased.

A friend has the 4" and wishes he'd gotten the 8", too.

Reply to
Lee K

Not to get personal, but a 6" what?

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Reply to
mac davis

you guys been getting a lot of "manhood enlargement" spam?

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Reply to
mac davis

LOL! I can not believe I forgot to put Jointer in there! HAHAHA!

Reply to
Airedale

Well, I am not sure about all the other posts, but we have the exact jointer you are refering to in our shop and we bought it over a year ago for the 399 price. We also have a larger (8") "franken jointer" in the shop as well. The franken jointer, once setup, you dont fool with it. It stays set at 1/32". The Rikon however is now used far more than the 8". We use it regularly for rabbeting, jointing, and light flattening of wide material. The reason I bought it is because the fence assy. absolutely smokes any other jointer out there. The fence adjusts with handwheel, crank tilt. I sometimes change the depth of cut several times an hour without a single problem.

The absolute only problem we had out of the jointer was that it was assembled by Woodcraft (a big plus) and when we loaded it to the shop it would occasionall throw the belt (spline). A couple tweaks of the belt tension and alignement and it has never happened again. As far as use, this jointer has likely jointed about 2k lin. ft. of finish trim in the past year.

My decision was between the powermatic, and "any other brand" and the only reason I was contemplating the 6" powermatic was for the bed length. While I would loe to have the powermatic in my shop today, I am not sad I saved 350+ dollars

Mark

Reply to
BDBConstruction

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