Ping Leon.

[stoutman]

Check this out:

the section regarding the Laguna. Apparently they are not known for great customer service.

also:

[stoutman]

Leon,

You might also enjoy this if you have not read it:

[Leon]

I saw that. While I am not sold on either saw yet, that review was quite biased. He points out several differences but none of them mean better, just different, IMHO. All of the Laguna's come with Baldor motors now. This may be an old review.

[robo hippy]

I have the Laguna 16HD, and have been happy with it. I don't think much of the fence, but it does work. I was having problems with the saw not cutting as well (fast) as I thought it should. It would bog down easily. I found out that it was just the belt tension on the motor, which was easily fixed. I can't imagion it having trouble with a 4 quarter piece of bubinga, whether cutting the 1 inch way, or the 12 inch way. I have cut osage orange, black locust, honey locust, myrtle, big leaf maple, and others. Having the proper blade helps. I cut mostly green wood for bowl turning, but also do some resawing for the furniture I make. I haven't had the opportunity to work with the MM, but it is probably a good saw also. Laguna did tell me that they had changed shipping companies because they were having damage problems. Mine arrived with minor damage. It was just bolted to a pallet. The saw was tied off around the throat, and this, with the bumps and swaying of the truck totally ripped off one of the boards that it was bolted to, and half way ripped off the other. The cardboard cover keeps some dings away, but they need a surround crate, and not just a pallet. robo hippy

[Leon]

Thank you sir. For 2 weeks I had the latest model of the Rikon 18" band saw. I returned it as it was not up to what I expected. I will have to say however that the band saw was completely housed inside a 5/8" thick plywood crate that along with the shrink wrap inside would keep the saw dry had it been left out in the rain. I often suspect the packaging as much as the shipping company. Concerning you belt tension I wonder if the link belts would help. Does your model have the Baldor motor? And while I am on this 20 questions roll, Is you fence the aluminum one that is 5+ inches tall? What specifically are you not impress with concerning the fence? I know the MniMax has a shorter cast iron fence. What do you think of the ceramic guides, providing you have a newer 16HD saw.

Thank you again.

>

[nailshooter41]

Leon:

I sincerely hope you let us know what you wind up with as it seems like you are doing all the right research. Sometimes we have time to shop/look/research, and sometimes we don't.

It would nice to have your comments on the saw you keep in the archives, for those of us that will going down this road... say... about 8 - 9 months from now. ; )

Robert

[Leon]

I probably will make my comments on the process and performance of which ever I get. I did make some comments about the 18" Rikon that I owned for a couple of weeks. It is the primary reason that I am stepping up a few notches and hundreds of $'s more. The Rikon was an excellent saw for the price but not what I was looking for. No fault of the Rikon but I am totally unimpressed by roller bearing guides on the side of the blade. IMHO they make the blade get dirtier more quickly with that steam roller effect. ;~)

[robo hippy]

My saw does have the Baldor motor. It also has the 5 inch high aluminum fence. It has been hard for me to get it tightened to the bracket it is on so that it doesn't flex or move as I slide something along it. If I am resawing, I have a high fence that I made. It is clamped down on both sides.I use the aluminum fence for a general guide in cutting bowl blanks. With the carbide blade (a Lennox ) I can see that it will cut as well or better than my table saw. Being a former concrete man, I like things over built rather than under built, and it isn't over built. Also, you can't remove the fence without taking the blade off, or unbolting it. I haven't tried the link belt on the saw yet. I do have some links, but haven't had any slipping or vibration, or lack of power since I last tightened the belt. One modification I made is to the dust collection port. It is a 4 inch port, and has a metal cross hair type of bracket in it. I rip log sections for bowls with them standing on end. This produces long thread like shavings, which instantly colg up on the cross hairs. Laguna said that this was to prevent someone from sticking their hand inside the saw. Well I cut that out, and it works better. I think the next step is to remove the 4 inch port, and put on a 5 inch port. I have an 3 hp Oneida dust collector, and it doesn't pull out all of the dust. I think that having the port in a different place might help. It also could be that the openings in the saw may be too small to allow that much air to move through it. I have thought about removing the throat plate to see if that helps, or making another plate with more open space. The ceramic guides seem to work really well. I haven't had any previous experience with them. It is kind of freaky to see those orange sparks coming off into the saw dust, but like someone said in an earlier post, they (sparks) aren't hot. My other bandsaw is a Powermatic industrial

14 x 6 inch with a 1 hp motor, and cast iron frame. It has the roller guides. It is much noisier. Having a good blade can make all the difference in the world. I am fortunate to have a guy locally who will make up what ever I need. I just went to him, he asked me what I did on the saw, and he said that I needed these certain blades (no, I don't know tpi, set, thickness, or other details) and the blades he sold me work fine. He is also handy, because the PM uses a 96 inch blade where most 14 inch saws use a 93. I did loose one carbide blade because the lower thrust bearing slipped and wasn't supporting the blade. Add to that I wasn't always lowering the guide to height of the material. That cost about $175, but I won't make that mistake again. I do love the way that the carbide blade cuts, very smooth, with almost no saw marks. My blade man said to only use the carbide blade (can't be resharpened) for resawing and veneer making, and use a bimetal blade can be sharpened) for my turning blanks. robo hippy

[Enoch Root]

You're kidding, right? He's making my own decision much harder! :)

Before I was okay with just a "ultimate 14in." from Grizzly, but now I'm checking out those with cast iron body, cast iron fence, motor in base, cast trunnions and runners(?)...

er

[Leon]

Thank you !!!

