The Laguna Driftmaster Thread

[Julie Moriarty]

For anyone interested, I'll be posting my experiences with installing and using the Driftmaster fence. Anyone else who has one, feel free to add your input.

I won't go through the entire installation. Al Navas did a pretty good job already. (LINK) (http://sandal-woodsblog.com/2010/06/04/installing-the-laguna-tools-driftmaster-fence-system/) I have a Jet JWBS 18 and had a few different experiences.

After unpacking and cleaning most of the anti-rust grease off, I removed the stock fence from my bandsaw. I left the fence end support (on the right) from the old fence, just in case.
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Laguna%20Driftmaster/dm_01_zpse7a687bc.jpg
In the picture above, I had already drilled out the two holes that the universal brackets will be bolted through. The instructions said to drill a 1/2" hole but I stopped at 13/32". It was just the right size.

I then followed the directions and attached the brackets and fence rail. Then I put on the slide block with the piece they call the rim (black) that holds the fence in place.
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Laguna%20Driftmaster/dm_05_zps64c723db.jpg

I had to use a large Crescent wrench to keep the brackets from rotating. Getting this far took me about an hour. Much of that was gradually upsizing the bits as I drilled through the side of the table. I was able to use the same holes the old fence used. The sides are thicker there.
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Laguna%20Driftmaster/dm_02_zps70fe4bf1.jpg

Before installing the threaded rod, I wanted to see how the fence sat on the table and slid along the rail. I already knew this was going to be an issue:
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Laguna%20Driftmaster/dm_03_zps111d8e4c.jpg
Once you go past the end of the table, there's nothing to support the end of the fence. I solved that by scavenging parts from the old fence. I can now slide the full length without the end dropping. The black angle keeps the fence down too. There's a round headed plastic piece that rides on the top of the white angle.
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Laguna%20Driftmaster/dm_11_zps909d257f.jpg
I'm going to make something that will fit into the slot and snug down easier when my brain gets one of those light bulb moments.

The other problem was, even though I had mounted the brackets as far to the right as I could, I was still left with 2-1/2" behind the fence. If I pushed the fence back any farther, it would come off the rail. My rip width just went from 17-1/2" to 13-1/2", 1-1/2" was because of the fence but the rest was due to the location of the rail. So I had to devise another plan.
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Laguna%20Driftmaster/dm_04_zps6defbdc7.jpg

I took everything off, then got the old rail and bolted it to the table using the same holes I had already drilled out. I inserted spring nuts into the hollow of the rail and tightened them from underneath.
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Laguna%20Driftmaster/dm_08_zpsb74b6414.jpg

Once the old rail was firmly attached, I figured I'd do the same on the other side for the universal brackets. So I drilled 1/2" holes in the old rail and slid 1/2" spring nuts to where the holes were. The inset picture (bottom left) shows the drilled hole with the spring nut behind it.
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Laguna%20Driftmaster/dm_07_zps2b2d59b2.jpg

I then attached the universal brackets to the old fence rail. I needed the new rail that much farther back to give the fence full motion from blade to riser arm. Once I have everything just right, I'll reattach the measuring tape and make a pointer for it so it actually works. The aluminum angle with measuring tape that came with the Driftmaster looks like it can only be used on a Laguna bandsaw.
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Laguna%20Driftmaster/dm_09_zps9cc9610e.jpg

Because the spring nuts are 1/2-13 thread, I used some stainless steel 1/2" hardware I had from an old job. I had to drill out the brackets to accommodate the larger bolts. To keep the thing from spinning away from me, I used a Unistrut Z-bracket and some strut washers to bolt the piece down to the drill press table.
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Laguna%20Driftmaster/dm_06_zps5490c560.jpg

After i got everything back together, I went about setting the rail at the right height, so it slides end to end with about 1/32" gap under the fence. I got it perfect but found the fence face wasn't square to the table. That adjustment is made by rotating the universal brackets. But if you rotate the brackets, you change the height of the fence off the table. I kept playing around with it to get everything tight and square but nothing worked. So I put the square on the slide block rather than the table and found this:
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Laguna%20Driftmaster/dm_10_zps1e1bfe01.jpg
I removed the fence and found the rim piece is not square! It pushes the fence forward at the top. The DVD that came with it said this isn't a problem but I disagree. If you're resawing tall thin pieces it's a big problem! I may have to take the rim to a machine shop and have them square it up.

