Bandsaw, Minimax , Laguna, Grizzly

[Shiraz Balolia]

The Grizzly bandsaws are made in Taiwan, not China.

[Chris Fournier]

I have a Laguna 18"er and my friend has a Minimax 16"er. I've got two other MM machines. I'd suggest that the MM is the one I would buy if I needed another saw.

[Rick Fisher]

If I where to buy an Asian built saw I would buy a Grizzly, simply because they offer such good customer service.

I like Italian tools. I prefer used Euro to new Asian, but its not because you won't get it done with a Grizzly .. You can buy a 5hp or 7.5hp Grizzly 24" Bandsaw for the same money as an MM-16. Both will resaw your 12" boards until your arms fall off from fatigue.

PS ... I would take the MM-16... but not because the other tools won't do the job. Its just my preference ..

[Jim Andrew]

MM is probably the most expensive bandsaw you talked about, and it is very good. I have a 10 year old mm16, and anticipated using it much more than I do. The thing is still in new condition. If money is tight, you can probably get by with a less expensive bandsaw. The secret is buying quality blades. I get mine from the local saw shop, but they order them in instead of making them up. You hardly notice the weld going through the guides. Of course, if you are really going to resaw 12" thick boards, you need a heavy bandsaw, capable of tensioning your blade tight enough to not give when going through 12" of wood.

[mreza Salav]

If I had to buy now I'd buy a Minimax, second choice will be a Laguna.

[Roger Dolan]

I think Grizzly is a great value. I have a Grizzly 15" spiral head planer and 8" spiral head jointer. They work great but there was a lot of aligning and setting up to do and I did have to get a thing or to replaced. They do have great customer service but having to use customer service for a new tool is a pain in itself.

I really think I am going to go ahead and get the Lamborghini right now and let my wife get the groceries in the minivan.

Erik with SCM got back with me yesterday. The mm16 is $200 cheaper than the laguna 16hd and comes with the mobility kit, 2 blades and free freight right now. For what your getting that sounds like a good deal.

[Mike Wilkins]

I have had a Laguna LT18 since 2001 and it is a real beast of a machine. Powerful motor and 12" resaw height. I upgraded to the ceramic guides later, as they were not available at that time.
I got my machine at a time when lots of folks were complaining about their service, but it has not been a concern for me. I had an issue with one of the ceramic blocks coming out of the holder. One call to the Laguna service hot line got me a direct call from a company rep with the solution; within a couple of hours. And a follow-up call to see if I was OK with the fix. This is not the type of service that comes from a second rate company.
Would I buy from them again? Already did, with a sliding tablesaw purchase.
Top notch machinery with a top notch company backing them up. Once you go Italian, you will never go back.

[Thomas Hotchkin]

If at some point you should decide that you no longer like woodworking the Minimax 16 holds its price much better then the others. My MM16 is the go to tool in my shop over all the other saws. Tom

[Roger Dolan]

I just ordered the minimax 16 today.
Now the question is should I get a Resaw King to go on it and if so what width?

[Bruce Page]

Congrats. I went with a 1" Lenox Tri-Master for my MM. Great blade, no regrets.

[mreza Salav]

Good decision, I don't think you'll regret it.
I have the resaw king and am somewhat surprised at how fast it has dulled. I have not resawn a lot (maybe 1000 lin. ft. at 3" or so).

[John Lanciani]

Congrats. I went with a 1" Lenox Tri-Master for my MM. Great blade, no regrets.

Another vote for the Lenox Trimaster. Having compared the resaw king to the trimaster (in my shop on my saw) there is no comparison on both cut quality and longevity. I have a 2/3 TPI 1" blade on my MM20 but if I had a MM16 I would go with a 3/4" band.

[Matthew Hills]

For my resaw blade with the MM16, I picked up the Lenox Woodmaster CT.
(note that you won't want to be using these wide carbide blades for general-purpose/curved cuts -- save them for when you are doing resawing and want the cut quality)

Matt

[Rich Riddle]

I just ordered the minimax 16 today.
Now the question is should I get a Resaw King to go on it and if so what width?

Congratulations, and order the Resaw King. At times, Laguna offers a buy one, get one half off sale. If you post in here, another member will likely want one as well and you can get your blades at 75% price.

[Joe Jensen]

With this class of machine for me service is a very important consideration. Google service feedback on SCMI (minimax) and Laguna to draw your own conclusions. I can say that I called SCMI to ask a question about how to disassemble a 1970's era 12" jointer. The tech on the phone wasn't sure but he said he knew one of the field service techs, Guido, would know and he would have Guido call me. Not 5 min later Guido called me and he didn't know but he knew another tech who did. Maybe 2 min later another field tech called and happily spent 20 min on the phone helping me. This was on a 40 year old machine and at no charge. This has not been my experience with Laguna