Laguna 1412 Adjustments

[Al Weber]

I let a neighbor's friend borrow my Laguna 1412 last weekend and he apparently had a blade or band catch on a piece and it bent the band and drove the top wheel up nearly into the top of the cabinet. I got the old band off but then wasn't able to load a new one because of the lack of clearance between the wheel and the cabinet. I loosened the two bolts that hold the top wheel and the tension adjustment mechanism and pulled the wheel down and now have the clearance to install the new band. I assumed that the way to reset the clearance of the wheel and the tension adjustment was to install a band with the two bolts loosened and the tension off and then to engage the tension arm, add some tension with the tension wheel and then to tighten the two bolts behind the upper wheel. When I do that and then release the tension arm, the band is still under tension and even using the wheel to take tension off the band doesn't work. Obviously there is some connection between the upper wheel position and the tension adjustment system but I'm unable to understand how to get these adjusted properly. I have a call into Laguna tech support but haven't heard from them yet. Can someone on the forum enlighten me?

[Doug Hepler]

Al,
My 1412 has six carriage bolts (two rows of three) holding the top wheel mount/tension adjustment assembly, so I don't understand your reference to two bolts. The mounting holes are elliptical, so the assembly can be slid up or down a bit. When the tensioner is released, there is about 3/4" between the top of the top wheel and the circular cutout at the top front of the case. Is it possible that your replacement band is not 115"? Is it possible that the tension wheel is cranked up too far?

I hope that Laguna was able to help you

Doug

[Barry McFadden]

AHHHHHHH.... the joy's of lending tools!!.... (hope you get it sorted out)

[Raymond Seward]

I let a neighbor's friend borrow my Laguna 1412 last weekend

3 Things you Don't Ask to Borrow

1. Tools
2. Pick-Up
3. Wife
Not necessarily in that order .....

[Bill Dufour]

Is this a bandsaw or a sander?

[Al Weber]

I did get this sorted out without the help of Laguna despite a discussion with their technical service group. That may have been my problem with describing the issue however so I'm not blaming them. There are two horizontal through bolts that hold the two U-shaped channels together and loosening those allowed me to drop the top wheel into place. I then retightened the two bolts and then couldn't get the upper wheel in tension with the new blade. After a lot of trial and error I realized those two bolts allow some movement of the top wheel so that the tensioning functions properly. So a slight loosening of the bolts allows everything to work together. Once I sorted this out, the new blade was installed, the band adjusted to put it in the center of the wheel, tensioned properly and drift of the new blade tested. It was exactly where it was with the old blade so I'm back to where I want to be.

I normally don't loan equipment but this neighbor helped me through a major health crisis a few months ago so I felt I couldn't refuse the request. Lesson learned (again).