Replies

1. 
   chrisindiana | Feb 13, 2006 01:34am | #1

   I have the Mini Max MM20. They are very good saws & Mini Max has very good customer service. I use a Lenox 1" carbide blade for resawing.

   Chris 

2. 
   BigK | Feb 13, 2006 02:57pm | #2

   I have a MM16 with 14 1/2# resaw (previous edition). I use a 3/4 Lennox Promaster III (carbide-tipped) to resaw a lot of red oak, green cherry logs to sticker and dry, walnut, and wormy maple. The cuts need minimal clean up, a lot less than a few other buds work anyway. Louis at Itturra Design says that a 1" blade will break prematurely on that radius wheel. At $150 a piece I haven't pushed his advice on that one. The minimax is an excellent choice for a serious bandsaw. I have owned 1 other tiawanese version and used others, what a waste of good money. You know the old saying, you get what you pay for? In my experience I got a hell of a lot less the first time around. best of luck.

3. 
   fingerlessHack | Feb 15, 2006 05:02am | #3

   I bought a Laguna 18" bandsaw about 6 years ago, good saw. Long story short movers destroyed my Laguna.  I bought a MM16 in place of Laguna 18" about 9 months ago. I feel the MM16 edges out the Laguna. I feel that the MM16 cuts better than my previous Laguna 18". I also believe that the MM16's main column is stronger and more rigid than my previous Laguna 18" and Laguna's latest 16" and 18" saws. The thing that concerned me about Laguna's updated 16" and 18" bandsaws is that they increased the resaw capacity of each saw but I don't think the main column's design was changed or beefed up. Lets face it, if resaw capacity is increased than more stress will be placed on the main column during resaw. Be careful what the Laguna salesman will say about this issue. They will probably say this is internet trash talking; and if so, then ask them to disprove the statement with fact... specifications, garauntess.

   The negative about the MM16 is in order to tilt its table you need to release blade tension, this is not the case for the Laguna 16 or 18 to my last knowledge. Unless Laguna rededigned the dust collection on latest 16" and 18" compared with their 6 year ago 18" model, the MM16's dust collection is better than the Laguna 16" and 18" dust collection.

   Good luck

1. 
   douglas2cats | Feb 15, 2006 05:45am | #4

   x31dude - I've only had my MM16 since October. I've found I need to remove the lower blade guide when tilting the table but your comment "The negative about the MM16 is in order to tilt its table you need to release blade tension" has me puzzled as I haven't found this necessary. Is this just to clear the slot on the insert? I also pull out the insert for tilting so maybe that's why you're reducing tension? Just curious.If you build it he will come.

1. 
   fingerlessHack | Feb 16, 2006 03:55am | #6

   douglas2cats,

   Sorry, thanks for correcting me. What you have stated is true... the necessity of removing the stock insert is due to the fact that the blade would be damaged/bent if insert was not removed prior to tilting the table. Due to the fact that the table's tilt axis does not lie in the same plane of the blade-plane crossing thru the table insert slot. I do not recall needing to remove the lower blade guide. But it has been awhile since I have cut with my bandsaw and especially tilted cuts. I think I opted to release the tension because I was not aware of this fact; until I had already tilted table and locked it in place. So I released tension in order to free the insert, wedged against blade. Luckily I hadn't tilted the table much.

   This is not the case for the Laguna bandsaw's. But despite this I still think the MM16 is better value and overall a better machine than the Laguna. Would I say MM16 blows away the Laguna, no.

   Cheers

    

1. 
   douglas2cats | Feb 16, 2006 04:10am | #7

   OK - that makes sense. It would be a bear to get the insert out around the blade if you didn't remove it until after tilting unless you detensioned. I actually spoke to MM today as I've got a intermittent problem with the elec. switch, but asked them about the lower guide removal issue when tilting. It's not supposed to be necessary according to them, so I'm going to spend some time tweaking the lower guide and see if I can get it adjusted to not interfere with the chassis when you try to lower it. Overall I love the MM16. I think their weakest area by far is the manual and documentation (or lack of it) but the saw is great.If you build it he will come.

