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So here's the lodown. I bought a new Laguna 1412 bandsaw maybe a year ago and have used it lightly. Most of what I was doing was making circular cuts in wood up to about an inch but then tried my hand at resawing. My first attempts were dismal and I quickly learned a few important lessons. One of the first things I learned was my saw, equipped with the factory wheels, is easily tipped. It hasn't fallen over but it could easily happen if you're not aware. The second thing I learned is that the ceramic guides can dull a blade very quickly if you haven't set the blade correctly, both situations are the operators fault of course. So I took a hard look at every piece of literature and video I could find on setting up the saw properly and found two distinctly different approaches. The data wasn't saw specific so there is that but the biggest difference was the method of mounting and positioning the blade itself. One camp is adamant about the blade being centered on the tire while another has the gullet of the blade being centered. There is a big difference especially depending on the size of the blade. The 1412 can use a 3/4" blade but just barely in my opinion. I finally opted on using 1/2" resawing blades. My 1st gut kicking lesson was wetting the blade and then the ceramic guides which personally I find a bit difficult, especially the set below the table. My table is not a smooth operation to tilt like they show in the videos. I took pictures and sent emails and calls to try to see what the problem was. They were sending me warranty parts but the first attempt went to someone in California while I was waiting in Virginia. It took me 3 -4 months to finally get the parts, trunnions and slide blocks, from Laguna to try to repair this problem. By then I had shoulder replacement surgery so I haven't tried installing those parts yet. But in order to adjust the lower ceramic guides the table needs to tilt, at least for me. And I quickly learned that a bad adjustment is the same as taking a perfectly good blade and throwing it away. I can't speak for the bearing type guides but ceramic will destroy the teeth in a very short order if the blade teeth are hitting the ceramics. I reread and re-adjusted so the gullet of the blade is where the ceramics are positioned, away from the teeth. But it's also important to check after any blade positioning is made as this affects both the location on the tires as well as their position with the guides. After these hard learned lessons and destroying a 3/4" Timberwolf resaw blade I got disgusted with myself and went looking for alternative guides for this bandsaw when I found Carter Products and these. I did get the ceramics to work with some difficulty but have to wonder if the Carter guides wouldn't be a better alternative. Will they be easier on the blades should the adjustment get off or not be properly set? From the videos I've seen they appear to be easier to adjust but then again those doing the adjustments are experts, maybe the ceramics are just as easy. Point being I am planning on going to The Woodworking Show in Chantilly on the 23rd in Northern Virginia (Chantilly, Va) and will have chance to see these in person and ask them questions. Hopefully they will be familiar with the Laguna and can offer honest advice. From all I've heard they appear to be a good company to deal with and come highly recommended. What I can say is that Timberwolf was contacted when I discovered that one of the teeth on my 3/4" resaw blade was missing and it didn't appear to have been "broken" on site. It was actually clean and straight. I was told regardless they would send a replacement even after I had told them it may well have been my fault and true to his word it showed up on my doorstep about a week later. Shortly after I installed the blade and checked for runout, found none, and attempted to resaw a piece of treated 2x6 scrap I had laying around. I checked my tensioning, blade positioning both on the tires and guides, set the high side of the stock fence, set my thickness of cut, and proceed. It wasn't a bad cut but seemed a bit slow. I had two chucks of 16/4 poplar about 30" long and 6" tall that had been given to me by my local mill. These were scraps they had laying around and had no use for. I tried making a thin 1/4" cut and it too was fairly slow. So I switched blades to a 1/2" Wood Slicer blade I had gotten from Highland Woodworking after watching a side by side comparison and was impressed. It was easily twice as fast at the same cut. In all fairness I didn't try my Wolverine 1/2" resaw blade so it may well have performed better as well. So the bottom line, I really like the Laguna 1412 although I'll probably change the mobile base out for something more stable. I need to find a better way to move the saw as they say the worst way to move it is by pulling the table which may take it out of square with the blade. And then there's the question of the guides. Should I replace those with the almost $300 Carter guides or find a better way to adjust the ceramics guides. Will the bearing guides do the same damage as the ceramic if you mess up? I'm way to green to know this but I'm interested in your thoughts. Thanks for listening. -Steve
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Need some help from the folks. A couple years ago I purchased an Enco 199-9001 14" band saw for $40. It needed cleaned up and a trunion. Called Enco got the trunon and this thing worked pretty good. Now the upper guide block ( pot metal ) broke. Called Enco, the model and all parts are discontinued. Went to Lowes, looked at the Porter Cable one they carry, looked close enough to swith the complete assembly and I would be back in business. Looked up all the parts, made a list and called the local Dewalt repair center, talked to a nice guy on the phone, gave him the list and most of the parts were back ordered. They have been back ordered for a while and he noted this may mean they are discontinued also. So I am back to looking for a upper guide block or upper assembly again. This saw is not the best, but works good and gets a fair amount of use. ANy help, ideas or information is greatly appreciated. Thanks guys
