On Sat, 01 Apr 2006 01:50:13 GMT, "Leon"
wrote:

Wellllllll Swingman, Nailshooter, Mrs. Nailshooter, my wife and I got
together today and did the WW show in Houston. It was very nice meeting
Nailshooter and Mrs. Nailshooter. :~)

I have been going back and forth between the Laguna 16HD and the MiniMax
MM16 band saws trying to decide which would be the better buy for me.

snip

I too made the same comparisons yesterday at the show, and came to
much the same conclusions. The Laguna's "shortcomings", as described
by the Minimax folks are just not that big a deal. I didn't see any
problem with the Laguna guide bar bar rigidity or strength, and brake
access on the Laguna (panned by the Minimax rep) was to me a non
issue.

One aspect of the Minimax that may be worth noting is the tires - they
mentioned that a "T" cross section is used that drops into a groove to
maintain alignment. They claim no need to glue the tires. Laguna
responded by claiming the Minimax tires are "plastic", while theirs
are rubber. If the "plastic " is polyurethane, it will probably
outlast rubber many times over (polyurethane is what's used for most
forklift and amusement ride wheels, specifically for long life in
terribly abusive conditions).

I'm not quite ready to commit yet to the purchase, but Laguna will
probably end up getting my business when the time comes.

Cliff