I am looking at upgrading my old (30 yrs+) Delta table saw. Anyone have experience with the Laguna saws (F2 or F3)? I love my Laguna bandsaw which is leading me to liking their table saws? Appreciate any recommendations that are not SawStop for a solid home shop saw. (Can’t afford!) Thanks for the help. I am new here and didn’t see much searching the forum.
Michael
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Met a guy recently who had not too long ago purchased a Laguna F2; says he loves it. He mentioned he’d received some discouragement from a few people, generally saying their customer service is poor. He said he’d had one interaction with their customer service people thus far, and it was excellent.
His primary positives about the saw were (1) relatively less noisy, compared to his old saw (I dunno what that was), (2) solid as all get-out, and (3) just plain superb dust collection. No problems/issues with initial set-up, he said. Only problems were the wait (which was a fair one, I guess), and a shipping/delivery problem which was not the fault of Laguna.
I recently purchased a new saw myself—got the PowerMatic PM1000 for my small garage shop. Very, very pleased with it so far. Also on my short list, FWIW, was the Laguna F2. Had I been able to put hands on one prior to purchase, I might well have gone that route.
BTW, which bandsaw did you get?
Thanks for the info. I have the BX14-10 and its a great machine. Really well put together. I got the recommendation from a guy who makes guitars and uses it for re-sawing and loves it. I am still mastering the set-up but it cuts nicely.
The other issue I have to decide is the hp-whether to go to 3 and incur the cost to run a 220 line. I am certainly a week-end woodworker although I find myself building more (COVID?) recently. This will be the last saw I buy for sure so maybe get all the bells and whistles? My interaction with the distributor (BIS) was fine so no issues. There is still a wait for these machines-shipping mid february but that is OK for me. Thanks again.
One thing I've learned is to buy things once if you have the means. I'm just now upgrading to a 3hp table saw from a 1.75. But at the time it was all I could afford.
The other thing is, if there is a manufacturer accessory you want, buy it with the tool. All manufacturers change models all the time, and an accessory you put off until later on might no longer be available. I've been looking for a bed extension for a lathe that's only about a dozen years old, and can't find it anywhere. If you want it, buy it all at once.
Stuff might cost more now. But the cost of buying now and then upgrading later is always more expensive.
Strongly recommend the 3 h.p. Motor if you rip a lot of 8/4 hardwoods on the other hand if you build mostly with 4/4 stock and sheet goods the 1½ h.p. Will get the job done especially if you use thin kerf blades.
Not 8/4 but I inherited about 300bf of 6/4 maple and my current saw is laboring badly.
Thanks to all for the input!
Make sure you use a sharp dedicated rip blade not a combination blade it makes a big difference.
I wrestled with the decision to try to stretch finances to the 3 hp machine, but decided, based on overall input, to save a bit of $ and get a really good saw I could run on 110. (I should note that the saw wasn’t the only purchase I was looking at, so I had to be judicious with the checkbook.) If I could’ve, without having to agonize over it, I’d have certainly gotten the more powerful saw, and had an electrician do the 110–>>220 thing. I’m using thin-kerf blades, and will certainly have a dedicated rip blade for the bigger rip jobs, too. Anyhow...I’m now married to the PM1000, and I’m gonna make the best of it.
The one tool I’ve not gotten yet—and that I want—is a bandsaw. Which is why I was curious about your purchase of a Laguna. My impression is that the one you got is a pretty sweet machine for a reasonable price. Hope that’s true.
Quite pleased with my Laguna 18bx but I hear many good things about the 14/12 which is a more affordable saw with similar capabilities. I have never had any problems with Laguna customer service, but the best thing is I haven't really needed them except once to replace the lower hinges on the 18bx which arrived damaged but due to my father's declining health the saw had sat in the crate for about 3 months as I traveled frequently back home and just never set it up. They still replaced them no questions asked.
The 14/12 is the model I’d be most likely to go for, I think. Have heard good things about it, and it’s got the features I would want/need, as best I can tell. Band saw purchase is on hold for the moment, however, while I give time for the bank account to recover from recent events.
I was very impressed with the fit and finish of the bandsaw. I don't use it to its full potential yet (had it for about a year) but the guitar maker I know swears by it for its re-saw ability. It's really well put together, and the brake is a really nice feature. Overall I am very pleased with it.
I love the fact that a guitar maker is pleased with it. Hard to imagine someone who’d be making greater demands of a band saw.
LOL! Will be running this by my CFO...
Chief Female Obstacle?
“[Deleted]”
I bought an f2 new about 2.5 years ago that I ended up selling. Both cast iron extension wings warped over time and had to be replaced, though lagunas customer service was pretty good about it. I thought the dust collection was terrible. There was a 1.5 or 2 in tube coming off the shroud that connected to the 4” port on the side of the cabinet which was a poor design. Also the cabinet wasn’t entirely sealed so there was suction loss from air being pulled through gaps in the cabinet. Every so often I would have to take apart the side of the cabinet and vacuum out (10-20) gallons of dust that accumulated. This was with a good dust collector, too. I am not sure if they fixed some of the dust collection problems with the recent design changes and addition of over blade dust collection now coming standard on the saws. I think there are better saws out there.
I've had a Fusion 3 now for about a month, love it. Granted I live in Norway so there are some differences from the US model.
Dust Collection: So far seems to be good. Its hooked up to a JET1100VX and seems collect the majority. I did build an overhead arm for the collection on the blade guard as the hose that came with seemed to pull slightly on the splitter. As I have been remodeling the shop I have mainly been running plywood through - I did check the cabinet and there is very little in there (from the times I forgot to turn on the extractor.)
I'll check the cabinet when I get back home to see if there is alot of dust/debris in there.
Fence: I had some concerns about the "Euro Style" Fence, but when ripping down sheetgoods it is awfully nice to extend the fence back to give more support. The fence glides nicely across the table.
Power: Plenty.
Blade change: Very nice and easy.
Splitter/Riving Knife change: Very nice and easy.
Table top: I did need to adjust the wings, and there is still a hairline gap you can feel with your nail, but its in the 0.001in range of so - doesn't affect the working of the saw. My table is flat enough, I did find a 0.01mm (0.004in) gap when using a straight edge - but hey I am working with wood.
Adjustments: I did some minor tweaking to the table to align to blade, but these were minor and of course adjusting the fence.
General: the integrated wheel base is nice, it does allow moving the saw but one might consider a dedicated wheel base that easily allows rotating the saw. As this is my first "large" table saw I can't really compare to others. The reason I ended up with the Fusion 3 is that in Europe there are few large saws available, the ones that are are usually the large panel saws that take up a lot of space and cost 2x the price of the Laguna. I have a 1 car garage and the saw fits in nicely.
FWIW I have decided to with the F2 but will re-wire for 220. Biggest deciding factor was the cost. I'll still need to upgrade some other accessories and this will leave enough $$ left to do so. Ill update with my first impressions when it finally gets here. Thanks to all who chimed in.
Best of luck with it all—hope it goes well, and I look forward to hearing more about it!
Perry
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