BandsawThis is a Laguna Tools LT16SEC 300+ pound bandsaw with dynamically balanced cast iron wheels, euro guides top and bottom, two dust ports in the lower cabinet, a foot brake and a 2.5 hp 220V TEFC motor.
Front and Back of the LT16SEC - note the BLUE 2.5 hp TEFC motor. Also not that the upper wheel tilt adjustment is a bolt with a handle on it and two lock nuts. Kind of funky for a machine of this caliber - but it works
Here's another "not what I expected" on a bandsaw in this price range. Again, it works well - but it's nylon not steel.
Now the blade guides. The bandsaw came with "euro guides". They work well and are easy to adjust.
Upper and lower euro guides. Note the stamped steel (rather than cast iron ) trunion and the bolt locking this side in place. Not real convenient getting the provided wrench on this bolt. There's a more convenient knob on the other side. While the upper euro blade guide is accessible and easy to adjust, the lower guides have limited fore/aft adjustment and are farther below the table than I'd prefer, leaving a longer gap of unsupported blade than with other types of guides.
Laguna Tools had a special show price when their ceramic guides first came out and I couldn't pass it up. The new guides put the "thrust bearing" between the upper and lower guides rather than an inch or so below them.
Because they're shorter than the original euro guides I picked up another half inch of resaw capacity - from 12 1/4" to almost 12 3/4"- handy.
I can vouch for the effectiveness of the upper blade guard. I had a blade break because of a bad weld. The intertia in the big upper wheel accordianed about four feet of blade inside the guide. Scared the bejeezus out of me and took a bit of doing to get the blade out. BUT I lost no blood or body parts and that's just fine with me.
The cast iron table on this puppy is HEAVY - but note that the miter slot is a sliding dovetail type rather than the US rectangular slot. My unit came with a twisted table that also had a sag next to the blade opening. Laguna had another table milled flat for me.
The unit looks a bit tipsy but in fact is rock solid, The mobility kit is a low profile, 2 fixed wheels in the back, wheel on a removable lever on the front, arrangement which makes moving the unit fairly easy
The LT16SEC is located next to a pocket door into the stain glass shop next door. If there's long stock to saw the unit is turned sideways, the outfeed can then extend into the next room.
To see an example of the joy of mini-log sawing click here.
Got a special board that would be nice to have two of? Why not resaw it?