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Thread: Laguna 14" SUV or something else?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Location
    East San Francisco Bay CA.
    Posts
    206

    Laguna 14" SUV or something else?

    I was working with my old Jet 14" bandsaw today and had to change blades. Because of some back problems SWMBO is helping me in my shop. It's actually kind of nice. One substantial benefit was she experienced the joy that is the Jet 14" CB bandsaw. She actually told me to look for something better.

    So I want a nice general purpose bandsaw. Some minor resawing, some small blade scroll style work. One quick pass through our price range and I landed on the Laguna 14 SUV. Seems like it fits the bill nicely. What's the consensus on this saw? Is there a good alternative?

    Thanks folks - always much appreciated.

    JB

  2. #2
    I have the Laguna 14/12.

    Its ok but just ok. Runs a little rough even after upgrading the tires to the Carter blue.

    I am often left wanting for more HP. I ruined a 8/4 x 10" x 8' board of hard maple with nasty drift a month or two ago. The saw just does not have the power for such a task. Be it 90% of the time one does nt need a 4-5hp saw when one does and if one can only have one saw they are going to wish they had it.

    Get the MM16 or 30 if you can afford it. I could had afforded it if i had just waited anothe rcouple mmths. Wish i had!



    Quote Originally Posted by Joe Beaulieu View Post
    I was working with my old Jet 14" bandsaw today and had to change blades. Because of some back problems SWMBO is helping me in my shop. It's actually kind of nice. One substantial benefit was she experienced the joy that is the Jet 14" CB bandsaw. She actually told me to look for something better.

    So I want a nice general purpose bandsaw. Some minor resawing, some small blade scroll style work. One quick pass through our price range and I landed on the Laguna 14 SUV. Seems like it fits the bill nicely. What's the consensus on this saw? Is there a good alternative?

    Thanks folks - always much appreciated.

    JB

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Toronto, Canada
    Posts
    85
    I have a 14" SUV. I like it very much and if I had to re-build my shop, I'd buy it again in a heartbeat. It required minimal setup and tuning - so little I hardly even remember doing it and it was only 2-3 years ago. The 3 horse power motor has never left me feeling that I needed any more and it will handle pretty major resawing with the right blade. I have never put a small blade on it though. Mine is generally used for rough ripping, router pattern making, resawing and preparing blanks for my lathe. I pretty much put a good 1/2"-3TPI hook tooth blade on it and have never used anything else. I've resawn up to 12" with that, but 3TPI requires a slower feed because of sawdust in the gullets. The ceramic blade guides inflict a minimum blade size on you. If you want to run really small blades, you have to change them out. I THINK that applies to blades less than 1/4". The Laguna guide blocks for small blades seem quite overpriced to me.

    The 14/12 and the 14SUV are such different animals that I'm quite surprised the price gap is so small. The blade tension mechanism on the 14SUV and its wheels are seriously heavy duty and the motor is 3HP. If you're looking at the 14SUV I don't think it's really all that valuable to even think about the 14/12. I've seen a 14/12 in a showroom and it looks very nice if you're stuck with 120V or its at the limit of your budget, but I would say that the 14SUV is in a class closer to the Hammer and Minimax saws than it is to typical 14" imports.

    If I had the space, I would have kept my old 14" bandsaw and dedicated it to light duty like small blades and pattern cutting, but I liked my old one for that kind of work. I upgraded because the tensioner on my old one failed and while I did manage to repair it, it was clear that it was destined to fail again the same way and it really wasn't up to the kind of resawing and heavy ripping I was putting it through.

    I blogged a full review that you can find by searching "makingsplinters laguna" on google (I would provide a direct link but I am not sure the forum rules allow it). The only thing I'd add to my review now is that I stopped using the brake on the saw after I broke a blade with it once. I'm not sure if it broke because I was making a habit of stopping the saw with the brake or what, but the wheels are seriously heavy on this machine and I would imagine that stopping the saw regularly with the brake is very stressful on the blade. Haven't broken a blade since I stopped using it.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    mid-coast Maine and deep space
    Posts
    2,656
    I've been happily using my Laguna SUV for about 3 years with no complaints. 98% of the time I am running a Laguna 3/4" Resaw King - their carbide blade. Have re-sawn - maple, doug fir and cherry and others, with the 1" within the capacity of the saw to good effect but find that for general purposes the 3/4" blade is more versatile. Mostly using it for ripping lumber and rough shaping. A more serious resaw need "could" require a bigger saw but for my purposes the SUV has been wonderful. It can easily tension up smaller blades, though as has been mentioned, you might need to have additional blade guides for a small blade. Definitely need to connect dust collection to it.
    Last edited by Sam Murdoch; 02-07-2016 at 8:50 AM.
    "... for when we become in heart completely poor, we at once are the treasurers & disbursers of enormous riches."
    WQJudge

  5. #5
    I have an older LT14, and couldn't be happier. Unless you are regularly doing some serious resawing, or need to resaw more than 14" boards, I can't imagine how you could need more power or size. I've been using a Laguna Resaw King (a very nice carbide tipped blade), but have had the best results with the Woodslicer blades. I've also mounted a 1/8" blade on it for scroll-type work.

    If I had to start from scratch and buy all new tools, I'd replace just about everything except that saw.

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