Upgrading Laguna bandsaw from the 1412 to the 14bx 2.5hp: a not so little problem

[David Sloan]

I have been very pleased with the Laguna 1412 and have had it 3 years. The 14bx was not available when I bought the 1412 and I have toyed with the idea of upgrading for a few months. (Reasons? More power, one piece frame, the awesome brake, and all my blades, mobile wheel system, Carter stabilizer etc would fit). One day in Woodcraft I decided to go ahead and sell the 1412 and within a day it was sold for 800 (I paid 989 and the person I sold it to was very happy with the $800). I then paid for the 14bx and was told they didn't know when it would be shipped from Laguna. I called Laguna customer service and within minutes was told that it would arrive at the Woodcraft store on July 12th (which it did). The same day I helped the new 1412 owner load his new saw, I was able to get the 14bx to the house. Set up of course was easy and everything seemed perfect until a put a straight edge on the table. The table to the right of the blade was slightly crowned. When I laid a quality straight edge flat I could fit a .032" feeler gauge underneath at one end. I measured with the table pin in place and measured with and without the table bolts tightened, no difference. I called Laguna service and a polite lady said she would send an email requesting what I needed to do. I received the email very quickly and responded with the info she requested (serial no., copy of purchase order, photos of the problem, shipping address). The same day I responded to that email I got a call from a polite service rep who within 2 minutes said he was putting in a shipping order for a new table. Couple of minutes later, I had another email with the shipping order for the new table. I really liked the 1412 and the main reason I hesitated upgrading was the fear that something major wouldn't be right with the new machine and I would be wishing I had my old bandsaw back! When I saw that the table wasn't flat, my heart sank and I thought I would be in for a battle to get things sorted out. I know Laguna service has had its share of bad reviews but honestly I have been blown away by how well they responded to my issue. I did request that they double check the new table before sending it!

[Matt Day]

Update us when you get the new table.

[Charlie Hinton]

I too fear buying a new bandsaw and getting something less than I expect.
It's really unfortunate the tool manufacturers let this kind of stuff get out of the door.
Thing is the rest of the machine has been manufactured and inspected with the same degree of scrutiny.
Hopefully the new table will be flat and that will be the only issue.

Please continue this thread when the new table arrives.

[Mike Wilkins]

Glad things are working out for you so far. I have 2 Laguna machines and been very pleased with them. Only one call to tech support for an issue with the ceramic guides, and got a resolution with the hour. Honestly this sort of thing can happen with any manufacturer.

[David M Peters]

My 1412 had a bad table as well, the thread holes for the fence rail were drilled & tapped at an downwards angle, like 10 degrees. I also had a good experience with Laguna on getting a new table but was disappointed that the there was an issue in the first place.

[David Sloan]

Thanks for the comments gentlemen and I'll keep you posted. I didn't mention the other advantage of the 14bx over the 1412 and that is the second dust collection port which I have found is of real benefit. Now I have to decide what to do with the defective bandsaw table; maybe have a welder cut off the 'bad' section that is to the right of the insert and then use the rest as a surface for sharpening (like a granite plate).

[Van Huskey]

Now I have to decide what to do with the defective bandsaw table;

This seems like a worthy use


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiDJp6utmUM

[richard poitras]

1412 (Reasons? More power, one piece frame, the awesome brake, and all my blades, mobile wheel system, Carter stabilizer etc would fit). !

Dave are you saying that your Carter stabilizer will fit your new saw? If so what sku# is the Carter stabilizer that works with the 14bx?

Thanks Richard

[Van Huskey]

Dave are you saying that your Carter stabilizer will fit your new saw? If so what sku# is the Carter stabilizer that works with the 14bx?

Thanks Richard

Is the guide mounting stud 20mm? If so the Stabilizer model is the Jet1. It fits a bunch of saws including most of the Asian Laguna saws including the 1412, several of the Euro saws like Minimax, however, I am not sure about the BX series. The ACM built Lagunas require a completely different mount.

[David Sloan]

Richard, I have the JET1 and the guides for the 1412 and 14bx are the same. Van, I loved the video. I am familiar with Matthias but hadn't seen that so thanks. It was fun to watch. I think I'll pass on building my own bandsaw!

[richard poitras]

Thanks David and Van for the heads up on the guide.

[David Sloan]

Thanks for the comments gentlemen and I'll keep you posted. I didn't mention the other advantage of the 14bx over the 1412 and that is the second dust collection port which I have found is of real benefit. Now I have to decide what to do with the defective bandsaw table; maybe have a welder cut off the 'bad' section that is to the right of the insert and then use the rest as a surface for sharpening (like a granite plate).

Just giving requested follow up. New bandsaw table came today and is perfect. Just very impressed with Laguna service.

[Art Mann]

If you do a little trigonometry and calculate the cutting error that 1/32 of an inch at the edge of the table will cause, I expect you will find it is irrelevant.

[Van Huskey]

Just giving requested follow up. New bandsaw table came today and is perfect. Just very impressed with Laguna service.

Good to hear. Laguna CS has taken a huge leap since moving to the dealer model.

[David Sloan]

If you do a little trigonometry and calculate the cutting error that 1/32 of an inch at the edge of the table will cause, I expect you will find it is irrelevant.

Art, you are right I'm sure but that wobbling straight edge sure bothered me. It would have bothered me every time I looked at the bandsaw. The fact that the Laguna representative as soon as he saw my photos without hesitation said they would send a new table indicates the table did not meet the company's specs. Again they were very responsive and apologized that the table took a little longer to get to me than they had anticipated.

[Art Mann]

Laguna is trying to dig its way out from under an avalanche of bad customer service reviews in recent years. I'm guessing that is the reason why they replaced a table top so readily.

[Charlie Hinton]

If I buy a Harbor Freight anything .... meh, you get what you pay for and you know going in that part of the dealio is ballpark tolerances.
If I buy a new Luguna (or any other "premium" brand machine) pretty much anything other than all parts being manufactured correctly is unacceptable.

Glad Laguna quickly sent a replacement part.
Even greater customer service is the kind you never have to call.

[Nick Decker]

Right or wrong, credibility takes a long time to rebuild once you've lost it. I hope they realize that and keep at it.

[glenn bradley]

Laguna is trying to dig its way out from under an avalanche of bad customer service reviews in recent years. I'm guessing that is the reason why they replaced a table top so readily.Laguna seems to have a bio rhythm with CustomerService over the years. It goes south and they get a lot of bad press for a year or so, They turn it around and things go well for a while and then the cycle repeats. Every time they recover I hope it’s the end of the cycle :-)

[Van Huskey]

Laguna seems to have a bio rhythm with CustomerService over the years. It goes south and they get a lot of bad press for a year or so, They turn it around and things go well for a while and then the cycle repeats. Every time they recover I hope it’s the end of the cycle :-)

The paradigm shift seems to come with the shift to dealer based sales and seems to have been good since then which has been 3 years or so. My theory is when the people that answer the phones no longer had their primary job being sales helped. That along with the greater inventory of parts they had to keep to service many more machines and the pressure of having to keep dealers with the buying power of Woodcraft and Rockler happy enough to keep them in the showroom changed the corporate mentality. Beyond the actual desire to have good CS the thing that always concerned me about Laguna machines (beyond their ACM build bandsaws) was the product line was never stable. They changed product lines often and it would be near impossible to continue to support them into the future given their volume at the time. Now the product line seems to have stabilized which bodes better for continued support. In the end, finding complaints of poor CS from Laguna is very rare in the last 3 years compared to the previous 10. They seem particularly good with their current Asian bandsaw line.