Thread: Laguna or Harvey bandsaw?

Vovo, it is very likely that Harvey makes the Laguna bandsaw. I gather that they make the tablesaws for Laguna. Harvey is well-respected.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thanks Derek,

They do look very similar in photographs, including the foot brake with micro switch. I expect the basics to be identical or close to identical so I will look to see if any of the differences appeal me.

Cheers

I believe Harvey are made in China and the cheaper of Laguna's bandsaws are made in Taiwan , not sure if the top of the line Laguna's are now made there or not?

It looks like the Harvey is about 145kg and the Laguna is about 122kg,
For the money, or possibly about a third of the cost I'd be looking for a used 20" machine that weighs at least 200kg.

Second hand machines are usually half the price compared to new.
Go one step further again and half that mula if you look for 3 phase machines.
Look on the motor nameplate, and If you can see 220/240 volts, a "D" (delta) or triangle symbol, then you can run it from your domestic plug,

This means its got a "dual voltage motor" which can be ran easily with a hundred quid VFD/inverter using your house plug,and not needing getting a consumer unit installed in the workshop.
This is because its the starting current of induction motors which can be many times the amperage of the rating,
A VFD/inverter provides one with an easily adjustable soft start, so you can move up from 2hp max on household with a single phase motor,
to at least 3hp choosing a three phase dual voltage motor.


Simple to install and total cost after VFD, if you factor out time in making a metal box for it if you were inclined to is no more than 20 quid or half that if you are resourceful
Stick a decent blade on it and it will not need much, even if the guides were shot, a good blade will have enough beam tension not to need anything more
than a single thrust guide.
It will make for a quieter easier to use machine which won't eat up thrust guides.


I was looking for a 20 or 22" saw which has negligible, or very little difference in foot print to a smaller machine like 16", if you choose something along the lines of this grabbed piccy from the net (its long sold so don't bother lookin)
$_86.jpg


However,a size above that was more common , so ended up getting this 300kg saw for 500 euros
SAM_0939.jpg

So ended up with a size bigger than I wanted which is some folks rule anyway, its not so big now that I'm used to it and wouldn't want to go back
to having a small table.

Just what you needed was more options, right?

Tom

Originally Posted by Tom trees

Just what you needed was more options, right?

Tom

Seems the options in Ireland are better than they are in Brisbane, certainly no options obviously available even close to the gems you speak of. Also, I have a height limit of 1850mm.

Thanks

I have a 14” Rikon saw, the professional model. It has all the same features as these two saws you are looking at plus a much better system to adjust the ball bearing blade guides.It was bought for the job here on the river. It’s been phenomenal, has done all the resawing we have thrown at it, I highly rate it, I paid $1800 for it brand new and drove to Melbourne to pick it up.
I also have a 10 year old Hafco 20” saw, it’s an absolute beast, I paid $500 for it and it came with a dozen different tpi bands.
There’s nothing wrong with an older, well built machine, if all it needs is a clean up and a tune up, you’re really miles ahead, and have money in pocket for other stuff.

Edit: Have a look at “Sebastian76”’s listing in the marketplace section. Big, european made machine, in excellent condition, for $850.00, I’d bet a dollar that it would chew the pants off a Laguna.

I recently went thru this excercise with one of our members.

We have 2x Laguna14BX machines on the floor of our main workshop, which were a good choice for a shared workshop and this member wanted something which gave him roughly equivalent functionality. I recommended the Rikon 10-326 because of I prefer bearing guides to ceramics. I also prefer Euro style guides to the usual bearing setup we get from taiwan, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Rikon setup, that I have found. You need a bit of a delicate touch as it is finger set, whereas euro style guides are screw in/out, but they are good enough...As good or better than anything else with that style of guide.

Changing the blade on the rikon is easy and straight forward. The blade length is 100mm shorter than the Laguna, and I really quite like the little storage locker at the base of the Rikon.

He bought the Rikon and has been taking timber home to re-saw it into box kits with his standard blade set being a 10mm 4TPI carbon blade, a 12.7mm 3TPI lenox Bi-metal, and a (pair of) 19mm 1.3TPI Lenox Bi-metal (we resharpen these up to 6 times).

He has been going through very dry Casuarina (River Oak) re-sawing it into box kits for me. He loves the saw but has said it pretty well tapped out re-sawing Casuarina bigger than 200mm thick.

In my opinion it is a very good saw for home use, well worth considering

My own saw is a genuine 2HP, with Euro style rollers & 16" Cast Iron wheels which I bought for 2nd hand $150 (the old Hare and Forbes BP10A. Not much finesse about it, but it does the job)

