She's here, my new hot Italian beauty

[John Hedges]

Finally upgraded my bandsaw. A move I've been contemplating for about 6 months now. After a lot of research I decided on an Agazzani B-20 which was delivered Friday. I got it from Jesse at Eagle Tools, and they were a pleasure to deal with. They shipped it on Wed, and sent it 2 day so it wouldn't sit on a dock over a weekend. I got it on Friday in perfect shape. The thing was crated unbelievably well. I was blown away when I opened the crate. Having seen lots of pictures I was still amazed at how beefy and well constructed this thing is when I saw it in my garage. The american tool makers could learn a thing or 2 from the Italians starting with the connection. No more trying to fit a 10 or 12 gauge cord through an opening made for 18 gauge. And wiring it up was simple. Not like my Delta/Grizzly/PM tools where you had to be a magician to bend the wires into places that take a contortionist. Anyway, hooked it up and went to align everything and it was perfect right out of the box. Eagle tools gets an A+ for their pre shipment checkout and setup, everything was dead on. Next I ran a few test scrap pieces of hard maple through the machine resawing at about 7" and it fed like butter, and I could not believe how little sanding the resultant veneer was.

The table was interesting. Not a smooth polished surface but it had tiny ridges built into it (see final pictures). I think this will be a real sturdy setup, and I had no cosmoline to clean up, and I don't have to worry about any scratches. While I dont think I'd like this surface as much on a jointer, I think that on a bandsaw this will be very servicable. Anyway on to some pictures.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/hedgehog55/bandsaw/Crated.jpg?t=1207588809

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/hedgehog55/bandsaw/Setup2.jpg?t=1207588903

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/hedgehog55/bandsaw/Setup.jpg?t=1207589025

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/hedgehog55/bandsaw/table.jpg?t=1207589106

[alex grams]

Yikes, that is a monster. Let us know how it runs.

Nice jointer in the background by the way.

[Greg Robbins]

WOWSER!!! She is a beaut! You can do some serious resawing with that baby. :D

[Mitchell Andrus]

All you need is a few carbide blades.

What's the foot pedal for?

[Mike Spanbauer]

...

What's the foot pedal for?

Blade Brake. Something that large takes a while to stop otherwise.

mike

[gary Zimmel]

Mike

Nice score. Happy bandsawing

[David DeCristoforo]

Sweeeet...

"What's the foot pedal for?"

That's how you make it go.... don't forget, this is an Italian band saw... Saves electricity and you get exercise too...

DDYM

[Chris Parks]

Couldn't they find any more warning stickers?

[Greg Cole]

Hi John,
Very nice saw man. I work with all Euro machinery manufacturers at work... there are many things to be learned by the manufacturers to the far east & west.
I'd wager the lines in the table are to relieve some surface tension.... many metal working machine tables are not nice n smooth either, as a polished smooth surface and a little cutting oil creats one heck of a "vacuum".

Congrats.

Greg

[John Hedges]

Couldn't they find any more warning stickers?
I really like the one that shows the hand with the fingers cut off. Kinda universal, as even my non-woodworking buddies mentioned they knew what that meant.

[Mike Goetzke]

The table was interesting. Not a smooth polished surface but it had tiny ridges built into it (see final pictures).

Nice bandsaw - two DC ports!

I think the table sufrace condition it to reduce friction (less surface contact) and allow space for the dust (if any) that may try to get betwen the workpiece and top.

[Bob Marino]

Congratulations! I have the same one, bought a few years ago from Eagle Tools too. Agree with your assessments, both regarding the saw itself as well as packing and the service. Just top notch!

Bob

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Nice~!! The table lines are from the manufacturing process. They cut the table using an old school clapper scraper. Scraper Milling machines have never gone out of vogue. It drives a tool bit across the surface (like a snow plow) which pulls off a chip. The tool bit does not cut on the return trip so a clapper box lets the tool bit flip up on a hinge and drags across on it's way back.


It's a fine way to machine a flat surface and if done right it leaves all the heat from cutting in the chip and thus on the shop floor and not in the work. And that's a good thing.

[Alan Trout]

That is a beautiful machine. I worked for an Italian machine tool company for many years. That surface finish on the table is very typical of many industrial machine tools. It is sometimes referred to as a scraped finish. At least in years past this type of finish was produced on a "Planer" The planer had had a bridge over a table with a cutter that was stationary and the table would move back and forth and the cutter would move from side to side. Not sure if this is the way it is done today. Again congratulations.

Good Luck

Alan

[Narayan Nayar]

John,

Jesse must be doing well these days. I received mine a little more than a week ago and from the looks of it we ordered identical accessories.

You beat me to the set up pics--I'll have to redo some ductwork for the saw to make sense in its location.

