Ridgid Clearance

[Jon Shelley]

Don't know if it's happening at all the Orange Borg's, but I was at a Home Depot in Raleigh, NC today(Strickland Rd) and they were clearance-ing all the Ridgid Jointers, Bandsaws, and Drill Presses. I walked away with the Bandsaw for $279(normally $399).

I know that BS1400 has gotten mixed reviews, but I figure that for the price, I can upgrade it easily and have myself a nice little machine. So, this is a minor gloat:-)

By the way, this is the same Borg where I picked up a Delta contractor's saw for $198 on clearance a few months back. Ah, there are SOME good things about that place!

Jon

[mac davis]

Jon.. I have the same saw, and the group here says that it's the same as the Grizzly... I believe it, since I bought the griz riser kit and it went in easily and works well... and was less than 1/2 the price of the Rigid riser kit....

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

[Jon Shelley]

Yep, I've read that here before, it's a great tip. But I haven't seen anybody discuss whether they've been able to resaw over 6" with the original 3/4 HP motor? I was expecting I'd have to put in a 1 or 1 1/2, which is perfectly reasonable considering what I paid for it.

Jon

[gw]

I have personally done the upgrade from 3/4 to 1 HP on this saw. You will not regret it. With the original motor, I was having trouble resawing 3" birch with a Timberwolf 3/4" 4 TPI blade. I changed to a 1 HP and resized the pulleys to increase blade speed to about 3200 fps. I think stock is about 2700. It will now resaw at full capacity with no problem.

[mac davis]

I don't do much resawing, but I cut a lot of bowl blanks, mostly in the 4" to 8" thickness range, and sometimes square off a blank face that might be 10+"... It isn't going to slice it like butter, but if you're patient and don't force the saw, it works well for the cost..

BTW: speaking of cost, the shop that makes my blades charges about a buck more for a 105" blade than they did for 93.5"...

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

[Jon Shelley]

That's interesting, thanks. I didn't even realize increasing the blade speed allowed you to cut thicker boards. My bandsaw handbook is on it's way from Amazon, I need to read up.

Jon

[gw]

I should probably also add that I changed a 3/4 HP 1725RPM motor for a 1 HP

3450RPM motor, and re-sized the pulleys accordingly. I don't know what effect - if any - the higher RPM motor has on the added performance.

[fredfighter]

Does that include the stand?

I saw the BS1400 today at HD for $349, don;t know if that includes the stand.