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After reading some of the reviews on this Extension Block Kit, I bought one for my Rigid bandsaw. After installation everything lined up well and I installed my 105" Wood Slicer blade. I followed the directions and had the kit installed in about an hour. Every thing went well and the fit was good. Made a few cuts length wise through a 4x4, some hard rock maple will be next. RichGrizzly H3051 6" Extension Block Kit
My friendly UPS man delivered this item about 2:00pm, and by 3:30pm my saw was back together. Everything works well, with low noise and vibration, same as before. I used a large adjustable wrench on the head end and a 15/16 wrench on the nut.
I rigged a strap over a garage door track to hold up the upper half of the saw after it was loose from the bottom. I carefully tensioned the blade and set the tilt so that the blade tracked correctly. I have a Ridgid saw, and everything fit to a tee.
That was definitely the largest challenge.I lowered the upper wheel as low as it would go to install the new blade (6TPI +/-). I got the riser block in and the top half aligned and needed two more steadying hands which the LOML provided. Like another reviewer, I repainted the block gray so it matches.The bolt head and the nut are an odd size.
Turned it on, and cut a test piece. A+ to Grizzly.
Then when tightening the nut it all compressed and straightened nicely. For instance if you follow what it says to do, after unbolting the original riser bolt and try to lift the head you are in for a surprise. The good news if however that I have a full 12.25" of clearance for resawing and an old friend back on line. I spent 1 1/2 hours readjusting and This was the fine tuning that took the most time. the instructions do not say to remove the blade guide in the head which connects to the body below. It was a multiple try iterative process.
The instruction sheet is not complete; not all steps are included. And after all this for some reason every time I'd start the saw, the blade would reposition itself even after the whole routing of re-tension, check tracking set back guide wheels and then the side guide wheels. Opps. But better have small wrenches of proper sized box end wrench because the bottom nut clearance is quite tight. Then the fun began is readjusting all the tensioning options, and blade tracking.
The installations instructions are approximate one learns. A little reaming, a little block and mallet and it went on. I could not let it stand. Like my father-in-law used to say, "if it doesn't fit, don't force it, just get a larger hammer."The tabs were oversized for the tab holes on the block. All other guides then needed, both top and the bottom, factory-set guide wheels. Intuition guides, but I'd advise walking the process before diving right in. It is a great saw that will be made much better when I add composite guide block vs the guide wheels and upgraded blades. Watch out on adding the new blade.
Grizzly H3051 6" Extension Block Kit It installs, with some adjustment and "persuasion". The biggest annoyance is that the whisper quiet saw I initially knew is no longer. The noise and vibration was unbelievable. It is now better and tolerable, but even so there is more squeak and vibration than pre-riser block addition. The new blade was too small even after loosening the tensions apparatus as much as possible. (Check Highland Hardware) For this and for all other wood shop additions I HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading Bill Pentz's site on shop dust collection and all extant dust collection systems--the health hazards to the dust, the false security of shop dust collections systems (perpetuated by ALL the vendors of dust collection produces) and Bill's designs to make it safer to enjoy our work/hobby in the wood shop. The nut, by the way is an odd, and largish, 21 mm nut, the riser settled in nicely. Bill is an engineer, a very smart designer and an responsive and introspective fellow.
I'd recommend getting very familiar with pages 18-19 and 33 of the saws users manual. I had to go through gymnastics to finally loosen the wheel to get the new blade on. It is worth the hassle and $60. [.].Check it out soon.
Also, a bit of fiddling with the tensioner was necessary to enable the 105" blade to fit. As other reviews note, the installation of the block is fairly simple, and I was able to do it by myself. I did have to go buy a wrench for the rather large bolt that attaches the block to the bandsaw. After installing the block the blade was initially too short to fit on the wheels. But overall the block works well, and is reasonably priced.
The kit arrived missing one of the 6 parts, and Grizzly had the replacement in the mail the next day, no questions asked. Received this item as a supplement to the Grizzly 14 in. G0555 Band Saw, and it met the usual high quality standard of the Grizzly products. Great customer service. The extension is most useful if one is going to do re-sawing where the greater cutting height is often necessary.
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