On Fri, 12 Mar 2021 17:17:02 -0600, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 3/12/2021 4:28 PM, wrote:

Laguna finally came out with their new line of jointers. The higher
end 8" helical jointer looks nice but at $2750, I think it's out of my
range. Interestingly, all of the Laguna jointers are parallogram.
There are no more dovetail jointers in their lineup. They have 54
cutters, like Powermatic.

The lower end 8" jointer is very similar (1.5HP vs 1.75HP WOW!) but
only has 20 cutters and goes for $2000. 20 cutters, really? There is
a picture of the cutter head. It looks like a kid missing half its
teeth. https://lagunatools.com/classic/jointers/jx8-eco/ Click on
the plus sign on the safety cover.

It's very different than either the Jet or Powermatic so it's a tough
call.



Well the lower end jointer appears to have gone up to $2250 already.

So both jointers look pretty good but you are paying for the extra teeth
on the more costly one. And it seems the cutter heads may be from
different manufacturers. They are called different names. Money being
no object....

More teeth and larger motor (3HP vs. 1.75HP). I'd rather not run
another 220 line but perhaps wouldn't need it because the chances of
it running full-tilt for any time is zero. I have one 20A line run
for the DC and another for all of the tools (TS, BS, and lathe). I
*really* don't want to run 10-2 across the basement.

The Laguna is a parallelogram jointer, where the others have dovetail
ways. I don't know how significant that is, really, but I understand
that adjusting tables on a dovetail machine is one RPITA.

I would like to see a video showing the importance or
advantage/disadvantage of the extendable infeed roller. It seems that
the end of the board would drop down in the void between the roller and
the infeed table if the board crowned up in the middle. And having said
that why no outfeed roller.

And I am seeing the more expensive one with 3 HP. vs 1.75. I did not
see a 1.5 version.

I must have been thinking about the 6".

Given the length of the tables, I was surprised to see that they are
relatively light weight. 300 lb unpacked. Is the Jet that light too?
My Jet jointer/planer comes in at about 500lb IIRC. 600lb packed.

500lbs packed. 380lbs net. The Jet has cheaper boxes (450#/380#). Then
Powermatic is almost 500lbs shipped, and a little over 400lbs net.

And the last thing to consider, the warranty.

Jet may be 5 times longer. 5 years.

I don't know anything about Jet customer service but Laguna's
reputation isn't great. I've only contacted them a couple of times
but was reasonably satisfied. As you may remember, the light mount
(part of the lathe) was tapped wrong. After *finally* getting the
right number, they sent out a replacement part, no charge (I'd have
been ****ed otherwise). Small problem. They sent the flange for the
15/24 and I have the 18/36. When called again, they sent the right
casting and I had it in a couple of days.