1. 
   fingerlessHack | Feb 17, 2006 04:02am | #8

   douglas2Cats,

   Did you have the lower guide ajusted where guide's height is maxed out? I seem to recall readjusting my lower guide, changed from the factory setting, by maxing out its height in order to minimize blade flexing. In other words, I minimized the distance between the upper guide and lower guide. Doing so brings the lower guide closer to bottom of the table. After I had made this lower guide height adjustment, I did not check to see if table tilting interfered with new position of lower guide. I assumed no such problem could happen but now you have me curious.... just got back from looking at my saw. I too have the same problem of tilted table bottoming out on lower guide. The solution is to lower the height of the lower guide by loosing the bolt which attaches the lower guide to the saw.

   Cheers

2. 
   douglas2cats | Feb 17, 2006 04:35am | #9

   For normal (flat) cutting I've got my guides close together like you do. And lowering the whole guide on the mounting bar is what you need to do for tilting the table. My problem isn't the actual lowering of the guide, but interference with the chassis when I try to lower it. I cant recall at the moment where it's hitting - either at the back of the post or bracket for the thrust bearing or the knob that tightens that post/bracket. So the guide WILL lower, but due to the interference it torques it slightly to the side and twists the guides out of alignment with the blade. My solution so far has just been to remove the whole lower guide when tilting. It doesn't seem to impact blade tracking or anything so I haven't been real concerned about it, but think it's time I get it addressed. I'm going to take a closer look this weekend. If it's hitting on the knob, I think I could probably fix it by just filing of a smidgen of the bolt length to allow an extra 1/8 or 1/4 turn of the knob so it's not turned into the path of the chassis when you try and lower it.

   If it's hitting at the post or bracket, I may have to put a little more effort into coming up with a solution. So far all the cutting I've done is with the Lenox Tri-Master so the thrust bearing is fairly far back. For a narrower blade it might not be back so far that the post or bracket would touch the chassis when lowered. If you build it he will come.

3. 
   douglas2cats | Feb 17, 2006 09:59pm | #10

   OK - I had today off and spent some time figuring where the problem is. Turns out it's the post for mounting the whole entire lower guide assembly to the slotted mounting bar. My bad memory had me thinking it was on the other side at the thrust bearing post, bracket, or knob. This post is welded to the mounting bar so there's no adjustment you can make to solve it. I did realize I CAN lower the guides down without removing them for table tilting but with a less than satisfactory side effect. The bar and guides dont stay parallel with the frame throughout it's travel. When lowered down, with the post able to clear the frame,the whole setup seems to be tilted and there's only about 1/32" or so clearance between the back of the post and the frame. The guide setup is drastically different with respect to the blade from what was need when at the height closest to the table. The guide position on the blade with respect to the gullets is maybe almost 3/8" too far back if you set them up in the lowest position then slide the guide all the way up. So any cuts requiring an occasional table tilt also require a complete lower guide re-setup when you try to lower the guide to clear the table. Am I wrong to expect that a saw of this price should allow you to keep the same plane w/ respect to the guide mounting when you slide it up or down? I dont recall my old 14" Jet BS having problems in this area. I may just keep removing the lower guide for table tilts unless I have to do a lot of cuts in that position or can find a solution. Definitely going to talk with MM and see what they say.If you build it he will come.

   
4. 
   fingerlessHack | Feb 18, 2006 02:14am | #11

   I will take a closer look at mine this weekend.

5. 
   fingerlessHack | Feb 20, 2006 10:19pm | #12

   Sorry for delay, I am recovering from food poisoning.

   I looked at my lower guide setup and do not have the same problem.

   It seems to me four things can possibly be wrong. One, slotted mounting bar is bent. Two, the post, which the slotted mounting bar gets bolted onto, is bent. Three, the same earlier mentioned post is to short.

   Four, is it possible a washer is missing from the post and bolt used to mount the slotted mounting bar? I would check it out for you but I am still trying to get back on my feet 100%. I suspect that maybe a washer is needed to give the slotted mounting bar some additional spacing to clear it from rubbing during vertical descents.

   Of these four scenarios, I think three is highly likely, due to a missing washer or washer placed in the wrong spot. I really hope the bolt mounting post is not bent for this would be tough to fix... machine would probably need to be exchanged by MiniMax. Bent slotted mounting bar easy enough to exchage.

   Are you sure your blade is perfectly vertical? This would explain the run out issue due to adjusting guides up and down.

