Replies

1. 
   ChristopherL | Mar 10, 2009 08:16pm | #1

   Hey-

   I've had my Laguna for about a month now and I love it.  I bought it on sale and with free shipping.  It was more than I was planning to spend, but it seemed like a good deal and I read some good reviews.

   I'm a fairly novice turner -- most of my experience was on a friend's smaller Grizzly lathe -- and I generally turn between centers.  I'm planning to begin turning some bowls soon. 

   The first thing I noticed was that everything seemed slightly more refined than most of my other large stationary tools (Delta, Minimax, Bridgewood.)  The tolerances were dead-on and it is extremely quiet.  I've been turning 4" cherry for a batch of shaker tables and there was never a hesitation.  You can have it turn very slowly up to 1200 rpm on the low setting and changing the belt for the high setting is very easy.

   The manual is, of course, pretty useless but there is not much to know (the video on the Laguna site is very helpful.)  It was delivered very quickly and I managed to take the individual components down a flight of stairs with a hand truck and assemble it alone.  I would suggest that you have some help.  I used a building-the-pyramids-like-lever-system to get it upright -- but it was an all or nothing manuever that could have ended badly.

   I suspect you should get the opinion of someone with a bit more experience, but I've been very pleased with the decision to splurge a bit.  (Unlike my experience with the Minimax 16" bandsaw which cost a bundle extra and required quite a bit of tinkering.)

   Good luck