Laguna 14-Twelve Bandsaw Guides

I don’t know if my experience will help you or not. I had cool blocks on my Delta BS and I didn’t like them because they wore rapidly and did not hold the blade in alignment very well. I put ceramics on and I have been pleased so far. As I recall, they were about $30 for a set of 4 blocks; not cheap, but it didn’t break the bank. I haven’t use them long enough to judge how long they will last.

It took me a few tries to find the best fit for my hand to adjust the lower guides. Annoying but not impossible unless you have gorilla si

I had a pm 14 inch bandsaw I regret sell it because it was good saw. The only complaint I had are the guides were bearing style. If I cut a lot of pitchy wood they coated the bearings very time consuming to clean them.
One day I just decided to leave off the lower guide bearings.
The saw cut just fine without them.
I used to also have a laguna 16 inch bandsaw with ceramic guides I like they way they scraped the blade pitchy wood didn’t affect anything.
My point you can probably run your lower guides out from the blade and see no difference in the cut. If you start seeing pitch building up then make them close.
Good Luck

-- Aj

Getting some good feedback so far… thanks guys.

It took me a few tries to find the best fit for my hand to adjust the lower guides. Annoying but not impossible unless you have gorilla si

- Meisterburger

+1

You can also move that lower adjustment knob to the outside (right) hole which makes it much easier to reach. The only time you’ll need to move it back to the other hole is if you are going to make a cut with the table tilted which is the reason I think, that it comes with the knob in the left-hand position.

My saw is going on 3 years old and the guides have held up well.

As I’ve said before, I am the unofficial president of the 1412 fan club. I love that saw.

-- Andy - Seattle USA

I had ceramic guides on my Delta and the were fine, so I looked at the Laguna. Too many threads on them being fiddley and slipping. So I would up with a Harvey. Love it. ( Ricon was second choice. Jet and Griz were not even close)

For resaw, with a good saw, set up correctly, you don’t need the guides very close. I am surprised how far I have set mine.

My woodworking club shop has a laguna 14” bandsaw the guides have been nothing but trouble. The saw has been down several times in the year the club has had it. I have the Rikon 14” deluxe easiest blade guide adjustments going. The school I taught at had Delta, Grizzly and powermatic the rikon has them a beat.

My woodworking club shop has a laguna 14” bandsaw the guides have been nothing but trouble. The saw has been down several times in the year the club has had it. I have the Rikon 14” deluxe easiest blade guide adjustments going. The school I taught at had Delta, Grizzly and powermatic the rikon has them a beat.

- Woodmaster1

That is a very interesting point of view. Of course, I would expect any tool used by a club to have a lot of issues due to the varying levels of skill and expertise by the members. I will say that I have been very happy with my small Rikon (Craftsman) saw, for what it is. Maybe I should take another look at their 14”er. Both are very sexy saws to look at in the store, but it remains to see which one is the prettiest in my shop.

I had ceramic guides on my Delta and the were fine, so I looked at the Laguna. Too many threads on them being fiddley and slipping. So I would up with a Harvey. Love it. ( Ricon was second choice. Jet and Griz were not even close)

For resaw, with a good saw, set up correctly, you don t need the guides very close. I am surprised how far I have set mine.

- tvrgeek

I read one review where the writer was having problems with not being able to tighten the guide knobs enough to keep them from slipping, and I think one comment in that review agreed with him. But I tried them today at the floor display and they at least seemed to lock down tight pretty easily on that model.

The Rikon was on my list because it was favorably reviewed and had 2 miter slots on the table but I still went with Laguna. I have never had to adjust it. It cut dead straight with zero adjustments or drift right out of the box 3 years ago and still does.
Short review here.

-- Andy - Seattle USA

The Rikon was on my list because it was favorably reviewed and had 2 miter slots on the table but I still went with Laguna. I have never had to adjust it. It cut dead straight with zero adjustments or drift right out of the box 3 years ago and still does.
Short review here.

- Andybb

That was you, huh? I watched it a couple nights ago! Thanks for making it.

It took me a few tries to find the best fit for my hand to adjust the lower guides. Annoying but not impossible unless you have gorilla si

- Meisterburger

+1

You can also move that lower adjustment knob to the outside (right) hole which makes it much easier to reach. The only time you ll need to move it back to the other hole is if you are going to make a cut with the table tilted which is the reason I think, that it comes with the knob in the left-hand position.

My saw is going on 3 years old and the guides have held up well.

As I ve said before, I am the unofficial president of the 1412 fan club. I love that saw.

- Andybb

There are some issues that Laguna should have addressed with this saw and this is one of them. If you move the knob to the outside hole the table will only tilt about 10 degrees before hitting the knob, I replaced this knob with a bolt that is just long enough to tighten the guide and still short enough to let the table tilt, have to use a wrench on it though.
You definitely need to use more caution with the ceramic guides, you do not want the teeth contacting the guides, it will destroy the blade and maybe the guides instantly.
As others have said, i set the top guides and the bottom guides are set back and wide, I do set the bottom thrust guide to keep the blade fro putting to much stress on the top thrust guide. I use this same technique with my other bandsaw that has bearing guides as well.

You definitely need to use more caution with the ceramic guides, you do not want the teeth contacting the guides, it will destroy the blade and maybe the guides instantly.

- Davevand

Where did you hear that? The guides are there to “guide” the blade. The blade is going to always come in contact with the guides every time you use it, otherwise, there wouldn’t be a need for guides of any type. The guides are either touching or are spaced about a dollar bill’s distance from the blade. The rear guide will contact the blade every time you push a board through the saw as it also should only have a slight gap between it and the blade. Every time you use the saw the blade will come in contact with the guides. Also, since teeth should be forward of the guides the teeth will not touch the guides.

-- Andy - Seattle USA

“you do not want the teeth contacting the guides”
The blade will contact the guides

“you do not want the teeth contacting the guides”
The blade will contact the guides

- Davevand

Yes. I missed that part. Sorry.

-- Andy - Seattle USA