Is this Laguna BS a good deal?

[Darius Ferlas]

I have an opportunity to purchase an unused Laguna LT14 SE bandsaw (http://www.lagunatools.com/bandsaws/bandsaw-lt14se).
The owner wants about $800 (USD). Is this offer awesome, pretty good, nothing special?

Darius

[Dan Friedrichs]

I vote "awesome". I believe the new price is ~$1700? I picked up the same saw on CL awhile back, but I think I got a steal at $550. Mine was used, though, so if yours is new, I think it's a very good deal. I recall reading someplace else that someone sold a used one in CA for ~$900 a few months ago.

It's a very nice saw. All the reviews say it's the best 14" that you can buy. In this case, it's almost irrelevant that it's "only" 14", though, because it has so much resaw height (IIRC, it's like 14"+?), and that Baldor motor can't be bogged down with anything...

Make sure to get the little towing-wheel thing with it.

[Phil Thien]

Make sure to get the little towing-wheel thing with it.

Yeah, and when you transport it, lay it on its back (see other heartbreaking thread about saw falling off truck).

[Dan Friedrichs]

Darius -

So did you decide to buy it?

[Darius Ferlas]

Thanks for the answers.

I decided in so far as I am drooling over it and I even have most of the cash it takes to get the saw. I'm still waiting for an answer about the motor. My shop is a one car garage with 110v service only so that's what I am looking for. Getting a 220 would change the final price quite a bit, and I am not adventurous enough to try and do my own 220 line to the garage.

Laguna's site says both options are available but I'm unclear whether it's the same motor that I could rewire (easy), or two different motors.

For now I'll hit the hay with my fingers crossed that the motor is 110.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Eh, sorry - I don't think it can be converted to 110V easily. You have to replace the magnetic starter/overload - which is expensive (a few hundred dollars) if you want to run at 110V. It is absolutely NOT a matter of just rewiring the motor.

Buy it, keep it at 220V, and run a new 220V line to your garage for it. You don't have to go all out and put a subpanel in your garage, just pull a single wire from you main breaker box - no more difficult than installing a regular 120V outlet.

I'd still say "go for it" - it's a great saw, and you'll end up needing 220V service for something else at some point, anyways, so might as well do it now :)

[Peter Quinn]

Eh, sorry - I don't think it can be converted to 110V easily. You have to replace the magnetic starter/overload - which is expensive (a few hundred dollars) if you want to run at 110V. It is absolutely NOT a matter of just rewiring the motor.

Buy it, keep it at 220V, and run a new 220V line to your garage for it. You don't have to go all out and put a subpanel in your garage, just pull a single wire from you main breaker box - no more difficult than installing a regular 120V outlet.

I'd still say "go for it" - it's a great saw, and you'll end up needing 220V service for something else at some point, anyways, so might as well do it now :)

I'm thinking even if you can wire it 110V, if the motor can handle a 14" resaw, it is going to exceed the voltage of any 110V line presently in use, and you may be pulling a new wire to handle the amperage load anyway. Not a big deal to add a 220V line in the scope of things. I have pulled plenty into my shop, even found an electrician I knew that was willing to let me pull the wires and rough everything out per his specs and come back to inspect and make the panel connections and finalize the receptacle wiring. Saved me some money, not sure how many licensed guys would go for that.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Yeah, I just went and checked: The motor draws 12A at 220V, so even if you bought a new magnetic starter, you'd need a 30A 120V circuit (which you almost certainly don't already have available, so you'd need to pull a new wire, anyways), and I'd still be worried that it'd trip on start-up.

Pull the new 220V line - you won't regret it!

Also, I checked, and the saw has ~14" of resaw height, and ~13" throat.