O.K. I am sure this has been asked before. But looking thru the archives I cannot find any disscussions on it.
I am going to buy a new bandsaw. Either the Minimax or the Laguna. I want to be able to resaw when needed. Which has not been alot in the past. I always borrow my friends. My question is what horsepower should I get. I know I am not going to get less then 2.5hp but wonder if I will not regret getting more. Laguna has their LT16HD for a good price and it has 4.5. But I could save $500 by going with the plane LT16.
What uses could I use it for to justify the differences? 12 inch resaw capacity is sufficient for me. And is there anyone out there that knows the differences between the Minimax and the Laguna. I know they are both good machines.
Thanks,
Replies
Plane,
I cannot give you a direct comparison between the MiniMax and Laguna. I can tell you that I attended a demonstration on the MiniMax 16 inch machine. I wasn't allowed to do any cutting myself. But from what I saw over an hour of "almost" hands-on experience, that machine can handle anything you could possibly put through it. It is rock solid and has all the power you need. I believe it is a 4 hp machine. Nothing, including good-sized mesquite logs was difficult for it. And it did large resawing as well as the tightest curves with a 1/8" blade you could ever want.
Rich
I bought the Steel City 18" with a 2 hp motor. I have not had any difficulty cutting through anything with a properly tracked, tensioned and sharp blade.
For many years, 14" bandsaws were sold with motors that were less than 1 hp. They have cut and resawed a lot of lumber. Before you get too carried away with hp ratings, compression ratios, spoilers and tail fins, consider a few interesting facts:
1. For many years, the standard 10" TS (e.g. Delta Unisaw, Powermatic 66) came with a 3 hp motor wired for single phase.
2. Because the kerf cut by a BS is much (and I mean much) narrower than that cut by a TS, the work (that is power over time) is much less. It is much harder for me to rip 2" of maple on my TS than it is to do it on my BS. Moreover, the driving inertia/angular momentum of the system (blade + wheels) is much higher than a TS.
So why would a BS need more power than a TS (which is typically 3 hp)?
In my mind the answer is that it seldom does. There are probably applications- log milling, heavy duty resawing of very hard exotic woods- where more power is a plus, but they are not common. But manufacturers do like to market big motors.
So I would say that while there are some WWrs that might need all that extra power, in my mind, there are other aspects of a BS that are more important than whether the motor is 2.5 hp or 4 hp.
Just my 2p,
Glaucon
If you don't think too good, then don't think too much...
Mr. G, not to steal a thread but as the opportunity is here, I have access to a 2 hp. Baldor and being an old submarine machinist mate, I know that my old sears contractor saw (1 1/2 hp) dosen't have the structure to live with the 2 hp motor. I then think, what about the 6 1/4 jointer or the 14" Ridgid 3/4 hp band saw? Would they benefit from more horsepower? What do you think? All the best , Paddy
Paddy,Can't say with any real confidence. So much goes into matching the motor to the application- torque/rpm/load conditions. It would seem that the TS would be the best candidate- is 1.5 to 2 hp that big a jump for the TS?Glaucon
If you don't think too good, then don't think too much...
Thanks for your input.
With the difference in savings you could buy a nice mortiser.
I've always thought that few users would need anything more than 3 hp for a BS. If 12" and 3 HP would suit you, you should also chek out aggazani at Eagle tools. The aggai BS is very rigid, and the 20" comes with a quick tilt table and takes a wide range of blades. Eagle tools frequently has them on sale. And eagle tools completely tunes up the saw before sending it.
"And is there anyone out there that knows the differences between the Minimax and the Laguna." Quite possibly the quality of customer service. It's worth some research.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Morning PC...
I will add to FG's comments as I went over both at the IWF show last fall in Atlanta. I had a deposit on a MM.. but withdrew with a then health issue that needed to be addressed before any purchase. I discovered the SC 18" a few weeks latter and ended up with it as it was what "I" needed and for less money.
Both the Laguna and MM are Italian saws. The MM is a bit more of a scaled down factory version of it's commercial (production oriented) big brothers where the Laguna IMO is scaled down but not quite as robust. Geared more for the consumer end of the market, IMO.
The wheels are thicker and heavier than the Laguna. The MM has a groove in the wheel that eliminates glue down of the tire. The tire on the MM sits flat as the Laguna is slightly crowned. The Laguna has ceramic bearing which throw off "cold sparks" (according to Laguna). I didn't put my finger under them to check for cold or hot. :>) The MM has the standard Euro tri bearings.
The MM is a heavier beast over-all with a very rigid back-bone. The Laguna is heavy also, but some weight appears to be taken from certain elements to keep the price down (just a guess here!). It is more than sufficient for the consumer market IMO.
Power, cut height and standard equipment are relatively equivalent on both machines and would make fine additions to a consumer shop along with Aggazani and the Bridgewood PBS series. BTW.. the Bridgewood PBS is basically the same machine as the Laguna 16 HD (same factory) with Euro bearings instead of ceramic. You can make your own decision on customer service from FG's comments as there is a volume to read here in the archives. I have no comment that has not been stated there!
BTW.. if you decided on the Laguna.. pay the extra $500 and get the Laguna HD 16". Without detail I will state that you would get more value with the SC 18" at around $1200 than the straight up Laguna 16". It won't fill it's big brothers (HD 16") shoes and IMO should be priced in a lower category. This is true of the MM lower model as both it and the lower scale Laguna come from different maufacturers than the top of the line models. I wouldn't personally pay that much just to have the name on the side. The MM 16" and Laguna HD 16" is a different story.
Regards...
SARGE.. jt
Edited 1/8/2007 12:07 pm ET by SARGEgrinder47
Edited 1/8/2007 12:09 pm ET by SARGEgrinder47
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