Bellisimo.

[Karl Brogger]

I have a little Delta bandsaw. I don't use it very often. In fact, I kinda dislike the whole machine. These big bandsaws are giving me a bit of an itch to buy something nicer though.

[Roy Hatch]

Well, I suppose that's a nice bandsaw, but when I saw your title I thought of Gina Lollobrigida. Now you know how old that makes me. Perhaps some of you youngsters were expecting to see a Ferrari?

Congrats on the Saw. You could name her Gina.

Roy

[Rich Hoffman]

Nice, very nice. But you now have another problem. You need to upgrade your 8" jointer to match your band saw. :eek:

Happy re-sawing!!;)

[Robert LaPlaca]

John,

The Italian bandsaws sure are beautiful creatures, good luck with the machine.

I got to ask, how did you get that beast upright?

[Chris Pasko]

Incredible saw!

[Doug Shepard]

All you need is a few carbide blades.

What's the foot pedal for?

Nothing. But the parent company Maserati wont sell a sexy machine without a brake pedal.:D

That is one sweet looking saw. The 2nd lower dust port is nice. I wonder if I could fit one on my MM16 in the same place????

[John Hedges]

John,

The Italian bandsaws sure are beautiful creatures, good luck with the machine.

I got to ask, how did you get that beast upright?

With the help of 3 VERY LARGE friends

[Ben Rafael]

Nothing. But the parent company Maserati wont sell a sexy machine without a brake pedal.:D

That is one sweet looking saw. The 2nd lower dust port is nice. I wonder if I could fit one on my MM16 in the same place????

My single dust port does fine, I dont get any dust down there on my MM16. How's the dust getting down there on yours?

[Jim Becker]

Congratulations! VERY nice machine.

Oh, and a grind like that or a more swirled (Blanchard) grind is quite common on more industrial focused machinery. All my MM equipment is done similarly. Shiny = sticky sometimes...these grinds help keep things moving.

[Jack Camillo]

Sweeeet! Hey, did the lamp come standard? If not, where'd you get it?
I love my Italiano mado Laguno, but gotta admit, this is the first bandsaw picture that sorta possibly made me just a weee bit jealous. Oh, no, did I say that? Well, only for a second, anyway.

[Doug Shepard]

My single dust port does fine, I dont get any dust down there on my MM16. How's the dust getting down there on yours?

I dunno:confused: Dust elves?:confused: I cant be the only one though as I've seen pics of mods for a 2nd port, though I think they were all done through the lower door. The reason this post got me wondering is that the frame layout looks pretty similar. But I've got other things to keep me busy at the moment, so I'll start a separate thread when I get more serious about doing one.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Congrats! That saw was on my short list. May she serve you well!

[Narayan Nayar]

The lamp does not come standard. It's a good lamp as lamps go and mounts securely with bolts wherever you want on the saw (you drill a couple of holes). If I remember correctly it's made by a company called Moffatt?

It is a $59 accessory at Eagle Tools.

[Don Bullock]

John, now that's a band saw!!!:eek: Congratulations. SWMBO often asks if I'm done buying expensive tools. I don't dare mention that I want one of these.;):D Jesse at Eagle Tools is the very best. Since they are close to me I've toured their facility and have seen these babes in person. I bought my SawStop from him. He even did the "hot dog test" just for me while I was there.

[Chris Zenda]

Nice bandsaw - two DC ports!

I think the table sufrace condition it to reduce friction (less surface contact) and allow space for the dust (if any) that may try to get betwen the workpiece and top.


This is a common misconception regarding the finish on the top surface, I believe the finish is called hornbeam, It supposedly builds less stresses in the surface during machining and has nothing to do with friction.

[John Thompson]

Excellent BS John.. and you are quite correct Jesse is a pleasure to deal with...

Congratulations on a wise choice...

Sarge..

[Mike Heidrick]

Very sweet Italian saw!!! Looks like you are a Griz jointer owner. Was it hard not to buy a Griz bandsaw? I own the MM20 (bought it from a SMC member). I have never really seen a high end Griz bandsaw though.

[Rod Sheridan]

OK John, enough showing off!

Not only do you have a gorgeous bandsaw, I see green plants outside your shop, and I'm confused.

It's winter, there's snow outside my shop, no, the post does indicate that it's this week.......lets check the location.....CALIFORNIA!!!!!

Not only do you have a great bandsaw, you have summer all year long.

John, you seriously suck......................Rod.

[John Hedges]

Looks like you are a Griz jointer owner. Was it hard not to buy a Griz bandsaw?

Nope, actually my experience with the jointer led me away from Grizzly. I think as far as value price equipment goes they are great, but I have never been very impressed with the jointer. Since then I have gone a different route in upgrading my equipment, and been very pleased.

