ok, so a few months ago I picked up a used Minimax MM24 bandsaw. This particular saw was manufactured about 5-6 years ago, so it's fairly new. I had been thinking about buying one and this one came up on craigslist so I went and got it.
So first, let me start with the good things I can say about it:
1. Lots of power. It can drive a blade through anything.
That's about it for the good things.
I'm particularly miffed today though because I recently had Louis Iturra extend a Woodmaster CT blade that I had for my old Jet. He added around 3' to the blade to fit the Minimax. Problem is I gave him a blade length using the manufacturer sticker on the saw - which is wrong! Say what? Anybody else notice this phenomenon with Minimax? Apparently my blade length is 196" instead of the sticker which says 176-180. Fabulous job there by minimax.
The other things I hate about the saw:
1. Table is nowhere near flat. At the front of the table where the blade kerf is, there is a dip of around 0.022" (actually 0.018" on left side of kerf, 0.022" on right side). Manual says there are some bolts underneath that allow you to flatten the table but the table is dead flat between the bolts. Any change of those bolts is not going to fix flatness issues at the edge. The table also drops about 0.010" directly behind the blade.
2. Dust collection is abysmal. There are 3 big holes on the very top of the saw which reign sawdust on me while I'm using the saw. I have a 5 HP cyclone and I am running probably 1000 cfm at the bandsaw. I even made myself some cardboard to wrap the blade so that the majority of air is drawn down and across the blade immediately below that table. That helped, but I still get dust floating down on me. It seems to be coming out of the kerf in the spine where the blade runs.
3. The fence is mediocre at best. Trying to just tap it over is futile because of the way it locks and unlocks from the rail. Once you back off the screw handle, it's a lot more like to pivot on the bar than to actually move.
Based on everything said here, I figured getting a minimax would be the last bandsaw I ever needed. I guess if I had it to do again I'd go for the Agazzani which I was eyeing for a while. Oh well, life goes on, even though I haven't yet achieved bandsaw nirvana.
Reply With Quote