Laguna CNC for small shops

[james mcgrew]

they have yet it will be the chinese version of the same 1325 and intelcarve (old 6090 reincarnated) that all other chines resell companies sell, remember the chinese do not compete with each other, they let us bash each other for the same junk,

[Gary Max]

From what I have seen that quality would never hold up in my shop. Right now I am working on upgrading DC controllers on lathes that came form over there. The stuff works--- just not for long.

[Mick A Martin]

Hi Gary,

There is a lot of information out there on CNC routers as you stated more and more people are getting into it. The Stinger II is a nice solid machine.

Mick

[Gary Max]

Mick , that may be part of the problem they are everywhere. There is so much information that someone out there has to be pulling my leg with their sales pitch.

[Jerome Stanek]

Yep. I can't even hold down a lot of mine with good ole duct tape. I gotta flycut the spoilboard and seal it as well as possible, and max out our 25 HP vacuum pump to get our little stuff to hold down at 900 inches per minute. Can't go slow and make money in the cabinet business now...

What are you using to seal your spoil board? doen't that stop the air flow and keep the parts from being held down. When I surface my board I leave it unsealed.

[Andy Birko]

So, I have no dog in this fight but, I'm trying to figure out what to make of this whole thing. I thought that Laguna was supposed to be a pretty reputable outfit - with the premium they charge for their stuff, they'd have to be. Looking on e-bay, you can find those exact machines without the Laguna logo for about 2 to $3k less that they're selling them for. So, there are a few conclusions that can be drawn, unfortunately they're somewhat mutually exclusive:

1) Laguna is now selling chinese junk.
2) The chinese junk is good enough now that Laguna is willing to put their name on it.

No real point to my post, just thinking out loud.

[james mcgrew]

i have no doubt laguna will do a better job with the specs and service than just purchasing straight from the chinese, there are a couple of chinese importers that do a good job of imprting them, finishing the paint jobs (in the early 2000's you could flip them over and find the chinese only pain what you see) making sure you have a licensed (not bootleg) copy of mach three. this would be a example of this. laguna is a good looking company, well tanned, yet with some 30 floor tools in my shop there is nothing they have that is better or captures my attention. on the issue of cnc well i am a fan of US renovation and reinvention of the manufacturing community. purchasing chinese to me is like giving money to an addict thinking that will eventually get him to stop stealing.

[Mike Heidrick]

I wonder how Laguna manages to maintain and service all these levels of CNC equipment they sell? They have a pretty wide range of machines. I am betting they are not touched much dtraight from the Chinese cargo container. Are all the cnc machines they sell Chinese? What does that Puma cost in another brand?

[Gary Max]

Mike anyone with the money can buy China machines and resell them. That does not mean that they would need to know anything about them or offer service. I call it a cross dock operation.

[Mike Heidrick]

Yep. And I am afraid if the buyer does not know anything about CNC machines they will be the ones stuck bearing that cross ftom a cross dock company. A bandsaw and even a shaper once setup really does not need a lot of "support" after initially getting all the parts and getting the machine tuned. A lot can affect the out come of a cut job on a cnc though and much that is not as easy as tuning a bandsaw. The electronics and computer settings adds a whole other level of "tuning" and both those intimidate many people.