Thread: Upgrading my Bandsaw to a ???????

I to have been looking at bandsaws and yesterday arvo I called into Beyond Tools to see what they had. The one that impressed me the most was the Oltre 450 with a bloody good price of $1,400. I did a search today and discovered Oltre is made by the Burt Group of companies in China and when I opened up their catalogue I discovered that I already have some of their machines that I purchased from Carbatec. I put up a post enquiring if others have any knowledge of Oltre machines, I tired to copy the link here but is not working.

Rod

Originally Posted by rod1949

I to have been looking at bandsaws and yesterday arvo I called into Beyond Tools to see what they had. The one that impressed me the most was the Oltre 450 with a bloody good price of $1,400. I did a search today and discovered Oltre is made by the Burt Group of companies in China and when I opened up their catalogue I discovered that I already have some of their machines that I purchased from Carbatec. I put up a post enquiring if others have any knowledge of Oltre machines, I tired to copy the link here but is not working.

Rod

Well just a quick update for those of us in Perth,

I have recently been talking to Tony at Beyond Tools in Malaga and he recons they have completed the deal to bring in the Laguna range of bandsaws direct to Perth

Apparently its going to be 2-3 months before the first machines arrive but I am very keen to have a look at the Laguna range in the flesh and hopefully the Aussie dollar does not completely tank between then and now

by the way I am not affiliated with Beyond tools in any way just figured people might be interested in this development.

Steve

Originally Posted by stevepay

Well just a quick update for those of us in Perth,

I have recently been talking to Tony at Beyond Tools in Malaga and he recons they have completed the deal to bring in the Laguna range of bandsaws direct to Perth

Apparently its going to be 2-3 months before the first machines arrive but I am very keen to have a look at the Laguna range in the flesh and hopefully the Aussie dollar does not completely tank between then and now

by the way I am not affiliated with Beyond tools in any way just figured people might be interested in this development.

Steve

Well its been awhile and I thought I would update you guys on developments or in this case lack of development

They still do not have the Laguna bandsaws here in Perth except for a small 14/12 that they got around the time of the wood show.

and to be honest I don't think they will be here any time soon.

Back to the drawing board

Steve

Hi Steve
i too am in the market for a BS - see my thread Laguna v Hammer, because I have narrowed my search to those 2 machines. I have read with great interest the great comments and assistance provided by members in both those threads. From all my research, most machines have at least some parts made in Asia. Some are almost entirely made and assembled in Asia while others may have a large number of Asian parts but be assembled elsewhere. I think it's fair to say that there is both some very good and very poor quality stuff that comes out of Asia. However, there are a number of machinery manufacturers so it's a very competitive market. As the saying goes, an unhappy customer will scream loudly to 10 people about how crap something is whereas a happy customer will tell 2 or 3 people. Every company is going to have the occasional lemon slip through the quality control track. However, if they want to stay in the market and keep selling their goods, then things like quality control, access to spare parts, and serviceability really have to be top priorities. Every man and his dog seems to be selling BS's nowadays but there a certainly a few that seem to be head and shoulders above the rest of the field. Hammer has had an extremely good reputation for a very long time. As far as Laguna is concerned it's my understanding that indeed a number of parts are manufactured in Asia but not all from the same source ie X company makes the best motors, Y company the best wheels, Z company is best at another part. So they source from various places - at least that's what I have been led to believe. Their current BS range is certainly getting rave reviews and comments by users, at least for the most part. I was super impressed by the demo I saw.
however, they are clearly having problems keeping up with demand. I have been told that they are expecting more 14SUV's to arrive in December. The problem seems to be that virtually every time machines arrive, deposits have been taken prior to their arrival to secure a machine and they are almost out of stock as soon as the shipping containers are emptied.
as fare as the Laguna v Hammer argument is concerned I think it's a little bit like the Ford v Holden argument in V8 racing - some love Holden and vice versa.
To be fair, I think both machines appear to do exactly what their manufacturers say they do and to a very high standard. For me the key to getting the most out of whichever machine I end up getting is to make sure it's set up properly. Some might think I am a little 'anal' in that department as I will tweak and tweak until it's as perfect as I can get it. Make sure it's serviced/maintained and lastly use the best quality blade I can afford and one that's correct for the job you are doing. There is just no way possible you can accurately cut 1 or 2 mm veneers with blunt, crap or the wrong type of blade no matter how good your machine is.
i know the Laguna re saw king blade is getting big wraps but it's not cheap. A couple of members here have told me about some other quality blades that do an excellent job at a third of the Laguna price.
i guess I am a little fortunate in that a good friend of mine is buying a machine aswell ie we will be buying 2 machines so both Laguna and Hammer have been pretty good at throwing in a few extras and a discount. For me the biggest problem is waiting. Between now and Late December I am going to take the Hammer rep up on his offer to do a thorough demo for us and my mate and I will make our final decision. After that, I will be impatiently waiting for the arrival of my machine and I will finally be able to get to a number of projects that have been sitting on my 'drawing board' for way too long.
anyway, that's my very long winded 2 cents worth.
Dave.