Anyway, this is what it looks like now:
http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/jules42651/Woodworking/Laguna%20Driftmaster/dm_12_zps3b86ae2b.jpg

I like that there's more support at the infeed side. I still have a good amount of 8/4 sapele to resaw. The 8" high fence should be arriving next week. But I want to get that rim squared up before I take on that project again.

[Alan Lightstone]

I've resawed a lot of sapele using my Driftmaster fence. You'll like it.

One thing I really don't like, is that the cast iron support before the saw table (the one that has the adjustment mechanism going through it) isn't level with the table. I can't figure out how to make it level (I should post a picture). And that the holes don't match up with the saw (which is crazy, because I have a Laguna saw. Their fence, their saw, and the mounting holes don't line up.)

Also, I've found that it's hard to get the adjustment mechanism in its adjustable setting (as opposed to its fixed setting) to move. I have to move the lever past where the detent is to get it to attach to the screw and move. Again, not awesome design.

Now I have the older version of the fence. I understand that it was redesigned (I'm hoping you have the new version). My version blocks the bottom door from opening on the saw, making blade changes a pain.

You should do a search for John Lanciani's resaw jig. It's amazing. I built a copy of it, and it really makes resawing more accurate and repeatable. A great design.

Actually, here's the link: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?178546-Veneering-Resawing-questions&highlight=resaw

I should be John's agent. I keep touting the jig. It's that good.

[Sam Murdoch]

You are proving to be a most useful SMC member Julie :D. Thanks for the taking the time for this post.

[Dick Mahany]

Nice job! I think you'll enjoy it. I put one on a Delta 14" A number of years ago and really like it, except that I have the same door-blocking design as Alan and blade changes are a pain. I sliced a number of 0.060" veneers and all were within a few thousandths of each other and super clean with a carbide resaw blade.

[Kelby Van Patten]

Nice write-up!

You absolutely need the face of the fence to be square to the table, but the face doesn't need to be square to the bottom of the fence (which is what I think I see in your picture). Adjusting the rail will allow you to get the face of the fence square, even if the bottom of the fence doesn't end up perfectly parallel to the table, which doesn't matter anyway. I remember going through the same issue on mine, and it took an hour or so of tinkering before I got everything squared up just perfect. I definitely did not have to take it to a machine shop. Before you take the fence to a machine shop, you might call Laguna and see if they can talk you through it.

Once you get it set up, I'm sure you'll be very happy with the fence.

Good luck!

[Julie Moriarty]

I looked at John Lanciani's resaw jig, carefully. WOW! I don't need his jig, I need HIM! If patience is a virtue, I'm not very virtuous. Maybe he has a spare laying around. :rolleyes:

I went back down to the shop to see what I could do about that out of square problem. I did the cavewoman thing and took out files and used a piece of bar stock as a guide to try to square it. It looked okay but once I reinstalled it, it was still out of square.

I'm good on the fence system getting in the way of the door issue by about 1/8". What bothers me is the video vs. real life. The guy in the video makes everything look so easy but his has features or better quality that mine doesn't. And he skips over time consuming stuff.

To move from free sliding to screw adjustment, his has a sliding wing nut that looks like it works pretty well. Mine has a very short stud that's round on top and a nut, and you can't get it to turn a full 90 degrees to lock it in. It engages the threaded rod and the wheel works but there's nothing holding it in place.

In the video, his system has some nice looking handles that fully cover the nuts. They're are a lot beefier. Mine are a pain to use. Depending on how much tightening you have to do, you sometimes need a Phillips screwdriver to keep the thing from unscrewing as you're pulling the handle up and over to take another bite. Yes, the box it came in said MADE IN CHINA. The only thing made in the good ol' USA is the 1/2" hardware I used.

