"cdo" wrote in message
...


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.

Exactly. I believe both saws to be over built anyway. Both saws come with
motors producing more than 4.5hp and 4 years ago 2hp was plenty.
As for the stronger set up for the guide bar on the MiniMax I wonder what
advantage it "really" has over the Laguna because it is bolted up to the
same upper cabinet that the Laguna bar is mounted to. Basically both are
mounted to probably the same strength upper cabinet. That is the part that
will flex first. I never saw the 5mm thick steel on the MiniMax , in fact
nothing close to 1/4" thick. Regardless, if the guide bar has anything to
do with cut quality the MiniMax came in second to the Laguna.


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 pondered the replaceable tire also and have decided that this is a non
issue. MiniMax indicated to me in Austin that their tire should last about
7 years in a production shop setting when using 1/2" and smaller blades.
Perhaps never with larger blades and not used all day long.
Something else to consider concerning the tire that do not glue down. It
was mentioned in another post that if the wheel spins too fast a tire could
expand and lift if the spee was too great. They were mentioning a blade
speed of some where in the 2200 fpm range. I read on the Laguna forum that
the 16HD blade speed is around 4800 fpm IIRC. Seems to me the tire will
maintain shape better if it is glued down.



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