Shop FoxD3348 6-Inch Extension Block Kit for W1706 Band Saw

This kit worked perfectly to upgrade a Ridgid Bandsaw from 6" resaw to 12" resaw capabilities. It worked exactly as advertised and was a fairly easy install. It greatly increased the usefulness of my bandsaw. Would highly recommend!

I used this kit on an older 1 HP 12” bandsaw with the Craftsman name on it, however the saw was manufactured by Rikon. There’s no riser available so I took my chances. I had to modify almost everything to make it work and it took a lot of time to get it all aligned and straight. But it appears to work great and nothing looks modified. I had to remove the pins and make new holes for them so the riser aligned. I had to widen the hole on the upper guide to accommodate the height rod. The alternative was to reduce the rod but that would’ve been more work. I had to cut and modify the red front blade guard to fit and accommodate the mounting holes on the guide but it works perfect. And finally I had to cut the rear black blade guard to shorten it a little to fit the mounting rods. I just cut it removed the tube and welded it back on. Fits like a glove now. At this point I wish I saved myself $75 and just made my own riser especially seeing how simplistic it would’ve been. I could’ve found everything at the scrap yard for a couple bucks. Overall I’m happy. The quality is ok with a few minor things like the red guard being bent oddly and not smooth to adjust.

I have a 9-year-old Shop Fox W1706 and recently needed to resaw some lumber just beyond the 6" capacity of the saw as it ships. This kit is the genuine Shop Fox kit and was a perfect fit. The installation was simple and took about 30 minutes with my son helping.Highly Recommended for anyone with a W1706 or the corresponding Grizzly model

I used this extension block kit on my old harbor freight bandsaw. I had to drill a few new holes to align the block pins but that was easy. Now I can resaw almost 11.5" think material on my bandsaw.If you are handy and have some basic machining skills, this is a great investment to upgrade an older bandsaw.

My saw is old and has problems, and this upgrade helped make it more usable. Everything fit except the pins for the riser block, so i installed it without them, and the cutting side blade guide doesn't fit without the blade hitting it. But this wasn't designed for my exact model, and I am really happy with how well the whole kit did fit.

I was kind of skeptical of how or if this would work, if it was going to be strong enough and if the blade alignment would even work correctly. To my surprise it worked very well. It fit perfectly, even the alignment of the wheels didn't change. It has given me 12-1/2" of clearance between the bottom of the blade guard and the table.The materials, workmanship, and packing were of a high quality and all the parts fit as expected. I am very happy with it and would recommend it to anyone planning to put it on a ShopFox 1706 band saw.I have resawn several small logs with it and the results have been very good. I have had more trouble getting a blade that has been welded properly than I had with the riser.

I had to redrill the holes, and elongate them. I used some pure silicone caulk on the mating surfaces to give it some adhesion. I tightened the bolt as tight as I could get it. I don’t believe I could get anymore out of it, and I’m not worried about it coming apart. It’s 100% not moving.The extension guard doesn’t work as it is, and is a pain to get it to work well. I’ll figure out something to get a full extension guard. I added a new Cobra spring by Carter, a tension relief arm by Carter to remove the tension from the pulleys when not in use. The blade guard is metal, so make sure it doesn’t touch at all before turning it on. I had to flare mine out a little. Maybe I’ll find one that’s been made of wood later on.I have Carter guides already so that’s a plus. I also bought (2) types of blade tension devices. Remarkably, they both read or react similarly when proper blade tension is achieved (15,000). Both are pretty cool how they do the job. One is fancy for about $80, the other is basic for $40. Both do the same, and both react or show the tension at the same point. Therefore, I know it’s correct. And, it took a lot more tension than I expected. Don’t use the gauge on your saw. It’s wrong. Get a tension device. Do it right. Your resawing will be easier. And buy good blades.So essentially I rebuilt my band saw for $500! I use a 3/8” 3 TPI Carter blade. I also purchased some nice Olsen blades. The Carter blades are better using a 3/8” blade. I’m able to resaw red oak up to 12”, straight against the fence, 1/8” thick. Straight. Run it through the planer on top of a board to get it down to a veneer thickness.All in all, it works. A new saw I would want (Harvey) is $2500 + shipping & tax. Or $3100. So $500 is a decent trade off. I’d like to see if I can find another motor at 1.5 hp to replace the 1hp. It’ll help a lot going through tall hard wood. We’ll see.Thanks. Hope this helps you.

