OK, Leon, I put a new 111" blade on my Rikon yesterday and I did have tracking problems. But I found out it was from insufficient tension and raised the upper wheel position about 0.2 inches. Tracks fine now. I don't know if that was the same problem you were having.
And in all fairness I will report that I resawed sixteen english walnut logs yesterday and today and this time I saw the sap/pitch buildup on the blade and roller guides that you reported earlier. As someone else said, that's not specifically a Rikon problem, it would happen on any saw with roller guides. But since I reported earlier that I hadn't seen the problem, I thought I should correct myself.
I know there are roller guide replacements for saws without them. I wonder if the reverse is true? I'll have to look. In the meantime a little blade cleaner should deal with the problem.
"Larry Blanchard" wrote in message news:Q6KdnVhR48aNHfrbnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@pghconnect.com...
Well your an honest guy Larry.
111" blade? Do you have the 14 incher? I thought my 18" saw had a 134" blade. Oddly the 16" Laguna has a 150" blade. Anyway... The blade tracking problem I was having was that the blade would move forward and backward toward the thrust bearing. The OEM blade tracked fine, the Timberwolfs did not. Timberwolf had me cut the blade, lay it out on the floor and eye ball it to see if it curves one way or another. It laid straight and they replaced the sacrificial blade. IIRC 3 of the 4 blades did this. I had a local company make me a blade that tracked ok. Timberwold traded all the blades I had bought for the Rikon for longer ones for the Laguna. So far all blades appear to be locked into position when the saw is running, no visible vibration or wandering of the blades. Absolutely no waver regardless of brand. Tensioning differently did not help. AAMOF each time that I eased up on the upper wheel tilt to get the blade to track forward I had to bang the top wheel with my hand to get it to release and tilt. The top wheel did not swing freely under tension. Loose as a goose with no blade on it but just add tension and the adjustment became a 2 step routine. Loosen the wheel and bump the wheel with my hand for the adjustment to take effect. As far as the bearings are concerned I mentioned that the wet wood and roller bearings were not a good combination and that I thought all Rikons had the roller bearings. I never really said that this was a "Rikon only" problem. Again also, the build up on the blade and bearing is not a Rikon exclusive problem, simply not a good combination. I also mentioned that regardless of which brand saw that the OP bought that he should strongly consider getting ceramic guides for cutting green wood.
IIRC Inturra Design offers replacement ceramic guides for 14" saws and Laguna offers their guides for several other brand saws. The Laguna's run in excess of $200 however. Also, for small blades neither the roller or ceramic guides are the best bet. Laguna and MiniMax both sell the Cool Block guides for the very small blades, 1/8" and smaller IIRC. MiniMax indicated that you really do not need to use guides on the smaller blades and that they generally open the guides wide open when using the very small blades.
Yes. I've got the 10-325 (IIRC) "deluxe" 14" with 13" resaw capacity. = It was the most I could afford and it doesn't take up the shop room that an 18= " would. It's 1.5 horse, 2 speed and resaws logs quite well on low speed= .
Yes. I've got the 10-325 (IIRC) "deluxe" 14" with 13" resaw capacity. It was the most I could afford and it doesn't take up the shop room that an 18" would. It's 1.5 horse, 2 speed and resaws logs quite well on low speed.
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