My Laguna 18BX Bandsaw: What I Love and What I Don't

#laguna #bandsaw #woodwork
In this video I take a closer look at my biggest purchase to date for the workshop, my Laguna 18BX bandsaw. It is fair to say I am a huge fan of this product and I take the time here to point out all of the things I love about it, but it also comes with its fault that also need to be mentioned.
As ever, thank you so much for your continued support in my disability woodworking adventures. Best Wishes, Leo Winstanley
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Videos related to this content:
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Benchdogs Rail Hinge:
• Installing the Benchdo...
I Finally Bought A New Bandsaw:
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Links to the equipment I use in this series. If any are linked to Amazon, as an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases made through these links:
O'SKOOL Featherboard for Bandsaw:
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[@Solvo1664]

Thanks for great review. Short note on the extractors, Axminster extractors are sold with ratings in Cubic Meters per Hour (M³/h), not the USA standard Cubic Feet per Minute (Ft³/min better known as CFM) AW82E is 1050M³/h which is about 618CFM, likely why you're feeling it's a little under powered. The AW153E is about 1012CFM though so for anyone considering this the extra £80 for the next size up extractor should be fine. Looks for anything that's over 1700M³/h.

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this. I’m going to pin this comment at the top as it contains excellent information for people like me who don’t quite understand topics like extraction 😀😀👍👍

[@JamesManCave]

When I grow up and become an adult, I want one of these!!!! Looks a lovely bit of kit that Leo

[@Hand-i-Craft]

😂😂😂. It is a fantastic machine pal and I’m really fortunate to own one 😀👍

[@pnwgrown_360]

I really love my 18bx. Just bought the supermax 37x2 and can’t wait to get it home !!! Laguna has been great so far !

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Great to hear and the supermax looks fantastic, hope it works out well for you 😀😀👍👍

[@QWERTY7773]

Glad to see you back Leo 👍

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Cheers QWERTY😀👍

[@dennismacwilliams196]

What A cool bandsaw...

[@Hand-i-Craft]

It is an incredible machine 👍😀

[@captainwoodworking1273]

Welcome back Leo… very nice to see you again

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Cheers Marco, starting to feel a bit better pal. Mindful I’ve still a long way to go but hopefully now on the right track 🤞😀👍

[@madeincrayford]

Great to see you in the shop again.

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Cheers pal 😀😀👍👍

[@eldoradocraftsman3733]

Great review Leo and Really good to see you up and about. 👍🏾

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Cheers Ash, very kind of you pal and much appreciated 😀👍

[@michaelblackmore883]

Hi Leo, great to see you smiling. Never mind the content your videos always make me smile and remember how lucky I am to have two working hands. Mike

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Thanks Mike, really kind of you 😀😀👍👍

[@ddurose1]

Cheers Leo. I think you have helped me make my mind up about the 14bx

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Cheers Dave, I’d be really interested to hear what you think about it if you decide to invest in one. They are fantastic pal 👍👍

[@sandyadams3538]

Excellent review, Leo! I have had the 14BX for 2+ years. Agree that the foot break is so great. The power and capacity was good enough for me. I have a Laguna 1 HP BFlux I have used for this and my planer and it has worked fine. Sounds like more HP is needed for the larger capacity 18BX. Welcome back!

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Thanks Sandy for your very kind comments 😀. Yes I’m definitely going to have to look at improved / more powerful dust extraction. My current one simply isn’t up to it unfortunately, but I’m stuck with it for the time being 👍

[@janarneberg9969]

Thank you for sharing! 😊

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Thank you 😀😀👍👍

[@vernsteinbrecker3759]

Great video, enjoyed watching it

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Cheers Vern 😀👍

[@deanbrown8980]

Great video bought one you give great fair reviews thanks

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Nice one Dean. Thank you! How are you finding it? 👍

[@deanbrown8980]

@@Hand-i-Craft got rid of my 25 year old lacuna what a difference

[@woodencraftsofquatt23]

Awesome machine

[@Hand-i-Craft]

It certainly is a fantastic piece of kit Ty 😀👍

[@projectrebuild908]

It's a beast.

[@Hand-i-Craft]

It certainly is Paul 👍👍

[@captainwoodworking1273]

Nice video love it ❤

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Cheers ❤️😀👍

[@WoodworkJourney]

I flippin’ love Laguna stuff. I’m not buying another tablesaw until I can get a Laguna (fingers crossed). The Laguna Uk chaps should be able to get involved with that blade guard thingy, they seem like top blokes.