If using on the older sears craftsman 14” contractor Model 113.248340, this riser kit requires the alignment holes to be re-drilled with about 3/16” offset from the original holes. Use a dab of paint on the riser block pins, carefully line up on the dismantled craftsman band saw arm, aligning the back and sides. Now you have new hole markings. Drill out slightly larger than 5/64 bit, do the same to mark the band saw arm holes, drill those into the craftsman bandsaw arm. Test for. You may need to reem out the holes a bit to get an exact fit. Install the new bolt. For the saw blade guard , it requires a fair amount of modification, trimming the contour of the guard down where it slides up into the top wheel housing because it would hit on the door closer pushing the blade out of alignment. After using a metal bandsaw and trimming about 1/4” down the side of the guard rail, and using a grinder with a flap disk to fine tune it fit perfect. Had to rebend the guard a bit as well. Not hard but it works. The blade that comes with the kit, 105” is junk, very dull and only 3/8 wide. I would highly suggest a nice blade at least 1/2” wide if you’ll be ripping down wood. Go slow on the hard woods such as maple etc…

Product worked on well on Delta 28-245C 14” band saw. As others have mentioned, the pins didn’t line up. I pulled out existing pins and put block on and tightened the bolt. It shouldn’t move with day to day use but will be careful if it needs to be moved.Product was packed well with all pieces needed. Blade it came with was okay, purchased thicker blade for re sawing.Good option for enhancing current band saw than buying a new one.

Had to alter a few things, but it works well on my 14" craftsman saw

Really impressed about this item,well made,well packed,very happy to receive it. I used it to convert my Porter Cable 14 inch band saw from 6 inch resaw ,to near double that,,,. Not an out of the box fit,,but very easy to convert.A few hours later,and I save over $600 bucks on the next size up bandsaw,worth the investment. Salute to SHOP FOX for the well engineered product. PORTER Cable sure fell asleep @ the wheel on their products.

There it was, unpacked and in perfect condition, complete with everything on the list and an Instruction Manual on how to install it.How to install the upgrade on a 32 year old cast iron framed AllTrade made in Taiwan 14 inch bandsaw.Of course there were a few niggling things like the holes in the extension did not quite match the pin holes on my saw. When I got my saw apart I noted that the upper and lower castings were secured by the usual honkin' big bolt and the alignment was done with a couple of split pins driven through the upper and lower flanges to prevent rotation. It also was evident the pin holes were drilled after the assembly of the upper and lower pieces because the holes were bored at an angle from the open side and did not transit the meeting of the two parts at right angles. Separation needed to punch them out.They were off by about two or three inches - so easy peasy. Step one, acquire a piece of nice MDF a half inch think, a piece of hardwood about 2 inches thick, a micrometer, a precision machinists square, a center punch, a 6mm drill bit, and a few clamps and stuff like that.Then survey the holes on the new piece and mark the distance between them and each end and side.Cut the MDF to an exact size of the end of the riser block and lay it out, marking the position of the two holes.Race to the drill press and bore two vertical and appropriately positioned holes. Try same for fit on the riser block.When the fit is perfect, use the mdf as a template on the drill press to bore the same two holes in the much thicker piece of hardwood.Clamp the hardwood to the cast iron, then use the drill from the drill press now mounted in my big Makita hammer drill set to 'smooth running please' and bore two holes in the cast iron using the built in depth stop to achieve sufficient depth of hole.Repeat process for lower iron piece.As an aside I first measured the saw for how coplanar the wheels were (out by a half inch) and I adjusted the position of the reinstalled top end by enough to align the wheels properly.Use the supplied bolts and new pins for the bottom end and reassemble the frame.It helps to have a drill press, a two pound bronze sledgehammer, a table saw, and an assortment of precision measuring and metal working stuff like hacksaws, files, a grinder and some old bolts to repurpose as pins, the usual stuff handy in the well equipped home workshop.before doing a refurbish on older stuff where the factory is long gone.The wheels now are co-planar, it has a new set of trunnions (the ones for a Rigid 14 inch fitted well and are much beefier than the original) a new lower guide setup, ceramic wheel blade backers, and cool blocks to guide the blade.So mu hundred dollar clunker bandsaw is now functionally equivalent to a new 14 inch by 12 inch resaw setup selling at around a thousand.One star off for the labor and hassle factor, then right back on for the fun factor of making it fit anyway..

The kit seems very well done unfortunatelly it did not fit my band saw Craftex Ct105N.