Laguna Drift Master Fence Sysytem

[Brent Smith]

Hi everyone,

Does anybody have the Laguna Drift Master on an LT18? If so, how do you like it? Was it difficult to mount on the saw?

[Steve Jenkins]

Brent, i had one I put on a few months ago and it wasn't a big deal to mount except that the mounting holes in the table are a bit too high so the fence base sits up a 16th or so above the saw table. I just need to elongate the holes in the table to lower it. Haven't gotten around to it yet. The fence gets in the way of opening the lower door so you have to tilt the table to access the lower wheel or change blades. I called Laguna about that and their reply was since the table has a stop bolt for setting 90 it is no big deal. Maybe not to them.
The fence works fine and is really easy to set the drift angle for any blade.

[Jack Camillo]

wow, that stinks. Bet they didn't tell you about that before you bought it.

[Brent Smith]

Thanks Steve, the mounting hole problem was what I was worried about. Sitting 1/16" proud doesn't sound like a problem. The problem with the lower door I can live with, not happily but that's life. I just bought the saw and an extension table with it that turns out not to fit this model. Given this, I wanted to hear from someone who actually had a Drift Master on their saw. Thanks again Steve.

[John Myers]

Brent,

I have the Laguna LT18 and installed the driftmaster about a month ago. As mentioned, you will need to drill one mounting hole on the table. I thought about how to go about this and used the following method:

1. Drill 1/2-inch diameter holes through a piece of 1x2 oak where the current fence bolts go.
2. Drill a 3rd hole in the board for the Driftmaster. All 3 holes are in a line, of course.
3. Bolt on the oak template using the two holes already in the fence where the old fence mounted.
4. Drill your hole in the table oak template using a 1/2-inch drill bit.

It worked beautifully. I must have got lucky because my driftmaster fence lies flush on my table.

Opening the door - this is an issue, as the base interferes with opening the lower door. However, I found that if you slide the fence all the way to the blade, the door just clears the Driftmaster and opens easily. I don't have any need to tilt the table. And I have the LT18 Laguna that I just bought earlier this year.

As mentioned, the fence is much easier to align for squareness with the blade and adjust for drift. And I find being able to adjust the fence position incrementally comes in real handy.

I don't particularly like the lock/unlock mechanism that allows the fence to move freely of the worm drive (if that's what you call it). It's a little cumbersome to use. But I can live with it.

All in all, I'm happy with it - though there is room for improvements, to be sure. But it does what I want it to.

John

[Brent Smith]

Thanks John. I just bought my saw last month, so I imagine that it's the same as yours. It's good to know that the door can be opened with the fence against the blade. From what I now understand, there are several different models of the LT18. I guess it makes a difference which one you have as to how well the fence will work with the saw.

[John Myers]

Brent,

I got my saw over the summer, so I'm sure it's the same one you have.

One other thing about mounting the Driftmaster is that there are two mounting bolts that come with it, but it also has a couple of extra holes in it for placing the bolt that is suitable for your saw. I had to change the hole the rightmost bolt was on to the hole on the fence that was closest to the leftmost bolt. This places the mounting bolts about 8 1/4- inches apart, something like that.

John