Laguna F3 52" table saw.

woodtickgreg

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I came home from my first day on a new job and as I backed I to my driveway I got a text from woodcraft, your order is in! So this will be a review of the whole experience, good or bad. First I waited over 2 months to get it due to covid and no one having any machinery.
Some damage to the top of the crate when picking it up from woodcraft, but I peeked I side and didn't see any damage.
20210427_165644.jpg
I pulled the corner of the plywood back and everything looked OK, fence was securely attached to the crate and was intact. 20210427_165653.jpg
I cut the shrink wrap of and removed the fence before the woodcraft associate loaded it up for me.
20210427_170116.jpg
I put the fence in the bed of the truck, it was heavy and I didn't want it bouncing around in the trailer.
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All strapped down and ready for the journey home.
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So how does one unload a 500lb saw by themself? A set of nice aluminum ramps and a dolly with big wheels helps. I pushed it off as far as I could and then dragged it down the rest of the way with the dolly.
20210427_182134.jpg
And its off the trailer and on the ground. Using the trailer instead of the truck bed put everything lower to the ground.
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And its in the garage on a furniture dolly. This is where it will stay until I sell my old saw, now I can list it.
20210427_184426.jpg
 

woodtickgreg

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You have no idea how badly I want to uncrate this bad boy! There's just enough room for me to get my motorcycle in and out.
20210427_184433.jpg
So I had to peak inside to make sure there was no damage from the crushed plywood on top.
20210427_185023.jpg
Can you say massive amounts of cast iron? The table top is huge, nicely ground and well covered in oil and plastic.
20210427_185237.jpg
The roof on my garage leaks so I covered it with a tarp.
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First piece is in the basement, the fence.
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52" rails, 50 lbs shipping weight.
20210427_190418.jpg
I'll add more as this progresses.............
 

Nature Man

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Congrats on getting it to your house! Canā€™t wait to see the setup and your report on how it works! Chuck
 

Wildthings

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Yeehaw!! It's gonna be a race as to who sells the old one and gets the new one up and running first!!

My money's on Greg. Wait did I say that!!
 

woodtickgreg

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Yeehaw!! It's gonna be a race as to who sells the old one and gets the new one up and running first!!

My money's on Greg. Wait did I say that!!
At least I pulled the top off and looked at mine, lol. :sarcastic: :sofa:
 

woodtickgreg

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Well today I thought I would at least carry some of the boxes for the saw downstairs to the shop.
So I uncrated the top and sides.
Back of the saw......
20210501_173949.jpg
Right side......
20210501_173957.jpg
Front........
20210501_174009.jpg Left side. Unlike most of the online reviews I have seen my saw came with both of the cast iron wings already bolted on. 20210501_174015.jpg
5 boxes of parts.......
20210501_174437.jpg
And the hose for the blade guard dust collector.
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First impressions are that it is well put together, fit and finish is very nice. The grind on the top is beautiful. The top has beveled edges too. The top is very large and lots of cast iron, well oiled and covered in a plastic wrap.
20210501_174542.jpg
Right side dust port and tool storage. And cast iron tilt wheel with a folding crank handle.
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I pryed some boards off of the pallet to reduce its size so it would be easier to get my motorcycle in and out.
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I cut the 2x4's back with a cordless sawzall.
20210501_181719.jpg
 
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woodtickgreg

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Then I realized the top would still be in the way so I removed the wings to reduce the size. I removed the motor cover to get to the 4 13mm bolts that hold a wing on. The oil on the top and wings cleaned off really easy. I used one rag to wipe the oil off and another rag with brake cleaner to finish it up so I could carry them around and handle them without getting all oily.
20210501_183937.jpg
Well since the wings where off I figured why not remove the top and carry that down to the shop as well. 4 bolts held it on.
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Really nice cast iron trunion assembly. Well greased and oiled. I'll clean some of the excess grease off before I put the top back on. The red tab is an arbor lock so you only need one wrench to loosen the blade nut.
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So since I reduced the size of the saw I figured out a place to put it in the shop and strapped it on to a dolly to get it down the stairs.
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My extruded aluminum ramps came in handy once again to get it up the first step and onto the landing.
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And now all the parts are in the shop.
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Motor cover and all the boxes of parts.
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The cast iron wings and top. I sprayed them down again with wd40 until I get the saw put back together and can wax the top.
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I didn't plan on getting it in the shop today, but once I started fiddling with it everything just kind of progressed. I still can't put it together though until my old saw sells and I get it out of the way.
I dropped the price on the old saw $100 down to $600 and ill take a reasonable offer.
 
