internetwoodworking.com Tool Review: The Laguna Tools LT16 Band Saw Saw Provided by Laguna Tools     I first learned about this band saw when a representative of the Meber Tool Company of Italy, the makers of the saw, contacted me. They basically offered me a saw in exchange for some advertising space and promotional considerations. Obviously, I was quite interested, but after months of back and forth emails, it appeared the logistics of obtaining the saw from another country was just too much of a hassle. It wouldn't be long before I realized how dumb it was to turn down their kind offer.   While attending the 2001 Woodworking Show in Indianapolis in January - just a few months after giving up on the Meber offer - I happened to see what appeared to be the same saw, only in a different color. There was no mistaking the design though, and upon close inspection, there was the Meber logo on the small nameplate on the back! But on the front in big, bold letters was Laguna Tools 16. After talking with the Laguna show rep, it was confirmed that Meber manufactures a line of saws for Laguna to distribute in North America.   I spent about a half an hour looking over every detail of the saw, and watched a demonstration of it in action. I have to tell you that I was sick to my stomach when it really hit me what I had given up with Meber just a few months before (I thought of nothing else but this saw on the drive home from the show!) So I finally made a call to the Laguna Tools' marketing guru, with whom I had dealt before when I ran some ad banners for them, and proposed basically what Meber had originally offered me. It took some negotiations, but Laguna eventually agreed and sent the saw you see here.   I want to point out right at the start that even though the saw was provided to me for promotional considerations, I pushed for the deal because I felt so strongly that this is a very special piece of equipment. What you read here in this review are my honest, objective impressions of the saw and my comments are not affected by the fact that the saw was given to me.   Lastly, I have a lot of pictures of various parts of the saw, so to keep the load times to a minimum, I've broken the review down into four separate pages. Be sure to click your way through them all to get the whole story on this fantastic saw!           Robert J. Brown 9/1/01 It's here!! And is it ever big!!   This is not a lightweight woodworking equipment pretender. The saw stands right at 72" (six feet) and is about 29" wide and 20" deep. And being constructed of solid steel plate - not flimsy panel material - the saw weighs in at 320 pounds!   Big saw, bit capacity!   The saw comes fully assembled except for the fence and power cord. It had a modest coating of oil on the unpainted surfaces to prevent rust and was easy to wipe down with a soft cloth and some mineral spirits. I have received some stationary power tools that were coated with a huge slurry of nasty, waxy type material that had to be scraped off, so it was a pleasure to clean this saw up.   You can see from this view that the saw provides an ample 12" cutting height, making it ideal for resawing! The 16" throat (15 ½" actual cutting width) also allows cutting of large pieces of sheet stock or even a 31" diameter table! You might not think that an extra 2" of cutting width is a big deal but remember that most 14" band saws have only a 7" cutting height. If you plan on doing a lot of resawing work, this band saw is it!   The motor and electrics.   The saw comes with a 1.5 hp, 220-volt motor that requires no maintenance. You'll have to add your own cable and connector plug to the saw (the wiring terminal is in the small black box near the motor and the box has its own strain relief compression fitting built in) but it's a 5-minute job hooking it up. The motor draws only 9 amps so you can use 12 or even 14 gauge cable.   I hadn't wired this saw when the picture was taken but the cord I eventually put on is only long enough to just about touch the base. I use a big extension cord with twist-lock connectors for the saw and for my jointer, both of which I wheel around my shop on mobile bases. Regardless of the length cord you choose to install, I recommend using type SO or SJ, 3-conductor cable. It's a very flexible, stranded cable with a tough, oil resistant sheathing that will stand up to the rigors of an active shop.   Solid, one-piece, cast iron table.   The table is 34 ½" from the floor and 19 ½" wide by 15 ¾" deep. The table also has tilting adjustment capability and a machined ¾" miter slot that will accept the miter gauge from almost any table saw. An L-bracket runs along the front of the table that the adjustable fence rides along. More on the fence and the table tilt coming... (Oh, that's Woody, Shop Dog Deluxe, lurking in the background to the right.)   One small complaint I do have is the table's surface; the machining is pretty rough as you can see in the image below. I realize the saw would cost much more if the table were surface ground, but it could be a little finer cut. For a bandsaw though, it's really not a big issue so I can live with it. Next Page...

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