Bandsaw Comparison: Minimax vs Laguna

by Ron Weaver

I spent over a month researching 16" to 18" bandsaws as an upgrade to my Delta 14". The chief reason for the upgrade is resaw capacity. I considered a riser block but would also have to change to a larger motor. I needed something that would resaw 12" thick exotics, both thick and thin "veneer" with as little waste as possible. My business is building high end custom stereo and home theater loudspeakers.

Every time in the past that I have compromised on tools, I have been disappointed. I looked at the Jet and Grizzly 18's but after comparing them to the Italian saws, they come across as exactly what they are - less expensive knockoffs. The frontrunners were Agazzani, MiniMax and Laguna/Bridgewood. The Agazzani is quite a bit more expensive and has a smaller thickness capacity for a given width/wheel diameter. That narrowed my choices to the MiniMax and Laguna. (The Bridgewood and Felder saws are virtually the same, except: Bridgewood has replaced the Italian motor with a US motor due to overheating problems, and Felder uses their German motor for the same reason). I talked to the sales people at Laguna and MiniMax several times. Both claimed to have "the best saw on the market, hands down". I got both of their videotapes and was somewhat more impressed with the Laguna demo, done by their President Toben Helshoj. The MiniMax video is done by Mark Duginske. However, some of the claims by MiniMax- heavier whe els, cast iron upper guide holder, and cooler running motor made sense to me. (I am a retired Mechanical Design Engineer. I finally decided to wait a couple of weeks and go to the Sacramento, CA Woodworking show, where both manufacturers would have their machines for me to look at, touch, and try.

I took a 12" wide 4 foot long piece of 4/4 Bubinga so I could see how both saws did. I spent about an hour in total with each Laguna (Torben) and the MiniMax rep (Dain Kirkpatrick) walking back and forth between booths - fortunately they were on the same aisle. After the initial impression that the Laguna paint job and general finish was a little nicer than the MiniMax, I began to see the real differences. The bottom line: the MiniMax is a better machine by quite a bit. It weighs 60 lbs more, the wheels are significantly heavier (more inertia, smoother running). The column has thicker steel with more sections, so the part of the saw that withstands the considerable blade tension is significantly stiffer. The upper blade guide (a heavy steel rod on both saws) is housed and guided by a large cast iron assembly on the MiniMax versus a rather light steel bracket on the Laguna. The blade guide locking screw bears on the shaft through a large key/gib on the MiniMax, but the Laguna uses a plain bolt not (even gro und on the end) bearing directly on the guide shaft. When I pointed this easily correctable situation to Torben, he said "If you buy our saw, you can grind it down yourself". The Minimax top and bottom covers open separately with interlock switches on both to prevent inadvertent powering of the machine, the Laguna's covers are joined together with a thin metal strip, requiring both top and bottom covers to swing as one. Perhaps the most dramatic contrast in operation was the footbrake, which when activated on both shuts the motor off and stops the wheels. The MiniMax stopped the wheels in what seemed to be less than one revolution of the wheel with less than finger (or single toe) pressure. The Laguna brake required an estimated 20 lbs pressure and took about 5 times as long to stop. It was an amazing difference. There were several more items that I thought were notable on the MiniMax - the cast iron fence was rigid and easily adjustable for blade drift (the Laguna fence bar was nicer and the aluminum fence/c ast iron bracket moved more smoothly and had a high/low position). The MM dust chute took most of the dust out before it dropped onto the lower wheel. The Laguna's was at the bottom rear, allowing all of the dust to drop right onto the wheel-tire/blade interface (their wheel brush was stiffer/more effective though!) Upper blade guide adjustment for parallelism is critical to maintain guide to blade clearance as the guide is raised or lowered for thick or thin stock. The MM is adjusted from the outside with four screws, the Laguna requires what appears to be difficult access from inside the wheel housing.

The Bubinga? I had MiniMax run it first. I expected to see a little concern as I handed the board to Dain, but no tweaking, no high fence (the standard fence is about 4" high). He grabbed the board, set the fence to take off my requested 1/8" slice, and turned on the saw. It sliced through the board quickly with not the slightest hitch. Next to Laguna, I handed the board to Torben. He looked at it and said "What's this?" I told him that I would like him to take a 1/8" slice off of it. He seemed a little reluctant (possibly my imagination) and set the fence and started the cut. Going about half the MM speed, the motor bogged down after the first few inches. Torben stopped and said something about the belt slipping and went around to the motor side. While he was checking the motor, he asked me to continue the cut. I couldn't see what he was doing, but found out later from my buddy who was watching him that he was feeling the motor to see how hot it was. He played around with the belt tension for several minu tes (to let the motor cool?) and then finished the cut, again going fairly slowly. The slice was somewhat uneven in places, but OK generally-not surprising for the stops and starts.

BTW, I kept the ceramic Laguna blade guides out of the equation/decision. The Laguna 16HD is easily $200 more that the MM16, so even if I decided that Laguna guides were an improvement over the standard Euroguides on the MM, I could purchase them separately. I am still not sure if they are an improvement, and have heard pro and con from users. The MM offers slightly more resaw capacity, and is heavier, sturdier, for less money. It was an easy choice.

So, why is Laguna the largest selling bandsaw? Simple. Advertising, advertising, advertising. Both sales people were polite and friendly but I must say, Laguna was less than truthful when they made direct comparisons of their saw to MiniMax's. I had to correct them several times as they tried to persuade me why their saw was better. MM rep refused to disparage Laguna, saying check the message boards. See what others say. I did end up calling a customer (prior to the show) who had bought a Laguna and six months later traded it in for a Minimax. His comments were confirmed by my experience at the show and later as an owner/user.