Concerning not being able to remove the fence with out removing the blade, I noticed that also but assumed that you could lift the fence so that it was pointed up and down and slide it off of one end. Perhaps the rail mounts get in the way then. I was considering getting the Laguna Resaw King. It can be resharpened 5 to

10 times IIRC. Apparently it falls between high speed steel and carbide.

[Scorp]

Fence comes off just like that on my LT18? Deflection has not been a real problem as you don't need to put much force in that direction, but if I do force it it does flex a bit. Also my dust collection is not bad, there's usually only some small amounts settling in the corners. They could come up with another pickup below the table with some better shrouding as some dust does get pinched on the lower wheel. I have found it worse with green wood though.

AFAIK it is carbide? Wouldn't count on that many resharpenings however if only because it may not last that long ;) I have one but haven't tried it yet, been mostly resawing softer woods or rough cutting....maybe next year.

I have also slipped my drive belt, badly, smelly bad, but you try and cut a log into quarters freehand with a chainsaw and hand feed it, binds the blade pretty easily. :) Hope someone has a suggestion about the link belt or ?

-------------------- 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!

[robo hippy]

I tried to move the fence up, and it does rotate, but the housing for the blade tention meter is in the way by about 1/4 inch, or the bolt that holds the rail on is in the way. I swept up a bunch of the shavings from cutting bowl blanks while they are standing on end, and it reminded me of the 'Trouble With Tribles" episode of Star Trek. When I do cut dry wood, there is a lot less dust left inside the saw. robo hippy

[Leon]

You can lift the fence up and slide it off?

Deflection has not been a

Well so far I let the dust fall wher it will and I clean up afterwards.

According to Torben and his DVD video the ResawKing is not carbide. He says that it is a "softer" material so that it will not explode if you hit a hard knot or nail. His estimation is that it can be resharpened 5 to 10 times. I suspect that if it is a softer material it will have to/can be be resharpened more often and probably before the band wears out.

Well, belts stretch when they are used. I suspect that untill the belt gets broken in it may need to be retensioned a few times. I will have to mention that at the ww show later this month when I visit the Laguna booth.

Thank you Steve.

[Leon]

Wellllll it was worth a try. :~)

[Scorp]

Yes, robo's 16 must just be that >< much smaller than mine :)

Didn't know that.

Yes I had to retension the new belt a couple times, only reason it was burning was the stock feeding through at varying angles and binding it...still works though :) I suppose that's one plus for buying heavier duty equipment, you can beat on it without worry :) Besides, cutting up a few hundred bucks worth of maple is worth a new belt. I have to get a chainsaw mill though to avoid this.

Couple notes about the ceramic guides, some books recommend rounding the back of the blade, I did run a stone on the back of the blade, but didn't purposely round it as I figure more surface contact means less wear on the ceramic backing disc. The side guides are a bit finicky to set but seem to work well, when I've accidentaly left the DC off, they don't seem to be affected by particles coming around on the blade. I also made SURE the welds were well dressed as the ceramic can be damaged. If you get a blade made locally, maybe lightly dress with a stone behind the gullets just to make sure there are no high spots.

The Laguna website forums have lots of good information, and they don't censor the negative comments, which is good on them. There are a couple things I don't like about the saw, none of which are major.

-------------------- 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!

[robo hippy]

Softer than carbide blades? I wonder if it is what my bandsaw guy calls bi-metal. It is a lot harder than carbon steel, and can be resharpened. As for rounding the back of the blades, when I asked him, he looked horrified, and said no, not under any circumstances, it would void the guarentee. robo hippy

[Leon]

From what I understand , bi-metal is typically 2 metals. The regular metal for attaching to a machine, and a harder metal on the cutting tips. Commonly found on hack saw blades, jig saw blades, band saw blades ect. IIRC the Resaw King blade had something like C7 or something for the cutting tips. I'll have to take another look and see if I can better understand the pronunciation.

[Leon]

Ok here is the deal, taken from the Laguna site

This Resaw King bandsaw blade cuts so smoothly that it greatly reduces sanding time and saves material. We weld small pieces of tough C-8 steel onto high quality bands. Then with diamond grinders, we shape thin-kerf teeth. Innovated into the design of the Resaw king blade is small raised notch at "polishes" the wood and adds an anti-kickback feature to the performance. This patent-pending design innovation limits the cutting depth of the teeth and produces a smooth finish.