Also in the video, the guy slides the fence back to increase the feed support so the end of the fence is close to the back of the blade. He says it's a nice feature but keeps his hand on the back and of the fence. ;) If you did that and let go, the end of the fence would pop up off the table. The only thing from keeping the fence from rotating up is the threaded rod and that has a lot of give at the center.

I also noticed when that end support I took from the old fence was removed, the fence dragged across the table. So the end will always be scraping against the back of the table unless you install some anti-friction material on the bottom. But since the fence rotates 90 degrees to flat, it has to be removable.

The locking mechanism on the rail is another one of those cheap plastic handles. Again, if it's too lose, you have to hold the stud in place with a Phillips. I can just imagine over time, all the little impressions that screw stud will leave on the rail. I have a Delta contractor's saw (old) with a Delta Unifence. The fence extrusion is practically identical to the Driftmaster fence. If Laguna had taken that old design Delta and used it for their rail and locking system, it would be a much better system and easier to use. There's a lot of little time consuming adjustments on the Driftmaster and there doesn't have to be.

I'm sure I'll be making some alterations to make the thing easier to use. So far, I'd give it a "C" for engineering, "C" for quality and "B" for sturdiness. Let's see how it goes when I start cranking on it! :D

[Mike Heidrick]

They make spring nuts in 1/4-20, 3/8-16, 5/16-18, as well as 1/2-13. By placing the handle on the right I was able to clear he door on my MM. Not sure if that helps your jet or not.

Here is my driftmaster install page - http://myplace.frontier.com/~unix888/lagunadriftmasterfenceinstallonminimaxmm20bandsawr eplacingtheoriginalfence/

[Mike Goetzke]

Been a while since I installed mine but I squared up the gap you posted by adding a shim under the vertical block that is attached to the platform. My shim was needed to the left so I must have had a gap at the top. Also, I remember flipping the shaft end to end to get the larger distance from a mounting stud at the rear (see pictures I also had to grind the traveling platform a bit too). This may have allowed you to do without the extra bar in front. Let me know if you need pictures.

OK here are some pics of my application - they were taken maybe two to three years ago so you can probably figure what your looking at better than I. Where the purple pencil is pointing is where I inserted a shim:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/My%20Tools/Grizzly%20G0513X2/IMG_1749.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/My%20Tools/Grizzly%20G0513X2/IMG_1038.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/My%20Tools/Grizzly%20G0513X2/IMG_1036.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/My%20Tools/Grizzly%20G0513X2/IMG_1035.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/My%20Tools/Grizzly%20G0513X2/IMG_1033.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/My%20Tools/Grizzly%20G0513X2/IMG_1032.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/My%20Tools/Grizzly%20G0513X2/IMG_1031.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/My%20Tools/Grizzly%20G0513X2/IMG_1029.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/My%20Tools/Grizzly%20G0513X2/IMG_1028.jpg



Mike

[Julie Moriarty]

They make spring nuts in 1/4-20, 3/8-16, 5/16-18, as well as 1/2-13. By placing the handle on the right I was able to clear he door on my MM. Not sure if that helps your jet or not.

Here is my driftmaster install page - http://myplace.frontier.com/~unix888/lagunadriftmasterfenceinstallonminimaxmm20bandsawr eplacingtheoriginalfence/

I had found your page before I began the install. I liked the wheel to the left but the way I mounted the universal brackets, I couldn't mount the wheel there. As far as the spring nuts, I have the imperial sizes but all the Laguna hardware is metric. But I kind of liked throwing some USA made stuff in the mix. :D


Been a while since I installed mine but I squared up the gap you posted by adding a shim under the vertical block that is attached to the platform. My shim was needed to the left so I must have had a gap at the top. Also, I remember flipping the shaft end to end to get the larger distance from a mounting stud at the rear (see pictures I also had to grind the traveling platform a bit too). This may have allowed you to do without the extra bar in front.
Mike

So in other words, Laguna has been making the same out of square piece for years. I've seen other pics where shims were used. And they sell this for $395 plus $60 shipping?

I needed the bar so I could move the rail to the left farther.