[Dale Osowski]

Very nice. I'm looking into the Agazzani line as well. From your research what do you prefer about Agazzani over MiniMax?

[John Hedges]

Excellent BS John..

Boy.... if I could count the number of times I've heard that

[John Hedges]

Very nice. I'm looking into the Agazzani line as well. From your research what do you prefer about Agazzani over MiniMax?

First let me say that I don't think you'd be disappointed with either. From what I've heard the MM CS is fantastic, as is Jesse at Eagle tools. I knew I wanted to run a carbide blade also so 20" was what I settled on. However, I am not a turner and wanted a BS for slicing veneer, so a huge resaw was not a necessity for me. Don't ever see a need for a resaw greater than 14" for what I like to do, and since the list on the Agazzani is almost a grand cheaper than the MM 20" the decision was easy. In addition I have heard of issues with the electrical on some MM machines, whereas I've yet to hear of someone having a problem with an Agazzani. Besides, if you look at ownership, Sam Maloof, Mark Duginske, James Krenov etc. seemed like a pretty impressive list of experts who chose Agazzani, but like I said they are both top notch machines so I cant see anyone being unhappy with either one. Guess it comes down to whether you need the additional resaw capacity and how much your willing to pay for it.

[Narayan Nayar]

John, hope you don't mind me chiming in on this too, as I too was deciong between the MM and the Agazzani and ended up with the latter.

For us on the West Coast, getting a saw here from MM distribution centers costs a lot. And in CA it's not offset by savings on sales tax because they have a sales rep here.

Basically, like John, I really felt like I was getting much more for my money going with the Agazzani. I got a great 20" saw delivered for just a little more than a great 16" saw delivered. And support is in my time zone, though from what I hear, all I have to do is feed this saw wood to keep it happy :)

[Daniel Parker]

Out of curiosity what is the mechanism to tilt the table?

[Narayan Nayar]

It's a lever and rack and pinion under the table.

[John Hedges]

Out of curiosity what is the mechanism to tilt
the table?

As they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Agazzani just changed this setup. They used to have a long locking lever under the table as a release mechanism. As you can see in the pictures it is now a nice handle, which can be tucked away, which is used to lock the table. The tilt is controlled by inserting a supplied Allen Wrench into the socket behind the lock (as seen in the picture). The Allen Wrench is massive which makes precise adjustments easy. As a test I placed my wixey on the table and then tried to adjust it to precise angles and was able to do so quickly. Also as a note this table is extremenly strong and stable. I think I could dance on it if I wanted to without it flexing a bit.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/hedgehog55/bandsaw/TrunnionCradle-A-1.jpg?t=1208542775


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/hedgehog55/bandsaw/TrunnionCradle-B.jpg?t=1208543081

[Will Blick]

nice looking saw! I have the MM20"... I always wondered what the differences was between these two saws the do look similar...obviously re-saw height is one, 13" vs. 20" on the MM.

But what made me go with the MM in the end was the weight difference... 200 lbs heavier... 760 lbs MM vs 460 lbs. Can anyone explain this weight difference??

[John Hedges]

obviously re-saw height is one, 13" vs. 20" on the MM.
Actually it is 14" not 13" (which is as much as I ever see myself needing)


Can anyone explain this weight difference??

Part would be in the motor which is almost a 5hp which will weigh a bit more. Also since the resaw is more the column is taller meaning there would need to be more steel (much like the additional weight of a riser block in a 14" saw only heavier)

Not sure if that accounts for all of it but it probably accounts for most. Basically the extra resaw requires a taller frame and more hp both of which can add considerable weight. It should be noted that this extra weight for the 6" of resaw does not come cheap as the MM is almost $800 more. Since I didn't need the additional 6" it just wasn't worth it for me.

[Will Blick]

Makes sense.... I guess the added column height causes it to be wider, which adds to the weight of the entire column, not just the added 6". I forgot the motor was bigger on the MM... The saws have a lot in common, I used to wonder if they come from the same factory.

It seems, Agazzani hit the sweet spot with this 20" saw, a combination of re-saw, throat depth, strong QUALITY build and favorable pricing. Of course, the Asian imports will always be less, but for a quality Euro saw, they sure have fine tuned their offerings...

[Ben Rafael]

Interestingly, the MM16 is about 70 pounds heavier than the 20" Aggazani.

[John Hedges]

Interestingly, the MM16 is about 70 pounds heavier than the 20" Aggazani.

Actually makes sense with the added 2" of resaw and the larger motor.

[Ben Rafael]

Actually makes sense with the added 2" of resaw and the larger motor.

Must be more than just that though for 70lbs difference. The ag has bigger wheels which must be at least some weight.