Laguna Platinum Mortiser:Initial Impressions and proof of life

[Peter Quinn]

Last night I took delivery of a Laguna Platinum Horizontal mortiser at long last. I had begun to think it was a practical joke developed by Laguna Marketing along the lines of "Lets offer this tool many want, see how many order it, then we'll have a big laugh and return their money"

It is in fact a real tool. I won't have time to put the machine into operation for several weeks but will post a review after making some holes with it. A few initial thoughts:

1) The base is too light in weight. I think the machine weighs in around 300#, I'd like to increase that to around 550#. It seems rigid but needs more mass down low. Of course I knew this, and in a conversation with my sales rep he was very forth coming regarding this aspect of the machine. My plan is to form up and pour a 3" thick rebar reinforced concrete pad which will bolt from below to the machines base plate. I may also fill the bottom 1/3 of the central column with concrete like a lolly column for added weight and possibly stiffen the connection between the column and base with 1/2" steel angle iron.

2) Fit and finish appear quite good, no rust present, the motor is prewired with a conveniently located switch, and the crate was built like a sherman tank, if they made tanks out of particle board and yellow pine. No damage in shipping.

3) The manual's language is barely readable, contains no assembly instructions at all, has some very good visual descriptions of three methods to plunge into stock and remove waste, and has some basic parts blow ups. On the bright side the machine arrives 95% assembled so putting the rest together shouldn't be too bad. You would think they might have written the manual themselves given the high quality of their videos and marketing literature. It is without exception the single poorest excuse for documentation I have received with any purchase I have made in my life.

4) All the moving parts appear solid, smooth and well machined. None of those burrs you find on some chinese imports, no gross over spray, no apparent slop.

5) The carbide mortising bits I ordered arrived as promised stuffed in the machines parts box, which saved me additional shipping. They are the correct rotation for the machine (guy I spoke to knew the machine's rotation) and they are beautiful glistening razors of considerable weight. They resemble 2 flute roughing mills I used to use on a Bridgeport with a bit different hook angle.

For those interested I'll post better pics and a review later. Pics below are proof of life!

[Alan Turner]

Peter,
I see that you have acquired the Laguna slot mortiser. Can you now post a review? We use a Griggio, from about 1980 or so, and it is a solid machine, but is the old style, with an x-y-z- table instead of an x-y-z head. The moving head has the advantage of permitting one to mortise a door stile without flexing the table. The Girggio is probably about 5K, which is too expensive for most. But the Laguna is quite affordable. Hence, the request for a review.

[Frank Drew]

Peter,

Can you post a pic with the shrink wrap removed?

I love slot mortising (vs. all the other methods). My CM had an in and out head and left/right table. I found having an air gun handy to blow out chips frequently was a big plus.

[J. Z. Guest]

Can you post a pic with the shrink wrap removed?

It looks like someone stretched a condom over it.