On 2/20/2018 9:20 AM, sawdustmaker wrote:
I'm thinking that I should've bought a "good ol Delta" bandsaw to start
with since I didn't have any experience with bandsaws before I bought the
Laguna. I've had several issues with it.
1. Guide bar pinon block and wheel assembly was badly manufactured and
ruined the top and bottom 3" of the guide bar rack teeth. Apparently an
inner c clip that held the pinon gear in place in the block assemply
wasn't inserted or inserted wrong causing the gear to wobble and strip
the rack teeth. After 'discussing' this with Laguna customer service and
sending them pictures they agreed to replace both parts. It took several
phone calls and emails with me saying that if I could have fixed the damn
thing myself I would've, but I couldn't get the pinon box open with out
destroying it in the process. (sigh). Anyway that's fixed and working
correctly now.

2. Guides seem not stay adjusted, in particular the lower ones. Low guide
block and post knobs are almost inaccesible for a normal persons hand.
I've cranked down on them but they always work loose.
2.a Ceramic blocks / holders arn't square to the blade. I've shimmed
the upper ones with several layers of paper which makes it barely
acceptable. I've given up on the lower ones because of the accessibility
issues. Seems like Laguna would've seen this problem early on and
corrected it. Or, maybe they know about it and don't care.

3. The tracking knob does not want to adjust easily, and when it does the
whole mechanism seems to fall apart internally until the knob is almost
tightened down completely. Yes the lock knob has been completely
loosened. Another manufacturing issue maybe?

Seems like for the big bucks this thing cost there wouldn't be these
issues, maybe I got a lemon.

Has anyone else seen this stuff with the 1412?
I'll go read the manual and "The Bandsaw Book" now.


Unfortunately all Laguna band saws are not created equally. The better
ones, including competing brands are manufactured in Italy.

That said, the problems you state above would lead me to believe that
this unit has an issue that probably is affecting everything. It could
have been dropped somewhere along the line.

FWIW I looked closely at Minimax when I was shopping 10 or so years ago.
The rep demo'ed, IIRC the 16MM band saw, I went to their home office
in Austin, Tx. at the time. The unit he showed me had no guides at all
and indicated that a good band saw does not really need guides 100% of
the time. Apparently they had to use the demo unit for for warranty
parts. With that being said, the ceramic guides will wear into place
over time. I understand that they can be run directly against the blade
but that can cause a lot of friction and sparking.

I paid about $1K for a Rikon as a first try at upgrading, back then, and
quickly learned that you have either to go OLD USED, like an old Delta,
or spend some money.

Yes you can get a band saw for a lot less than what I paid but I was
specifically looking for a saw that held its settings and did not have
to be tweaked on a regular basis.

I think I would see if they could exchange units with you.