Help With Large Bandsaw Selection

[Pat Scott]

Steve did you buy the B20/20? I'm like you in that I'm tired of looking and comparing and I'm ready to buy. I have narrowed my choice to the Agazzani B18/18 or B20/20. Jesse will knock $100 off the price of the 20/20 for me, so now it's only $100 more than the 18/18. Seems like a no-brainer to get the 20/20. Jesse told me the difference between the two is not just 2" more inches of resaw height and 2" more inches of throat, but he said the 20/20 has a much beefier blade tension assembly (twice the size is how he put it), a little bit bigger trunnion (3/8" in size), 75 lbs of extra mass in the body and wheels, plus the 20/20 has two drive belts instead of 1 belt on the 18/18. I doubt I will ever need or use 18" of resaw let alone 20", but for the extra $100 (or even $200 normal price difference), the small difference in price seems worth it to get a beefed up saw.

If you got the 20/20, do you run it off a 30 amp circuit? How do you like the saw? How do you like the new Euro guides? Foot brake work OK?

[Steve Dietrich]

Steve did you buy the B20/20? I'm like you in that I'm tired of looking and comparing and I'm ready to buy. I have narrowed my choice to the Agazzani B18/18 or B20/20. Jesse will knock $100 off the price of the 20/20 for me, so now it's only $100 more than the 18/18. Seems like a no-brainer to get the 20/20. Jesse told me the difference between the two is not just 2" more inches of resaw height and 2" more inches of throat, but he said the 20/20 has a much beefier blade tension assembly (twice the size is how he put it), a little bit bigger trunnion (3/8" in size), 75 lbs of extra mass in the body and wheels, plus the 20/20 has two drive belts instead of 1 belt on the 18/18. I doubt I will ever need or use 18" of resaw let alone 20", but for the extra $100 (or even $200 normal price difference), the small difference in price seems worth it to get a beefed up saw.

If you got the 20/20, do you run it off a 30 amp circuit? How do you like the saw? How do you like the new Euro guides? Foot brake work OK?

Pat - I bought the B20/20 and love it. With your deal, I would spend the extra $100 and get the B20/20. I love the saw. I also like my cousin's 18" Laguna, but it is not nearly the saw as the B20/20.

I run it off a 220 volt 30 amp circuit but believe it would be fine on lower amperage. See if Jesse will instal the cord and plug for you.

The Euro guides are a dream. I just use my fingers and eyes to make the adjustments - I have a dollar bill magnetted to the saw, but never feel that it is needed and I'm getting fantastic cuts this way. I also like the ceramic guides on my cousin's Laguna and his guides allow a clearer site line to the point of the cut, but I don't have a problem with the Agazzani.

In spite of this saw's greatness, I will point out a few things that could use some tweaking or that you should be aware of.

The foot brake works superbly to stop the saw - a marvelous safety feature and real time saver. Without it, the wheels are so massive that the blade seems to continue turning forever. However, after using the brake, I find that I have to then lift the brake pedal with the top of my foot to reset the switch - line the spring is too weak - I've done this enough times that it is built into my muscle memory and I don't give it a second thought. Also, if you do not have good dust collection, it is possible for dust to settle between the foot brake switch and its connection inside the saw so that you have to open the bottom door to blow the dust off the switch - this hasn't happened to me since shortly after I bought the saw and modified my dust collection ductwork.

My guide post is not perfectly perpendicular from front to back, so as I slide the guide up and down, the gap between the blade and guide changes - but, the post is adjustable though I haven't messed with it and the guides are so easy to adjust that I find it to be no big deal. I generally keep the guides set to just clear the top of the fence so I'm not moving them up and down very much. Jesse offered to coach me through adjusting the guide post, but suggested I try it like it is.

At Jesse's recommendation, I'm using a Lenox Woodmaster blade and am very pleased with it. On a resaw of any width, I find that the cut is so clean that a few passes (2 to 4 generally) of a smoothing plane removes the saw marks. As a bonus, this blade also does a nice job ripping thinner stock (say ripping a 3/4" board) which is counter to what most of the writings say about blades. Except for some final precision cuts, I am doing almost all of my ripping on the bandsaw and it rips through any 8/4 hardwood effortlessly - almost as fast as I can feed the wood.

The saw is extremely heavy - two strong men needed a hoist to safely lift my saw from its horizontal position in the crate to the upright position. But the saw is so massive that it doesn't budge when I rip long and heavy stock on it.

The fence also has some slop until I push the tightening lever, so it takes a little getting used to to get the fence aligned and secured the correct distance from the blade, but again, I believe this is adjustable and doesn't bug me enough to mess with it. I am impressed with my cousin's Laguna micro adjustable fence (I forget what it is called) and I will probably add one to my Agazzani in the future (I know I keep pointing out some features that may be nicer on the Laguna, but I have no regrets).

The tensioning wheel was also fairly hard to turn until I had the saw broken in -- I had to dampen my hands or wear grippy gloves to keep the wheel from slipping in my hands. Now it turns just fine - but still not with the ease of my cousin's Laguna. I suppose if I lubed it with some white grease it would turn much easier. But, again, this has been no big deal.

Could my saw use some tweaking to be perfect - yep and it is all stuff that I could probably take care of myself if I were so inclined but it is also stuff that doesn't annoy me enough to invest the time and make the effort to do the tweaks. Would I buy this saw again -- without hesitation. And, I can't rave enough about how wonderful it has been working with Jessee; as noted in other posts about Laguna I could not get Laguna to respond to me, but Jesse was extremely responsive and helpful - going the extra mile to try some things with a saw in his store to help answer some of my questions. Everything was just as Jesse promised, including the shipping and delivery. The custom crating was phenomenal. I'm sure this saw will last me the rest of my lifetime which is too short to waste waiting on Laguna.

Enjoy your purchase.

[ian maybury]

The big deal i found when i bought a lightly used Agazzani (a UK spec equivalent to the B-24) was the way all the pernickedtyness that was normal with its predecessor just disappeared. You just set it up as looks right and cut - and it does it. No wandering, vibration, anything. Even the fence which appears at first sight to be basic is rock solid and easy to adjust to get to a setting.....

ian

[Steve Dietrich]

The big deal i found when i bought a lightly used Agazzani (a UK spec equivalent to the B-24) was the way all the pernickedtyness that was normal with its predecessor just disappeared. You just set it up as looks right and cut - and it does it. No wandering, vibration, anything. Even the fence which appears at first sight to be basic is rock solid and easy to adjust to get to a setting.....

ian

I agree with Ian. I only meant to point out a few items that I found less than perfect with the machine so a buyer won't be surprised - and all of these can be resolved, I'm sure, with minimal effort or expense or easily tolerated as is as I do with the sheer joy I experience every time I use it. But yes, it is rock solid, extremely quiet, absolutely no vibration, the fence locks down rock solid with absolutely no deflection and I find it easy enough to adjust for my needs (and it can rapidly be switched between a high fence and about a half inch tall fence if you want), the guides are a dream to use, and I could fill up another page singing its praises.