   Good luck

6. 
   douglas2cats | Feb 21, 2006 02:56am | #13

   Sorry to hear about the food poisining. Had it once, and dont wish to ever have a repeat. It wasn't fun. Of your 4 scenarios1) Think I'd better put a straight-edge against the mounting bar and a square against the bar/post just to be sure. 2) I'd wondered about the ends of the spacer not being parallel and tried rotating it around  a few positions, but it didn't seem to either worsen or improve the problem, so I'm going to rule that one out. I didn't specifically look at it to check for square, but I did measure it with calipers and I think I would have noticed any obvious problem there.3) One of my first thoughts was that the spacer was too short, but it doesn't really account for the need to pull the bar towards you in order for the back post to clear the chassis and the non-parallel travel with respect to the chassis.4) I wondered about that too, but checked the manual pics. It's clearly Spacer, slotted mounting bar, washer on the outside, then nut - like mine.

   I wondered about the blade alignment too. That might account for some of the runout, but then realized it still doesn't answer the problem of hitting the frame unless you lean the mounting bar forward.

   I still haven't heard a reply back to my email from Minimax yet. It'll be interesting to see what they say. I DID however post the same issue on another WW forum. Several of the folks there did confirm the same problem and need to drastically reset the lower guides after adjusting up or down by any significant amount. I think I may have a fix figured out though. I ordered some strong rare-earth magnets that I'm going to mount in a 2nd wooden spacer block sized the same as the factory spacer. There's not really any good way to bolt a 2nd one on as it needs to sometimes be above the factory spacer and sometimes below. But I think a 2nd spacer would force the mounting bar to travel perfectly vertical. I'll let you know how it works out. If you build it he will come.

7. 
   douglas2cats | Feb 25, 2006 10:19pm | #14

   OK I guess I'm feeling pretty stooopid now. I finally figured out what was wrong with my lower guide problem. I'm not missing any parts but they were definitely not installed in the correct arrangement. I had the parts in the same arrangement it came in when delivered and it never occured to me that it needed to be changed. From the infeed side of the table, the attaching scheme should be - Bolt, Small diam. washer, Slotted mounting bar, Large diam. washer, Spacer sleeve. Mine came delivered with both washers on the infeed side of the slotted mounting bar and I never thought to try rearranging it until this morning. I'm not sure why they'd pack it for shipping that way, but like the bolts for moving the brake pedal from it's shipping configuration there's no mention in the manual about needing to change it. I've looked at the manual since this issue came up, but the large diam. washer doesn't even appear in any of the pics and I can't seem to find it in any of the parts diagrams either. Otherwise I'd have probably figured this out long ago without posting this as a problem. The best pic in their online manual (http://www.minimax-usa.com/manuals/BANDSAWMANUALFINAL(1).pdf) is on page 11 and it doesn't show the washer behind the bar. The washer is quite a bit wider than the slotted mounting bar and would be real noticable. I just assumed they changed to a larger washer for the near side for some reason. I talked to MM yesterday afternoon and they suggested I just add another washer. That got me wondering a bit about the washer arrangement when I started looking at it again this morning. Anyway, the guides now move straight up and down (instead of drastically tilted), parallel with the saw frame, requiring very little (if any) guide re-setup between the extremes of travel.

    If you build it he will come.

8. 
   fingerlessHack | Feb 26, 2006 02:52am | #15

   I had my suspicion about your described problem and apparently did not communicate well enough, in my previous description of 4 possible problems, said cause of problem and remedy. If I understand you correctly the order in which washers are added to the assembly is critical.  I tried to allude to this potential problem with, "I think three is highly likely, due to a missing washer or washer placed in the wrong spot."  If this was indeed the problem and I communicated potential remedy poorly, I apologize.  I am not the brightest nor the most glib of tongue. However, I am quite glad you remedied the problem and restored my faith in MM16. I was starting to feel guilty recommending MM16, to others, over Laguna's competing models.

   I have had plenty of frustration (on going spread out over 5 or 6 years) calibrating equipment, one piece in particular which will remain nameless, and truly sympathize and empathize with your latest issue... once again happy to hear of your victory.

   Cheers

4. 
   nicobie | Feb 15, 2006 09:43pm | #5

   I think right now, you will get the most bang for your buck with the Mini-Max saw.