Laguna Owners DVD

[Leon]

Yesterday I got a call from my Laguna salesman in California. My LT16HD is on its way and I expect to see in about 4 to 5 work days. Also yesterday I received my owners unpacking, setup, and basic usage DVD. Wow that was cool. The DVD starts off showing how Laguna opens up the crate that the BS was shipped in from Italy. They add the accessories and the Baldor motor and seal it all back up. They then go on to show how to spot damage to the outside packaging and how to note damage on the freight bill. This is followed by how to unpack the saw, set up the mobility kit if one was ordered, and how to mount the motor. From there the table is mounted and then they go through a detailed explanation of how to mount the blade, adjust the blade, adjust the guides, and adjust the fence for drift. Finally they go through a few demonstrations of resawing 12" wide boards and curved cutting. Finally they show how to fold the blade back up.

Boy, if only all the other large tools manufacturers supplied a DVD like this.

[bent]

what kills me is when you get a video, but it is a piece of crap anyways

[Swingman]

Are you a real d*****ad, or do you just imagine that you play one on TV?

[Leon]

Is there anything in particular that you are talking about, perhaps you work?

[stoutman]

That's great Leon. I'm sure you will be happy with it. Let us now how it turns out! The good and the bad. :)

I got my new motor today from Rikon! I just need to swap it out.

[Frank Drackman]

That is pretty cool. It sounds like Laguna is increasing the quality of customer service. Many years ago I purchased the Laguna stand alone morticer table. The only instructions were a short review that was published in a WW mag. I called Torben was told that was the instruction manual.

[Leon]

I'll keep y'all a breast of the secheation. Ther are a few that wanted for me to post the whole process. I doubt that there will be any "bad" other than the price. ;~)

Cool. Lets hope that fixes the problem. Fortunately, IIRC, the Rikon motor does not look too heavy. I mave a 4.5 hp Baldor to mount on mine. It is not mounted during shipping. The DVD makes reference to having a frined come over to move the saw from the pallet. Have a friend come over help mount the mobility kit. Have a friend come over to help mount the motor. Have a freind come over to help mount the table. I'll add my own here, have a friend come over to help pay for the saw.

[Leon]

The WW mag being the instruction manual would suck... I have heard stories like that and do not doubt it at all. I have been very pleasantly surprised with my dealing with them so far. 3 weeks ago the Laguna salesman suggested a refundable $500 deposit to put myself in line for the next shipment. I had indicated to him that I was not going to make a decision until I saw the MiniMax at the Houston WW show last weekend. I called him last Friday to finalize the deal. He said that the saws were expected this week and that it would probably go out this week. As I previously indicated, he called me yesterday to confirm that the saw was going out that day. So far, what they say is what I get. On the flip side of that coin, MiniMax called me 2 times last Friday and 2 times Monday wanting me to hold off on my Laguna Order so that they could have a 3rd try at trying to show me a smooth resaw sample. I had to turn them down as they have yet to come through on any promises so far.

[Steve DeMars]

Thanks for confusing me . . . I was Laguna all the way for months . . . Then after several horror stories I read on the net, I turned to Mini Max . . . Now I respect you guys opinons very much, so which is the better saw and why . . . LOL LOL

Thanks in advance, Steve

instruction

[Scorp]

You'll get over it! Especially if you've fought with under sized/powered or cheap equipment before.

I, however, got no instructions with mine, I even ordered the video about a month before hand and never got it, it didn't come with one either. The fairly simple manual was inside the box which is all wrapped up.

It does come wired though....I had to tip mine over to get it through the doorway, so I thought I'd take the motor, table, fence, box of stuff, out of the way to make it lighter, not having any friends :) When I lifted the heavy motor to remove it, I found it was connected. That could have been a disaster. I had to take apart the box and unwire it. I was able to install the motor by myself without too much trouble, YMMV.

I sawed off part of the pallet too, to fit through the doorway, left the thing bolted to the rest of the pallet till I can figure out a stand and the table height I want. It's not bad up that 4". I'm 6'.

Oh and I got the work light with magnetic base from LV, treat yourself!

The table was also pretty easy, but removing it from the pallet, unless you can lift it from overhead, get help :)

-------------------- Steve Jensen Abbotsford B.C. [e-mail] chopping out the mortise. BBS'ing since 1982 at 300 bps. Surfing along at 19200 bps since 95. WW'ing since 1985 LV Cust #4114

Nothing catchy to say, well maybe..... WAKE UP - There are no GODs you fools!

[Leon]

Charlie B had a piece concerning the service from both companies. Apparently the Laguna people have addressed the service issue in recent months. Seems that when MiniMax became basically a new company here in the states 3 or 4 years ago they moved to Austin TX and recruited many of the Laguna people. Apparently the Laguna people have since returned to Laguna. Personally I have only had disappointing meetings with MiniMax. For 2 weeks I had an appointment with MM to go their to their store to see the saw and try the saw out. The meeting was confirmed 3 days in advance and when I got there on a Monday morning the saw was missing parts. I drove from Houston to Austin. 1 week later I went to the Houston WW show and the MiniMax produced inferior cuts when compared to the Laguna saw + some of their equipment was broken. The paper thin slices that the Laguna cut has a very smooth finish with only very slight tooth marks that are noticeable in the right light. The MiniMax produced tapered cuts with the middle of the cut being wider than the beginning and end of the cut and the tooth marks were quite visible. I would have to say the Laguna service and saw is better than MiniMax AFAIAC.

You can find an equal amount of complaints about both companies. I ultimately went with the saw that produced the smoothest cuts when resawing. For me Laguna has delivered on schedules and performance while MiniMax seems disorganized and unprepared.

[stoutman]

When referring to the quality of the cut and "tooth marks", how do you know you are not just comparing the quality of the bandsaw blades and not the quality of the machines? Is it possible that the Minimax machine would produce a better cut if it was using the Laguna blade?

A real comparison of cut quality (IMHO) would have both machines using the same blade.

[Leon]

Good Point and, I questioned the possible difference in blades, the Laguna Resaw King vs. the Lennox carbide blade on the MiniMax. The MiniMax sales rep actually said that the blades should not have made the difference. I believe that both blades are top notch with maybe the edge going to the Laguna. The big difference was that the Laguna produced paper thin cuts that were consistent in thickness. The MiniMax produced cuts that were tapered on both ends and thick in the middle. That was either a blade tension problem, a fence that was not set up for drift for that blade, or perhaps a guide problem. That problem would have probably showed up if the Laguna Resaw King had been mounted on the MiniMax. It seems to me that the MiniMax should have been set up better if that was possible. And then there was the stunt at the show where the MiniMax salesmen thought it was more important to grab the guide bar and yank the saw to tip it than to concentrate on cut results. That could not have been good for the saw and perhaps the resaw results reflected that.

All things being equal, had both machines been set up so that they had equal quality cuts I'd have picked the Laguna's simply for fit and finish. The insides of the MiniMax look a lot like something that Harbor Freight would market. The wheel casting looked terrible and there was paint over spray on the black rubber tires. The Laguna looked as good as the Rikons.

[mac davis]

I was thinking about price when I read your post about the DVD... and imagining how bad the DVD would be if one came with my $300 ridgid 14"..lol You get what ya pay for.. Mac

[Leon]

You know, maybe not. I think that if the manufacturers produced a DVD for each machine that it would probably save them money from fewer phone calls for tech help. The DVD was produced by the Laguna employees and was quite simple. Once edited these DVD's could be reproduced for pennies. Their DVD was probably shot with a home camcorder setting on a tripod.