Laguna slider

[Terry Therneau]

There is a 5ft Laguna slider listed near me. Does anyone have experience with whether these are a good machine? This variety doesn't appear to have an outrigger.

I mostly do solid wood work, and have an EZ Smart track saw for breaking down sheets. I've used a '47 Unisaw for the last 15 years (Delta HD shaper acts as the outfeed), which has been a great machine, but the safety aspect of a slider appeals to me. (If I had all my druthers something like a Felder KF500 would be my goal, but used saw/shapers don't fall out of the sky.) As well, it looks like I may be building some kitchen cabinets for my son & daughter-in-law in the next year. They just bought their first house, which has good bones but needs a lot of other work.

Terry T.

[Jim Becker]

I'm not familiar with the specific machine, but a short stroke true slider can be an amazing machine to have in the shop for precise work. If I ever have to downsize my shop and bail on my 8'6" slider, I'd replace it with a short stroke slider for sure.

[Peter Kelly]

Difficult to tell w/o seeing a picture but I’d guess the saw was made by ZMM Stomana in Bulgaria. https://nikmann.com/products/nikmann.html

Decent machines but a missing outrigger would be a bit of a deal breaker for most.

[Terry Therneau]

Here is a pic. It looks like an outrigger is not part of the design.422551

[Jim Becker]

Looks like a a nice setup and also looks like there is an outboard table. For a smaller machine like this, you don't need the fancy supports under that table because the travel and size is smaller.

[Peter Kelly]

http://stomana.net/machineeng/73/BABY-S2

Decent saw but $2,800 seems a little on the high side. I see there's also a Northfield No 4 Variety Saw listed on CL for $1,000 near you. Would grab in a heartbeat for that price.

[Terry Therneau]

Yes, the Northfield is a great saw. A local woodworker organized a tour of their facility a few years ago and I was impressed all around, but particularly by the owner. But, for the work I do it doesn't buy me anything I can't do on the Unisaw (maybe a bit slower).
I agree that the price seems high.

[Mike Wilkins]

Laguna sold that machine for a number of years and was on my short list for a while. I ended up buying the Laguna Pro 6' slider with outrigger. The model in the photo is a TSS short stroke slider which has a 5 HP motor. This is a heavy duty machine that sold for over 4K when Laguna was offering it. Fine Woodworking magazine had a good review on this machine, praising its robust build and vibration free operation. The price you quoted is a little high for a pre-owned machine, but you could bargain some.