Uber Gloat... Robland X31 and Laguna LT16HD

[Chris Barton]

Hi Everone,

I am way too tired to write the entire gloat tonight but, I have spent the past 3 days putting together the contents of these two boxes in the picture. Can you figure out what they are? More to come tomorrow...

[Steve Rowe]

Hey Chris - I am guessing a bandsaw and tablesaw. But, aren't you supposed to unpackage them instead of re-package?:D :D :D

[Mike Deschler]

Got to be a sliding table saw and a band saw of either German or Austrian decent. Have fun reading volumes to put them together.

Lucky dog!!

[Richard Wolf]

Well, I know it's not from Mini Max, as great as their machines are, their packaging never looks like that.
Good luck with whatever it is.

Richard

[Andy Hoyt]

Actually, it's three boxes.

[Frank Pellow]

I am also guessing that the boxes contain a band saw and a table saw.

[Dev Emch]

I am thinking its a grizzly something another....

[Jim O'Dell]

Everyone else is probably right, except the tall box doesn't quite look like the right shape for a bandsaw. So I'll go out on a limb and say a 16" jointer. If I'm right, do I get one for free??? Jim.

[Andy Hoyt]

Not nearly enough CYA and self-proselytizing labeling to be from the Griz.

[Kurt Loup]

I know, but I'll let Chris tell ya.

Kurt

[Ian Barley]

A hatstand, an armchair and a Samurai sword

[Chris Barton]

So, I spent the past couple of days lifting weights, part of my new devotion to self improvement. It's just that I like my excersize to be fun. And, I got plenty of it putting these hawgs together. After much consideration, rumination, deliberation, self-doubt, recrimination, mastication and research I finaly made a decission on replacing my 25 year old Craftsman table saw and upgrading to a better band saw than my puny Ridgid 14". I decided that I wanted the table saw to have planty of HP and a sliding table format, the band saw needed to have at least 12" of resaw capacity and, it would be nice if I could swing a combo machine as the table saw replacement. I considered many machines but finally settled upon the Robland X31 and the Laguna LT16HD. Here are a few pictures...

[Chris Barton]

Another...

[Chris Barton]

Another... The washer in the picture is smaller than a dime (after buying these I don't have a dime left to use in the test...)

[Chris Barton]

The band saw...

[Chris Barton]

Morticer shot... and sorry Dev, no Grizzly green.

[Karl Laustrup]

Congratulations Chris. :D

I don't remember my LT-16HD coming with all that cardboard though. Waiting for pix of the BS. It shouldn't be quite as hard as the X-31 as far as assembly, though.

You definately stepped it up from your previous tool.

Karl

[Richard Wolf]

Very nice stuff, good luck.

Richard

[John Hart]

Wow Chris! Way to go!. I've been wondering what the secret toys were for a few days now. Hey....I have some big stuff you can try on the BS now! Coming soon.;)

[John Miliunas]

Holy smokers, Chris!!!!:eek: Now that's what I call a MEGA-GLOAT!!!! :D With so much MM stuff floating around here, I'm really anxious to hear more about the performance of your LT/Robland equipment, as well as the associated Customer Service for both, pre and post order. I've got the 16HD and after almost a year with it, I still get this silly smile on my face each time I fire it up!:) BTW, I'm real happy to see pics with some actual sawdust in them already!!! That's super! :D Please, more details as time allows! Oh, and CONGRATS!!!:) :cool:

[Chris Barton]

Thanks Everyone,

A mini review for each machine-

The Robland is massive, very heavy and absolutely vibration free! It has 3 motors that run the 5 different functions each rated at 3 HP. It is a 10" sliding table saw, 12" jointer, 12" planer, shaper, and a 3D mortiser. It has a dedicated fence for the saw that is very similar in design to the unisaw and another dedicated fence for the jointer that is HUGE. I have not gotten the fortitude up yet to use the shaper (all shapers are a little scarry to me) but have used all the other functions. The jointer-planer is great and what a pleasure to be able to joint a board up to 12" wide. The planer is very robust and uses a steel roller like a big commercial unit. The dust collection for the jointer-planer function is fairly efficient. The sliding table is a hoot! It runs on sealed bearings and is smoother than snot. The cuts are dead on accurate and the saw has more power than I think I will ever need. The mortiser is great! If you have ever seen David Marks use the infamous "multirouter" then you have seen how this works. The only times you have to change the configuration of the machine to use a different function is when switching from jointer to planer or when adding the shaper guard (which weight about 30 lbs). The fit and finish of the machine is flawless and refined. And the cast iron, ooooh, this is the highest quality castings I have ever seen. The only disappointment so far has been the miter gage they include (see picture below) which is laughable. I will replace that with my Incra. It took me a full day to put this thing together and a couple of aclls to Laguna customer support because the instructions leave a lot to be desired (namely, a set of instructions! not just "explosion pictures" of the parts).