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Cheers Dean and yes I totally agree about their machines. I haven’t seen the Fusion tablesaw up close but it looks a magnificent machine👍. I’m sure I’ll get my issue sorted, just a little disappointed it’s taking a while

[@idlersdream826]

Great review 👍

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Thanks Bill 😀😀👍👍

[@shaun30-3-mg9zs]

That is some bandsaw with a 3hp (2400-3000 watts) I bet it's got some go in it. The foot break it's a must, Good safety feature ,I would love a saw like that I think you got a good one mate. It' good to see you back Leo, hope you are doing well .A good review ,You take care and see the next video 😃😃🪚🪚🪚👍👍👍

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Sorry for the late reply Shaun, your comment was in the 'possible spam' folder that I hardly ever check! Yes it has some serious power pal, love it and a fantastic piece of kit. I'm doing ok thanks pal, recovery is a bit slow but hopefully well worth it in the long run👍

[@shaun30-3-mg9zs]

As long as you doing fine that's the main thing mate, see you on the next video Leo👍👍👍@@Hand-i-Craft

[@user-wu2ie1zj4p]

Leo - Good luck waiting for a replacement part from Laguna. I agree that they make some stellar equipment but their customer service stinks to high heaven. I watched you install your blade one handed prior to installing the blade on my 18bx. When I engaged the tension handle the block on the bottom of the upper wheel broke. They refused to replace the part under warranty. The company where I purchased is working with me to get the part replaced which I'm guessing is at their cost given the comments I've heard from other Laguna buyers and their experience when attempting to get warranty replacements. Now I get the pleasure of tearing apart my brand new 18bx to replace the broken part before I can saw my first piece of wood on the saw. For those of you singing the praises of Laguna, thank your lucky stars you've not dealt with their customer service. I'm an upbeat/positive person and I bought my first and last piece of Laguna equipment with this bandsaw just based on their poor customer service for such a high priced piece of equipment.

[@nick-laguna_UK]

Hello, This is Nick from Laguna Tools UK. Are you talking here about a UK purchase? We have no record of any outstanding issues such as you describe and we have only ever experienced a broken wheel block once, and in that case the customer received a new part FOC a few days later. We pride ourselves on our customer service, and if it is indeed a UK or Irish issue, please contact us and we will resolve it. We see you created your channel yesterday and I understand the name 'Gary Goldsmith' may be an alias, but we have no records of any dealings with anyone of that name or any purchases through our dealer network to that name. Your comment has been left on a UK video and is contrary to all the positive feedback we receive about how we deal with any issues should they arise.

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Gary, I hope the response from Laguna UK is a help to you. I was quite shocked when I read it as it doesn’t reflect my experience with Laguna here in the UK, or any other person I know who has bought from them. The customer service I have received from them has been outstanding 👍👍

[@user-wu2ie1zj4p]

@@nick-laguna_UK Nick, I purchased my 18BX from an authorized dealer in central Ohio. They are doing everything they can to get the broken part replaced. The problem is the part is shown/listed on the parts diagrahm but you cannot order that part from the website, part #PBAND18BX2203-22 (support block). The customer service rep in California that I spoke with indicated HE could get the part. I passed his contact info along to the local dealer and they cannot get an answer from the agent I spoke with nor their company contact with Laguna. The dealer is willing to stand behind the product in the absence of support from Laguna. The fact that Laguna ignores their attempts to get the broken part speaks VERY poorly for Laguna as a company.

[@johncorrall1739]

Looks like a great saw. I checked the price, and it's out of my price range. I'm saving for the record power sabre 350.

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Thanks for the message John and hope you manage to secure the funds soon for the Record Power 😀😀👍👍

[@TheWardagh]

Great stuff. Would love one of those. Any plans to make any bandsaw boxes? I love making them but they are hard work on my cheapo benchtop scheppach 😅

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Cheers Mark, have never made a bandsaw box before so would be a great project to try out 😀👍

[@QWERTY7773]

Leo i would be gratefull if you could hilght my post concerning your Mirka Deros as i had problems with mine but my post might help owners who own one which is out of warranty and don't want to pay a £200 repair bill here is what i wrote Don't know if this will help but i bought the Deros and used it for 4-5 years so out of warranty. Then it started playing up then one day (using the 125mm pad) it would stop working one Minuit it worked then when i pushed the paddle the red light would flash and nothing. So i unplugged left it then it would work then do the same. So went on here watched the videos stripped it down cleaned it but to be honest it wasn't that dusty as i always use my mirka dust extractor. Ran it with no pad worked fine then put the 125mm pad back on used it same thing happened. So more videos and research stripped it down again only this time i removed the plastic cover that surrounds the spindle (can't think its name) cleaned the fins which again wasn't that dusty put it back together only this time instead of the 125mm pad i put the 150mm pad on (less used) and it works now (i will keep u updated) Conclusion the only thing i can add is in one of the posts i saw said when somebody had a similar problem was they noticed the pad was worn but initially i wrote this off as when has a sander stopped working due to a pad. However i don't know whether my slightly worn 125mm pad has some how interfered with the brake that slows the machine down when you release the paddle or was it the cleaning that sorted it which i doubt as it was quite clean anyway hope this helps.

