Band Saw Upgrade

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I'm waiting for some info and data from the manufacturer, but there is an interesting upgrade package at Woodcraft for the Rikon 14" series of bandsaws. It is a digital DVR control and motor upgrade that makes your bandsaw operate like a DRV drill press does. It has torque control, speed control, and is pre-programmed with the cutting parameters for everything from scroll sawing thin plastic, to titanium, to carbon and stainless steels, to re-sawing 12" logs. It also has instant braking.
https://www.woodcraft.com/products/smart-dvr-control-and-motor-upgrade-rikon

It regulates the speed depending on the cutting resistance, and increases/decreases the torque as needed for the material being cut ... automatically. It costs $629.99.
It will soon be available on new Rikon saws for $600 over the regular saw price..

It will allow cutting speeds and power control from 45SFM to 4400SFM.
All you need to do for installing the kit is switch the motor out and attach the control panel to the upright arm. Everything, including the motor, is in the kit.

In use, you select the material and other parameters, move the drive belt to high or low ( these bandsaws have two speed ranges), change the bandsaw blade to the type you need, and hit RUN.

I will post more when I get some info back from the tech support guys.

 

[Carterwhopkins]

That's really cool....if I were in the market for a band saw, that is a compelling feature.

 

[Ken H>]

Now that would be slick!! Here's the Rikon with DVR control:
https://www.woodcraft.com/products/14-band-saw-model-10-326-dvr-with-smart-motor-dvr-control-rikon

Ideal setup would be two of the bandsaws, one with metal blade, other with wood blade. I'd expect a bit of a hassle changing blades to switch from wood to metal? $1700 - a darn good price for that with DVR control. Well, looks like almost $2,000 with shipping. I could drive to B'ham (400 mile round trip) and save money {g}

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Blade change isn't all that bad. Maybe a minute.

 

[Scott Hanson]

Stacy, do you know if the have anything like that for a 14" delta band saw?

 

[LCoop]

Forgive me if I'm wrong in this. It reminds me of the shop smith tool that would do every thing. That's cool. BUT Rather than spend thousands of dollars for a tool that would do everything AFTER I spend hours sitting it up I'd rather spend the same amount to have multiple tools dedicated to do specific things.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

It is the DVR control that makes it so useful. It isn't a mulit-tool like a Shop Smith. It is your bandsaw, but it is far more versitile than it used to be.

If you ever get a chance to use a DVR or computer controlled DRO drill press, you will know how amazing these computer controlled motors can be. Imagine tapping a hole automatically with no risk of breaking the tap, or drilling a hole where the drill starts off slow to get the hole started esxactly on the mark, then increases speed to match the metal type and drill size. It will change both speed and power as needed to keep drilling at maximum efficiency. Upon exit, it will change the speed and power to prevent the bit locking and breaking.
The same happens with cutting wood on a DVR bandsaw. It knows when to speed up the blade, when to increase power, and when to back off. If you jammed the blade into a hidden nail, it would stop the saw.
Even with the standard bandsaw, you have to change blades for different tasks, and you have to change the belt position on the drive pulleys to change speed for different woods/materials. This upgrade just helps do the cutting of whatever you cut better. Whether doing scroll sawing with a 1/8" fine toothed blade, or re-sawing a log with a 1" woodmaster carbide blade, or cutting titanuium sheet with a bi-metal blade.

 

[Carterwhopkins]

I am very happy with my main wood bandsaw, it is a Laguna and always has a resaw blade on it. This might make a second great machine where I could switch between smaller wood blades or use it as a metal saw.....this is an interesting machine and I will follow review on it.