[ChuckBarnett]

I have a Ryobi BS901 I bought used and have found to be good... with the 1/4" blade. But I just burned up a whole lot of time, braincells and patience trying to get a 1/8" blade to track. THEN I see in the manual an add-on note that says that the 1/8" blade may not track well in the middle and should be set to the back of the upper wheel. So, good enough, but I cannot even get it to do that. Any adjustment, when it finally kicks in, throws the blade to the other side quickly and I can't make it happen.

I have a Griz 17" and I do have a 1/8" blade for it but one of the reasons to have a smaller saw is to do finer work, right? As it happens, I wanted to cut some aluminum and thought that should be a quick job.

Now, I'm pretty much done. I've tended to buy used or inexpensive tools until I find a reason to do otherwise. I'm now ready to buy a better small bandsaw and I'm asking for suggestions and recommendations.

Thanks all, for putting up with this rant. If you read to the end, you should get a medal of honor or something!

Chuck Barnett

 

[Tony B]

If you have a Grizz 17" and it can accept a 1/8" blade, it will perform worlds apart better than the Ryobi. Unless you are buying a specific purpose made specialty smaller saw, the better quality larger will be way better.
Even with the larger machines, buy the best quality you can afford.
Back to your initial problem ....... .try the Grizz with the 1/8" blade and let us know how that worked out for you.

 

[Jim Frye]

The Ryobi 9" bandsaw is/was a rather poor performer, mostly because of the poor tracking capability, low quality guides, and the narrow size of blades it could use. It was a tad underpowered also. The 10" benchtop band saws on the market are generally far better machines. I have a Dremel 10" two speed bandsaw (no longer made) that handles blades up to 1/2" and down to 1/8". I even have a wave tooth metal cutting blade. They all track well and the saw has a 7" resaw capacity. The Rikon and Grizzly 10" band saws are good performers also.

 

[John Smith_inFL]

Chuck - would a scroll saw work with your projects ?

 

[Kenh3497]

I agree about the questionable quality of the Ryobi saw. There have been several discussions on the model airplane forums about this saw and the conclusion is the same as Jim's statement. I have the Craftsman 10" saw (same as the Rikon) and am very happy with it. 1/8" blade works just fine and seems to have plenty of power.

Ken

 

[Steve Neul]

I bought a 11" shopsmith bandsaw in the early 1980's. There is a stand you can get for it so you don't have to have the shopsmith machine. I use it often and have never needed any repairs.

 

[ToolsOnaWall]

I have a 10" Rikon (which I like) and I can't get an 1/8" blade to work either, I haven't figured out how to adjust for it.