IIRC, Harvey used to make the superseded LT14SUV for Laguna. The C14 Ambassador looks to be exactly the same minus the ceramic guides. Apparently Laguna changed manufacturers due to a disagreement regarding intellectual property, i.e. Harvey were making and selling their versions as well as re-branded versions with the very similar features. If the C14 is indeed a LT14SUV clone, and I'm about 99% sure that it is, I would choose the Laguna 14BX. When I was shopping around for a bandsaw, I compared the the 14SUV and 14BX very carefully and I was able to check both out in person when GregMach stocked both. The only pros the Harvey (i.e. LT14SUV) had over the 14BX was the 3hp motor (vs 2.5hp), extra inch or resaw capacity (14" vs 13"), wider maximum blade width (25mm vs 19mm) and the gas strut to support the table when tilting. To me the slight hp advantage, extra resaw capacity, and wider blade are negligible and I didn't think I would tilt the table that much. I was right about the tilting because I've yet to tilt my table in the 2 years I've had my bandsaw. IMHO, the 14BX won in every other category. The brakes was no comparison with the LT14SUV having a much cruder implementation. The 14BX used a disc brake system similar to a bike (calipers) and from memory the LT14SUV was more like a drum system. In practise the 14BX stopped significantly faster and with less effort. The raising and lowering of the upper guides on the 14BX is also a lot smoother. And I much prefer the location of the blade tensioning knob on the 14BX because I'm a short@r$e. Similarly, the quick release tensioning lever on the 14BX is also lower and more importantly, when in untensioned position, it is much more visible and there's likelihood of starting the saw with an untensioned blade. Lastly, if the fence that comes on the 14BX is the same as its big brother (18BX), then it's better than the one that appears to be supplied with the Harvey. The Harvey's fence is only 3" high which IMO is inadequate for resawing wide boards. In comparison, the fence on my 18BX (which I suspect is the same on the 14BX) is 185mm high and comes with a integrated flip stop which is very handy for stop cuts, e.g. cutting tenon cheeks. There doesn't appear to be such an option for the Harvey.

That's my 2 cents. YMMV.

" Similarly, the quick release tensioning lever on the 14BX is also lower and more importantly, when in untensioned position, it is much more visible and there's likelihood of starting the saw with an untensioned blade."

The Rikon I have has a microswitch on the tension lever, when you release blade tension, the saw will not start, same if you open the doors.

The more expensive saws don't have this?

Originally Posted by riverbuilder

The Rikon I have has a microswitch on the tension lever, when you release blade tension, the saw will not start, same if you open the doors.

The more expensive saws don't have this?

AFAIK, neither saws have a microswitch on the blade tension release or doors. The Laguna does have one on the foot-brake though as does the Harvey.

And I forgot to mention that the Laguna comes with a power point for electrical accessories, e.g. worklight, and I like that the switch panel is integrated to the main column instead of sticking out the back in the case of the Harvey. That's just begging to be damaged IMHO (I've dropped a 3m long 140x 45 spotted gum plank on my bandsaw before but thankfully there was no damage).

Fair enough I should have stated if you had height restriction or not Vovo.
Sorry if I came across condescending.

I still would look around if they are other brands or models, as there seems to be a few machines in that size range
that would be a bit stouter which could handle a decent blade better.

I guess Grizzly are not in Australia, but just for context it shows what a really heavy saw of that size (around 300kg) can produce
I'm not saying you need a 1" blade, but I would be looking for something that at least states that it can handle one, and take that manufacturers value with a pinch of salt and run 3/4" blades with sufficient tension, so you don't have to hear the thrust guides or indeed replace/clean them often.

I think this might be the heaviest machine of that size you can buy and probably about a hundred kg's heavier than what I am suggesting.
We all love a good look at photo's though.
The Incredible Woodmaster CT

I suppose Mini-max Centauro Italian machines might be the next one down
(there are two models of the same wheel sized machine, the newer generation have a resaw capability to match the wheel size and probably larger motors, heavier and more expensive)
A dealer might have one of the old style machines hanging around though.

You could have a look for Hammer machinery made in Austria for the N440, Derek Cohen has one so you can get a good look at that.
Hamer's parent company Felder follows the Italian machinery standard, for want of better words...
What I'm getting at is that extra 40 figure means a heavier duty frame size than a 400 mm wheel size machine from the likes of ACM, and the rest of the smaller Italian manufactures which share parts with the likes of Meber, Agazzani, Sagittario, Sicar, to name a few.

I would be looking for the heaviest machine you can get as said.
Even Aximinster's bandsaws in that size range are heavier @202kg) than those two that you have queried about, and guessing that those machines might be under a different paint scheme or label in Australia.

I would look to see if Itech are in different clothes and make something to suit also, if you can only find new.

Good luck again
Tom

Originally Posted by Tom trees

Fair enough I should have stated if you had height restriction or not Vovo.
Sorry if I came across condescending.

Good luck again
Tom

No you didn't come across as condescending. I certainly wasn't implying that in my response.

The Hammer that Derek has is quite a jump up in price, I believe it was much more competitively priced not so long ago.

As for the others mentioned, again not easy to find.

Seems the options for a hobby user here in Aus start getting serious with the HAFCO/Carbatec/Timbecon offerings then step up to the Rikon/Laguna/Harvey then onwards and upwards to Hammer and SCM.

Originally Posted by riverbuilder

I have a 14” Rikon saw, the professional model.

Edit: Have a look at “Sebastian76”’s listing in the marketplace section. Big, european made machine, in excellent condition, for $850.00, I’d bet a dollar that it would chew the pants off a Laguna.

I'll check out the Rikon, unfortunately, Sebastian's saw is in Victoria and I am in Brisbane, whilst doable, seems like a lot of effort and risk.

The Rikon is the same price or thereabouts as the Laguna and Harvey, I'll toss this in for consideration.

The Woodfast machines are an option too - same manufacturer as Rikon, same features. Shorter warranty though - 2 years instead of 5 with the Rikon. I just bought the Woodfast 18”... works great so far but I haven't used any other large ones like this before so I can't give a good point of comparison. I'm happy so far.