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Wildthings

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Mine still looks like this!!
1619925129105.png

Well that's not true...it's off that pallet and on a Harbor Freight furniture dolly like yours
 

woodtickgreg

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Today I just couldn't stay away from the saw, I had to play with it. I started by wiping it down with denatured alcohol and wiped the excess grease from the trunions since it was easier to do with the top off.
Then I wiped down the center cast iron top section and mounted it back on the saw. I aligned the blade with the miter slot. I marked one tooth on the blade as a reference point. I just used a square to set the top, it came in super easy.
20210502_124442.jpg 20210502_124500.jpg 20210502_124517.jpg
Man the grind on this top is just beautiful.
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Next to re install the extension wings I clamped a block of wood to support one end while I held the other end and put the bolts in, kind of a third hand. I snugged the bolts and tapped the wings with a dead blow hammer as needed to get everything to line up and be flush before tightening every thing down.
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This was the only mark on the saw from shipping and the damaged crate, some scratches from the wood and staples.
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A little 600 grit Emory cloth and some wd40 rubbed it out.
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I think they ground this top after everything was bolted together as one piece because when I took it apart there was a burr at the seams, so I hit the seams with some 600 too and it smoothed it right out. Everything was flush but the burr raised. I also hit the 2 outside edges as they where pretty sharp after grinding. I don't know why the manufacturer didn't do that.
But those are minor sniggles, this top is large and beautifully ground.
20210502_134937.jpg
 
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Tony

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So how much are you offering for someone to come take your old saw away now??
 

woodtickgreg

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Since the top has been cleaned of any oil it was time to wax it to protect the top.
2 coats of Minwax.
20210502_135658.jpg
Wax on........
20210502_141156.jpg
Wax off....but with a buffer because I have one and it's easier, lol.
20210502_142845.jpg
Then I Leveled the throat plate. Just has hex set screws. I also adjusted the lock knob so it was a little more snug. The throat plate has some side to side play that I don't like, I'll fix that later somehow.
20210502_143510.jpg
The miter gage is pretty nice. Has a large rubber lock/handle, and the detent knob is also a twist knob for a rack and pinion.
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It has 2 quick release levers to adjust the extruded aluminum fence. The fence is nice and tall.
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It's very easy to adjust the miter fence close to the blade.
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It has adjustments to take up the slack in the miter slot and a "T" so the miter gauge won't fall off if you pull it back beyond the table.
20210502_145716.jpg
I took whatever play there was in the miter gage out in a few seconds.
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The extruded fence also has slots for attaching hardware for various jigs, stops, or holdowns one might make.
20210502_150032.jpg
It's a pretty nice miter gage for a factory made unit that comes with a saw. But for really accurate stuff I'll still use my incra 1000hd, which I'll have to re set up for this saw.
 

woodtickgreg

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So how much are you offering for someone to come take your old saw away now??
Someone is going to get a good saw for cheap! Lol.
 

woodtickgreg

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Next I found the blade guard, it was packed in its own box and in the box with the fence. It has a dust collection port and both guards move independently of each other. The guards can also be removed with just a twist of a knob so the splitter part and the anti kick back pawls stay on the saw.
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The thickness of the splitter is clearly marked on the guard and on the small splitter.
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It's super easy and fast to change from the guard to the riving knife splitter. It's one lever below the throat plate.
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Tool storage is on the right side of the saw.
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Riving knife and miter gauge provisions as well as the blade wrench. I put the miter gage in backwards because the high aluminum fence interfered with the blade tilt hand wheel.
20210502_150856.jpg
Found the owners manual in the box with the fence. Fence assembly will have to wait until my old saw sells so I can get the 52" rails installed.
20210502_150953.jpg
So unfortunately I'm at a standstill until I can make the old saw go away šŸ™ƒšŸ˜«
But it was a great day going over the saw and becoming familiar with it and setting it up. So far I'm very impressed with it. I did plug it in and turned it on, super smooth. I need to make an extension cord for it as it will use the same outlet as my laguna lathe, they have the same 220v 15amp plug.
 