The band saw is everything I had hoped for. Again, flawless fit and finish, dead flat table and even more power than the Robland because of the 4.8 HP Baldor motor. Putting it together was much easier than the Robland simply because there were fewer parts and the manual was a little better. Super smooth when running and I was amazed at how easy it was to carve up hunks of log 15" tall to fit on my lathe! It has a built in tension gauge and the ceramic guides are great. The guides do take a little adjusting when changing blades but, that is true for any band saw. However, you have to use an allen wrench and that's not as easy as thumb wheels.

As for the "Laguna experience" as must say that I am very pleased. First, everything that was supposed to be included was and nothing was broken or damaged. I did call customer support twice to ask questions and they were very helpful. They even called me back late Friday night just to check in on my progress. I can't say anything negative. If I had the need to I would certainly buy from Laguna again.

I will post additional pics today...

[Kurt Loup]

Chris,

I'm jealous, but I'll keep telling myself it's the craftsman not the tools. :D
Maybe in the spring I'll talk Jody into a trip to Nashville, so we can check out the machines. I'd really like to see them in action.

Kurt

[Frank Pellow]

Congratulations on your new combination machine and bandsaw - it's even better than my guess of a table saw and a bandsaw.

I hope that you like the combination machine. I still don't know if I made the right choice going with individual machines when I equiped my shop last year (and I probably never will know). :confused: I like my individual machines :) but I continue to drool when I see a combination machine like yours. :D

[Frank Pellow]

...

As for the "Laguna experience" as must say that I am very pleased. First, everything that was supposed to be included was and nothing was broken or damaged. I did call customer support twice to ask questions and they were very helpful. They even called me back late Friday night just to check in on my progress. I can't say anything negative. If I had the need to I would certainly buy from Laguna again.

It's good to hear something good about Laguna service for a change. Maybe they have finally cleaned up their act.

[Jim Becker]

"Uber Gloat" is a most appropriate description! Congrats on the new members of your "shop staff"!!!

[John Renzetti]

Hi Chris, Congratulations on the new X31 and LT bandsaw. You're going to really enjoy those machines.
take care,
John

[Dan Larson]

Chris, congratulations on the new tools. Hope you have a ball playing with them!

I know I'm running the risk of sounding like a volunteer Laguna salesman, but my experiences with their sales and tech support departments were good, too. I hear that they had some problems in the past. Looks like they are succeeding, at least at some level, in keeping customers happy these days.

[Christian Aufreiter]

Hi Chris,

congrats on the new tools. Enjoy them.

Regards,

Christian

[Dev Emch]

Chris, Holy Cow!

No need to say sorry Dev. Apologize to Shiaz. I mistakingly thought you were a grizz-a-holic. It is I who need to apologize to you. I take my hat off and bow in your humble presence.

By the way, did you know that Robland does not use fiberglass and styrofoam to make this thing? There is about 1000 pounds of the cast good stuff in there. No need to take your iron supplements now. You have a few life time supplies here. Oh yah, throw out your old compasses. They no longer work in your house:D. There has been a substantial change in magnetic north in your neighborhood. Venture to guess why?:D

And then there are those motors. Not one of them... T-H-R-E-E of them. I can see the little electrons scurrying about when they see you walking to the shop!

And who could forget the both the table saw and the shaper spindle. As I recall, you have a 1.25 inch spindle and you can mooch off the table saw fence. The slider is pure heaven isnt it? Your slider is more of a hardwood slider than a panel slider but for most work, its sure nice to have.

And of course, check this out! The planer is matched to the jointer. O.K., they cheated by making a it a combo machine sharing the same cutter head. But the point is clear. You have a 12 inch jointer ready to feed the 12 in planer. SWEEEEEET! Just wait until you do your first skew cut on that jointer using some pagen burl lumber!

And the turn around times are pretty good. No, they are actually excellent. You can go from one function to another with an amazingly small amount of effort and time.

For a small shop with limited space, this is a cat's meow machine. My only complaint about it is that I cannot wheel and deal the functions. I cannot take the jointer off and sell it to upgrade or crossgrade to something else. Same applies to the other functions. And that is actually a pretty small issue when you think about it.

And I am pretty impressed by the cast iron work and machine work by Robland. They also make a really nice sliding table for unisaw type machines. Very nice job on the eccentric hold down clamps as well.

So I will wipe the slobber off my chops and sign off. Good Gloat!

[Mike Cutler]

So, I spent the past couple of days lifting weights, part of my new devotion to self improvement. It's just that I like my excersize to be fun. And, I got plenty of it putting these hawgs together. After much consideration, rumination, deliberation, self-doubt, recrimination, mastication and research I finaly made a decission on replacing my 25 year old Craftsman table saw and upgrading to a better band saw than my puny Ridgid 14". I decided that I wanted the table saw to have planty of HP and a sliding table format, the band saw needed to have at least 12" of resaw capacity and, it would be nice if I could swing a combo machine as the table saw replacement. I considered many machines but finally settled upon the Robland X31 and the Laguna LT16HD. Here are a few pictures...

Well, I guess we can never accuse you of Half Stepping:D .
Those are some beautiful machines you got there. definitely an "uber gloat".:cool: