William Addison
02-02-2014, 3:45 PM
I hope this will help anyone who is considering installing the Laguna guides on a MM16. The euro guides that came with the saw were working OK except that after a bad experience with Texas Ebony the thrust bearings were a little chewed up and I was thinking either Carter or Laguna since the price of replacement bearing from MM was so high.
Laguna recently had a really good sale and since I've found the Carter's to be a pain to adjust, I ordered the Laguna's.
Here's what I had to do to install them; upper guide, I had to slightly (.005 or so) enlarge the hole for the mounting post, I also had to cut a section off the blade guard, aside from that it was straightforward.
Lower guide; the bracket had to be turned 180 degress and the spacers reassembled. Mike Heidrick has an excellent tutorial online that has photos of this. The bracket has to go flat against the frame of the saw to get clearance for a narrow blade. Finally, I had to grind some of the welding bead off the base of the post so the guide could go far enough back for a half inch blade. The mounting hole in the lower guide fit.
One inch blades won't be a problem and I can probably use 3/8 blades by tracking them closer to the front of the wheel.
Depth of cut may be reduced about a quarter of an inch but interestingly, by cutting a section out of the upper bracket and TIG welding it together it appears I could gain close to an inch more depth of cut (MM17?).
I'm not one who thinks guides are all that important but so far they seem to work extremely well and I'm pleased I bought them. Oh yes, sandpaper on a dowel was used to enlarge the hole on the upper guide.
Laguna recently had a really good sale and since I've found the Carter's to be a pain to adjust, I ordered the Laguna's.
Here's what I had to do to install them; upper guide, I had to slightly (.005 or so) enlarge the hole for the mounting post, I also had to cut a section off the blade guard, aside from that it was straightforward.
Lower guide; the bracket had to be turned 180 degress and the spacers reassembled. Mike Heidrick has an excellent tutorial online that has photos of this. The bracket has to go flat against the frame of the saw to get clearance for a narrow blade. Finally, I had to grind some of the welding bead off the base of the post so the guide could go far enough back for a half inch blade. The mounting hole in the lower guide fit.
One inch blades won't be a problem and I can probably use 3/8 blades by tracking them closer to the front of the wheel.
Depth of cut may be reduced about a quarter of an inch but interestingly, by cutting a section out of the upper bracket and TIG welding it together it appears I could gain close to an inch more depth of cut (MM17?).
I'm not one who thinks guides are all that important but so far they seem to work extremely well and I'm pleased I bought them. Oh yes, sandpaper on a dowel was used to enlarge the hole on the upper guide.