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Since the top has been cleaned of any oil it was time to wax it to protect the top.
2 coats of Minwax.
View attachment 208246
Wax on........
View attachment 208247
Wax off....but with a buffer because I have one and it's easier, lol.
View attachment 208248
Then I Leveled the throat plate. Just has hex set screws. I also adjusted the lock knob so it was a little more snug. The throat plate has some side to side play that I don't like, I'll fix that later somehow.
View attachment 208249
The miter gage is pretty nice. Has a large rubber lock/handle, and the detent knob is also a twist knob for a rack and pinion.
View attachment 208250
It has 2 quick release levers to adjust the extruded aluminum fence. The fence is nice and tall.
View attachment 208251
It's very easy to adjust the miter fence close to the blade.
View attachment 208252
It has adjustments to take up the slack in the miter slot and a "T" so the miter gauge won't fall off if you pull it back beyond the table.
View attachment 208253
I took whatever play there was in the miter gage out in a few seconds.
View attachment 208254
The extruded fence also has slots for attaching hardware for various jigs, stops, or holdowns one might make.
View attachment 208255
It's a pretty nice miter gage for a factory made unit that comes with a saw. But for really accurate stuff I'll still use my incra 1000hd, which I'll have to re set up for this saw.
Oooh... pretty.... Frank like shiny saw!
 

woodtickgreg

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Well my old saw sold so now I have the room to finish putting the Laguna saw together.
I also put on my rockler dust hose fitting.
20210508_175305.jpg
The brackets for the fence storage are nice, vynil coated.
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They mounted on the back of the cabinet.
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Now it's time for the fence rails to be installed. Very heavy steel rectangular tube rails.
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Switch bolted on next.
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Storage brackets for the fence work nice.
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Next thing was to install the extension table. It's kind of cheap, vynil coated particle board. This is something I will upgrade later. I clamped a level to it to line up the edges while I tightened the bolts.
20210509_175745.jpg looks nice, the legs are kind of cheesy. 20210509_182128.jpg
The fence is very nice, heavy duty with a magnetic catch that holds the clamp lever up while you position the fence, its a nice touch. It slides super easy, has a place for the provided push stick. It's a heavy sucker when you lift it off the saw.
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The aluminum fence can slide forward and back, and lay down for a low fence. Very innovative.
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Okay so here's the bad. The manual is a joke, its actually for the f2 with some annotations for the f3. There is absolutely no information on how to install this fence which is completely different than an f2. No info on how to install the tables either. I just had to figure it out. There was a lot of pieces and brackets, just had to count bolts and bolt holes to try and make sense of it.
 

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That looks great brother, can't wait to hear how it runs!
 

woodtickgreg

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Next was the dust hose for the blade guard and the outfeed table. No information in the manual for them either, just figure it out. Come on Laguna you can do better than that. An incomplete manual that isn't even for this machine is unacceptable.
But I got the dust hose on and the mounting bracket.
20210509_183300.jpg
The bracket is nice, fits the hose well and holds it in place where you put it.
20210509_183308.jpg
Ok the outfeed table is kind of a joke as well. Better than nothing I guess but it's just a very small vynil coated particle board item, it's about 20x24. This won't be on the saw long. I'll be building a much larger one like was on my old saw. Something made from quality plywood and maybe a formica top again, and much better legs!
20210509_185441.jpg
So there she is all put together. It really is a nice saw even if the tables are not up to my standard, but that's an easy fix.
20210509_185457.jpg
I still have to check the fence for alignment before I use it, and I have to make an extension cord for it so I need to pick up a couple of ends, one male and one female, I've still got a bunch of 10 gage cords I can use. And I have to level it.
Overall I'm pretty impressed and happy with the saw so far. I like that I now have a decent blade guard and a riving knife. 3 hp will be a bonus too especially when ripping 2" hardwood stock. Ill see how the blade that came with the saw works but I can see myself getting some new Freud blades for it and a couple of zero clearance throat plates. Since it's 3 hp I can run full kerf blades too which are stiffer. The cast iron top is massive and ground very nicely. The trunion is beefy and rises straight up, it doesn't swing the blade up in an arc, I really like that. I like that it has an arbor lock so you only need one wrench to change blades.
So I only have 2 negatives so far, cheesy tables and legs, and a really crappy owners manual.
 
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