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Just got an education on bandsaws.
Spent the good part of an afternoon studying the Laguna 16HD and a
brand-new version of the Laguna LT20 that is a substantially beefed up
(made in Bulgaria) version of their Italian LT20. I couldn't compare it
directly with the Italian LT20, but construction differences between the
Bulgarian LT20 and the Italian HD16 were clear.
First, the table on the Bulgarian machine is near 50% thicker cast iron
than that on the HD16. Plus, it has a beefy, double cast iron trunnions,
compared to a much lighter single trunnion on the HD16.
Second, the bearings for the LT20 wheels are HUGE! I didn't measure, but
I'd say they were twice the size as on the HD16. Oh, and the wheels
seemed to be cast then machined. Very impressive looking. Turned on,
we got a penny to balance on the table for a moment. I didn't have a
nickel.
Third, the upper-wheel tension system is gigantic! Two monster steel
posts and lots of very thick cast iron. Again, easily double the mass of the
HD16, which itself is a double cast iron unit of considerable substance.
Here is a cool feature: the lower blade guides do not need to be adjusted
when you tilt (via a wheel) the table. To accomplish this little feat of
engineering they had to raise the table a couple of inches, and so the
resaw height is nipped from 20 to 16 inches, but it is very cool. The table
is also much easier to tilt to the right, a-la flipping down (not slowly
turning) bolt that otherwise sets the table at 90 degrees to the blade.
Finally, the Bulgarian beast is a full 350 kilograms (771 pounds) without
the MONSTER 6 hp Baldor motor sticking out the back! Folks, that
appears to be a tad heavier (when you count the motor) than the
heretofore weight champion MM20. In any event, it's nose to nose, weight
wise.
Only two items that I noticed (with the help of the salesman) were
indicative of its serial number, which was 0001. One is the dust shroud--
that gets in the way of freely turning the tri-spoked handle that tightens
the table at the front trunnion (The rear trunnion is tightened the same
way, with another tri-spoked handle, but there is no clearance issue). The
second is the blade guide column wants to drop when loosened. The
HD16, in contrast, stays where it's at when loosened, and waits for you to
move it up or down via the handle. These are trifles, however, on an
otherwise impressively designed and built machine. Torben is clearly
working hard in his little design room.
So, combine all this with the very cool Driftmaster fence, that worked just
as advertised and allows very consistent and minute adjustment of the
fence, and it seems to me that you have a very capable bandsaw.
There was only one problem that I could see with the Driftmaster fence
(aside from the fact that it wasn't aligned properly on the table and so it
tended to bind and get harder to slide as you moved it closer to the spine
of the saw). There is a little white, plastic screw that is used to adjust the
table-extension portion of the fence to be level with the table. That screw
pushes against, and slides along, the underside edge of the rim of the
table. Well, go look at the underside edge of any table... of course its just
rough cast with a paint job over it. It's not machined level, or smooth, and
so it's not a good, stable, surface against which this little screw can press
and slide. Further, it's plastic! On an over 800 pound monster? Obviously,
it should, and likely will be in later production runs, a steel screw with a
bearing on top that rolls along a machined underside edge of the table.
But, note this. That rough underside edge is easily thick enough to act as
a beefy surface for a good sized bearing. As I said earlier, this is one
thick, heavy, table.
So, as I was more than late to meet my wife at an after work party, I took
a quick peek at the new Jet 18X and the Steel City 18... They were
laughable. Thin, widely spoked wheels that clearly had but a fraction of
the mass of the Laguna wheels. Paper-thin, by comparison, tables with
hardly more than nubs as underside ribbing. Puny trunnions. And here is
the real kicker. The tension systems were laughably wimpy in comparison
with the Lagunas. Thin sheet metal stampings. Toy-like springs. There is
simply no way those saws could come even close to the tension that
could be applied to a blade by the Lagunas. Reminded me of the old
phrase "Made in Japan" when that meant the stuff was junk. Otherwise,
for you younger folks, the difference was akin to a F350 and a Hyundai.
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