[Mike Goetzke]

I had found your page before I began the install. I liked the wheel to the left but the way I mounted the universal brackets, I couldn't mount the wheel there. As far as the spring nuts, I have the imperial sizes but all the Laguna hardware is metric. But I kind of liked throwing some USA made stuff in the mix. :D



So in other words, Laguna has been making the same out of square piece for years. I've seen other pics where shims were used. And they sell this for $395 plus $60 shipping?

I needed the bar so I could move the rail to the left farther.


Look close at my photos. If you flip the bar/rail you automatically get more travel to the left.

I was lucky I purchased my fence when they had a big SMC discount and I didn't pay $60 shipping.


Mike

[Julie Moriarty]

Look close at my photos. If you flip the bar/rail you automatically get more travel to the left.

I was lucky I purchased my fence when they had a big SMC discount and I didn't pay $60 shipping.


Mike

Mike, where the rail is now, I get full use of the area from the blade to the riser on the bandsaw. If I flip it, I'm back where I started before I attached the old fence. But I can slide it forward some. I'm not sure if that will be enough. Right now I'm done for the night.

FWIW, I found a place that sold the fence for $325 w/ $49 flat rate shipping. So I didn't do too bad, considering. Still, the engineering, the quality... and Laguna asks $395. Delta should take their old Unifence system and make something for the bandsaw. I really don't think the drift adjustment is a big deal but a rock solid fence it. Delta's Unifence from the 90's could do that with little modification.

[Kevin Nathanson]

Excellent write-up. Not that you need any more validation, but every problem/issue you have with yours, I also have with mine. It certainly is not a precision piece, and requires a lot of fiddling to get it right, but it is really the only game in town for a fence with (somewhat) repeatable incremental adjustment. I would just be happy if everything "stayed put" when I lock it down. Unfortunately, the fence tends to move a little whenever the position lock is tightened, and that really affects the accuracy.

K

[Jim Matthews]

Still, the engineering, the quality... and Laguna asks $395. Delta should take their old Unifence system and make something for the bandsaw

I did the math, on time and materials. Unless you do your own machining, this is LESS than my cost to fabricate it locally.
My best price, using scavenged materials to make the main fence mounting assembly was a little under $500.

The local machine shop charges $85 per hour, two hour minimum.
If I wanted the CNC involved, it was astronomical.

Could you homebrew one of these? Sure.
What's your time worth.

These fences are one of those well-priced items that really work and are fairly priced.
There was considerable shop time spent before it came out as an accessory.

I'm surprised it's not a Laguna-only extra, frankly.

[Julie Moriarty]

I finally received the 8" tall fence and solved the out-of-square issue by placing a strip of 30 ga. sheet metal under the guide. That squared it up perfectly!

I installed the 8" fence and took out my engineer's square and checked the blade to the table, then the fence to the table. Everything was square but it seems the fence face has a slight bow in it. I could see light in the middle of the face, top to bottom.

I ran through some sapele, trying to resaw it a strong 1/2". About 6" in, it tracked way off. I followed Laguna's directions on adjusting the drift but that didn't have any effect. I think FWW did a test on fences and drift and found if your fence is set right and you follow the marks you make on top, you don't need drift adjustments. I've never found drift fences appealing, too much futzin' around. I just score the top and follow that against a flat fence. I had a live edge on top of the piece I screwed up, so I had to rip that off, so I could score it, and start over again.

After resawing about 30' of sapele that was around 8" tall, the only difference I noticed from the old fence was the fact the Driftmaster stays put. I really doubt I'll ever use the drift adjustment. The pieces I resawed all turned out fine, as long as I scored the tops first and followed them as I cut. I kept a fingerboard at the bottom to keep that in place, no tall fingerboards though. I needed the slight bit of play to keep the cut on line.

BTW, I took the 4" fence and tried to install it on the Delta Unifence guide on my table saw and it fit perfectly. Now I have three different height fences that are interchangeable between the bandsaw and table saw. I still think the old Unifence System with the different height fences would be a great way to go for just about any bandsaw. The Driftmaster is over engineered.