[@barry.w.christie]

For the price they charge I'd expect it to absolutely perfect and I'd be expecting them to fix things if they weren't working properly ... thanks for a no nonsense review of it 👍 Needless to say, I don't have that sort of money, but I do have the ability to build my own with similar specs for a shed load less 😀

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Thanks Barry, I hear what you’re saying about perfection. I guess with any premium product (car, electronics etc) there will always be a problem, but that shouldn’t be the case. I’d love to have your creative engineering brain to come up with cheaper alternatives 👍👍😀😀

[@barry.w.christie]

@@Hand-i-Craft It's basically the same as the metal one, only made out of wood ... the frame can be done in many different ways, the wheels are circles (easy), guides are ball bearings, bottom wheel fixed to bottom of frame ... top wheel is a bit harder as it needs an adjustment mechanism to tension blade and adjust tracking. My first attempt was using plywood and it's the lower wheel which is used to adjust tension ... it does work but it's an overly complicated mechanism ... going to build a new one at some point! There are plenty of homemade bandsaws out there, it's just deciding whether you want to use available plans, create your own from scratch or modify one to suit your purposes ... but if you can afford then by all means buy one (soo much simpler)👍

[@benjaqsonworkshop9974]

Very interesting and I cried a little when I looked back at my own tiny bandsaw but that's life I guess. Have you tried reducing the size of the outlet hole for extraction - a bit like a smaller vac nozzle increases suction (hplv) - to pull out the heavier particles? I've had some success with using a narrower pipe to increase sucking power on some machines.

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Thanks Ben, good suggestion here. One thing I had considered was reducing the size of the top port and using my shop vac on that one and the bigger extractor on the bottom port. Keith Brown has a similar set up with his table saw. It would be a bit of a faff, but possibly worth it on the bigger jobs 👍👍

[@eddyflynn213]

I'm convinced any chance Carl could do us a discount seeing as we are the uk shed of the year for 2023

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Be great if you could get a deal on one Eddy, it’d be a fantastic addition to the shed👍👍

[@andygardiner6526]

I would imagine with that design using both extraction ports you probably need a higher pressure extractor as there is nowhere for the air to enter the case from except the blade slot so no air flow. It would be very interesting to see what happened if you left the top hose port partially open and had full 4" extraction from the bottom as it would allow high speed airflow down through the cabinet and from the blade slot in the table insert and not allow the dust to settle. Using both extraction ports but having a heavily perforated table insert would do a similar thing. I see similar complaints about extraction performance from bench saw users who have installed zero-clearance inserts, effectively sealing up their machine cases, and wonder why their dust extraction performance drops ...

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Thanks Andy for the feedback here and offered me some proper food for thought 🤔😀👍

[@neilfraser6646]

CFM stands for cubic feet per minute of air movement

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Thanks Neil 😀👍

[@hellqvistdesign8016]

Every video I've seen on these Laguna saws talk about different, yet equally embarrassing issues. I'd never buy one of these machines... Ridiculous fabrication errors for "top dollar" like you mention. The sad truth though is that you gotta touch on around 2500-3000 pounds to get a good bandsaw and it's just this day and age. Paying top dollar for China manufacturing disguised in a fancy jet black clothing.

[@Hand-i-Craft]

Although there were a couple of issues I wasn’t too happy about, overall I’m really pleased with my investment. It’s a fantastic bandsaw

[@Fo-shizzle-my-nizzle]

Dude, bandsaws don't have a way to really collect dust - there's a huge open space between the deck and base outlet. Never going to fix that, same as a mitre saw.

[@ice4142]

Agree. I don't think a more powerful extractor will help

[@Hand-i-Craft]

This has two dust ports Ben, one at the top just under the bed and one near the bottom. I have a splitter and two 100mm hoses connected to the ports. I do think more power / suction would improve collection, but it means changing up my extractor which I can’t afford atm

[@Fo-shizzle-my-nizzle]

@@Hand-i-Craft Ive the same dust ports, Ive a 2hp blower on the end of it and it makes very little difference, there's two problems the dust extractor is a HVLP, what comes off that saw needs LVHP, the other is the port is to far away from the actual cutting action for either HVLP or LVHP, the only way to make any difference would be to seal off the area between to table and lower bearings, then changing the blade is an issue, so's getting the blade to cut plumb.