Hammer is totally made in Europe as is Minimax. If you are looking at Hammer you would be short changing your choices if you did not include MM in your range of machines to look at.

I bought a Laguna SUV, and am very impressed.

Don't know the Hammer, or any of the other popular brands, so I won't comment on them.

What sold me on the Laguna SUV was that a such a compact machine has a 14 inch re-saw capacity. Because I bought it primarily to cut veneers, this was a big deal for me. It's also handy for resawing the occasional big lump of wood I acquire. Even cutting at full depth, the 3 HP motor and the TCT blade have no trouble, and the finish on the cut is very good requiring minimum sanding to clean up before veneering.

Here is the result of a couple of test cuts, cutting quite thin veneers.
0.4 mm veneer.jpg0.6 mm veneer.jpg

Hello Again,

Just so that we are clear I am not bagging the supplier here in Perth (Beyond tools),the guys have been great about giving me straight answers to my questions.

As mentioned earlier the demand for these machines (Laguna) is very high and the story at the moment is that by the time a shipment arrives (Brisbane) they are all already sold and therefore none get shipped to Perth.

Hence my dilemma ... I have decided that rather than wait any longer I will purchase from a supplier here in Perth that actually has a machine in stock and that can fully support my purchase.

There is a machine that I am looking at now that appears to be a Laguna clone (Harvey) not sure but the story I'm getting is that Harvey manufacture for Laguna and this is a re-badged version that is being sold under the Harvey brand.

I have seen it in the flesh and it looks good, so I might drop the cash on this and move on with life actually working with wood instead of analyzing machine specs.

Steve

Originally Posted by stevepay

Hello Again,

Just so that we are clear I am not bagging the supplier here in Perth (Beyond tools),the guys have been great about giving me straight answers to my questions.

As mentioned earlier the demand for these machines (Laguna) is very high and the story at the moment is that by the time a shipment arrives (Brisbane) they are all already sold and therefore none get shipped to Perth.

Hence my dilemma ... I have decided that rather than wait any longer I will purchase from a supplier here in Perth that actually has a machine in stock and that can fully support my purchase.

There is a machine that I am looking at now that appears to be a Laguna clone (Harvey) not sure but the story I'm getting is that Harvey manufacture for Laguna and this is a re-badged version that is being sold under the Harvey brand.

I have seen it in the flesh and it looks good, so I might drop the cash on this and move on with life actually working with wood instead of analyzing machine specs.

Steve

Another update,

After a long wait I have decided to take the plunge on an 18" Harvey bandsaw that I have purchased today from a local supplier here in Perth.

I have purchased machinery from this company before and more importantly they actually had a machine in stock that I could actually look at in person rather than just a picture.

Basically the machine is a clone of the Laguna with some minor differences, I cannot really compare this to a Laguna as I've never seen one in the flesh and probably never will however I will do a write up in the other section once it has arrived and I've done a bit of test on the machine and let everyone know what its like to use.

I know there are a few people online that have asked the question about Harvey and hopefully this will help.

Just a quick breakdown,

Harvey HW618E 18 Inch machine
380mm re-saw Height
350mm width of Cut
3Hp motor
$2,290 including GST
+ FREE DELIVERY TO MY DOOR

Also the guys at PTMS in Perth will assemble the machine and set it up for me including some test cuts to make sure all is ok before delivering the machine to me.

This is a very important consideration in a purchase for me that I know that if something is not right I can go down to the guys in Bayswater and discuss my issues in person.

As soon as its all delivered I will post a full report but first impressions its a solid built machine with good capacities and a reasonable price.

oh and its actually available...

Steve

If anyone is interested I have begun a review of the Harvey bandsaw I purchased under the review section.

Early days yet but initial thoughts.

Steve