# Nice lathe, too bad it's got a few issues



## ras61

Is it made in China?


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## robscastle

rest assured it would be, ... have a look at the documentation


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## TheDane

Looked at this lathe before I bought my Powermatic 2014 … glad I went with the PM. Had it for going on 6 months and not a single problem or complaint. More money, but a lot less grief.


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## dorald

I can relate somewhat to what you're saying Glen. I have a smaller Laguna, a Revo 1016 but I didn't purchase it. Actually my wife won it in a raffle a few years back. I had been thinking about purchasing one but only real experience with turning was wa-a-a-a-a-y back in high school shop so no real hurry.

After fooling around with it for a while, more and more came back tome from those ol' shop days. Even though this was "free", just the $$$ for a few raffle tickets, I really don't look for projects to turn. Really not happy with it. Too many things need "adjusting" and/or alignment. No torque to speak of. Went ahead and purchased the extension for outboard turning before really thinking a out it. Relied on the name too much. No reversing. Speed changing OK but could be better.

I agree that it is a good looking lathe BUT beauty is only skin deep as they say.

I wish you luck and success in making the corrections and adjustments my friend.


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## MadMark

Can you put a dimension on the offset? Have you tried different centers? Can you buck it out as you tighten the tailstock?


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## Sark

That would really bug me. Can it really be adjusted to be centered? Or is the misalignment part of the superstructure, and you need to replace the whole unit? Keep bugging Laguna till you get some satisfaction. I think their stuff is made in Eastern Europe…or it use to be. Hopefully it's still under warranty.


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## mel52

Possible metal shims in the right spot might bring it into alignment. Mel


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## wood_fox

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

I don't think it's made in China (the build quality itself is good), but I haven't been able to find a country of origin on it.

It is out about 2-3 thou in both the front/back and top/bottom directions when tips are close. At a full spindle length, that difference will be greater.

The headstock has some unfortunately placed set screws that can be adjusted to bring it into alignment. Good that they put them there, bad that I have to use them. They are tucked away in an ungodly place to get to, so I haven't taken the time to do this yet. As a hobbyist, I'm more interested in making stuff than fixing tools, which is why I went with a "higher end" lathe.

This is my 3rd laguna tool - I have an 8" jointer and a bandsaw. The jointer worked well off the hop but the gears for moving the fence front/back never really worked well. Not a big issue since I rarely move my fence, but an issue nonetheless.

My 14" bandsaw (laguna 14" SUV) is pretty good. I've had issues with drift that I think relate more to me being able to properly set my blade and guides than a problem with manufacturing. I had a laguna blade on there that was warped from the factory and laguna, without many questions, replaced it for free, so I can't knock them too hard. I'm just disappointed on a few things with this lathe, enough to make me question my purchase. After my buyer's remorse settles and I have my headstock properly aligned, I'll probably forget that I had my undies in a bunch over lathe issues.

Take care everyone!


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## Buck_Thorne

I've never owned any Laguna tools, but have seen them at Rockler and Woodcraft so assumed they were reasonably decent, if not high quality. Sounds like I maybe made an assumption that I should not make? Are they trouble?


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## mike02719

I bought a Lagtuna 1836 two years ago. Have had absolutely no problems. Your alignment issue is common and Laguna has a remedy for it. I adjusted mine with no difficulty. Not sure if your model will be as easy. I have known other owners of lathes made in China that have had similar issues caused by shipping and handling. American made lathes do use products made in China and other countries so no one is assured that they will never have complaints.


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## wood_fox

Buck - They are good quality tools but they sometimes have issues that customer service isn't always great at helping with. They have a history of bad service, not bad tools. As mentioned, I own a jointer and bandsaw by them as well. When I got my SawStop everything was 100% out of the box. Same for my planer (Powermatic). With my Laguna Tools I feel It's like buying a high end car but the seat wobbles or the radio knob falls off. You'd expect more. The car is still good, but it's frustrating that it's not 100%.

Mike - Yes, Laguna sent me the remedy. It's an annoying thing to align, the tech said flippantly "you may have to remove pulleys to do this" without any discussion of how to do that. From what I can tell it would require a bearing puller and a lot of time I don't have. The bigger units have an easy "precision point" means of lining things up - 4 bolts and an Allen key is all you need. I wish mine had that. Oh well - I guess I'll get to know my lathe inside and out.


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## Sark

Glen, your observation of a Laguna tool being like a high-end car where the seat wobbles, is spot on. Laguna is a high-value vendor where for the price you get a lot of features that would cost a lot more if you bought the tools from the more established vendor. So it's like the lowest cost luxury sedan, one that's fully equipped but the detailing found say in a BMW or Mercedes just isn't there.

15-18 years ago I bought a Laguna Sliding Table Saw. What a nightmare. I had to threaten Laguna with a lawsuit in order to get them to pay attention. Ultimately the owner of the company drove to my house (I live in Orange County) and swapped out the motor himself. When that didn't work, he came back and swapped out the pulleys for a matched set. That cleared up the vibration. Since that solved the problem, he took out the high-end motor and replaced with the original cheaper motor. That worked for quite a while till the wiring burned out on it.


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## TheDane

Here's why I don't see myself buying any more Laguna tools.

Five years ago, I bought a 2hp Laguna cyclone dust collector. The manual provided with the machine didn't match, so assembly involved a lot of guess work.

About a year after I installed it, I began to notice dust accumulations on the top of the bin. On closer inspection, I discovered that the hose that connects the cyclone to the collection bin was full of pin holes. I called Laguna's tech support, and the tech admitted there was a design flaw in these machines in that the dust and chips are abrasive and wear away the interior of the hose on their way into the bin. They sent me a replacement hose at no charge, but installing that damned thing is a royal pain.

Then about a month after the warranty expired, the motor started squeaking and wouldn't start. It it would begin to spin up, but would kick the overload protector off. If I got the overload to reset while the motor was still spinning, I could get her to start and run. I called Laguna, and the tech told me it was probably bearings, and I should order a new motor (about $500). Unfortunately they didn't have any motors "in the country" and didn't expect any for 6 to 8 weeks.

I found a guy with the same model that had a "new in the box" motor in a city a few hundred miles away for $100 plus shipping. Why did he have an extra motor? His machine died while under warranty, and while he waited for Laguna to ship him a motor (they were on backorder then, too), he discovered that the centrifugal switch had failed. He replaced the centrifugal switch and all was good before his replacement motor arrived. Rather than ship it back to Laguna, he sold it to me.

I installed the replacement and took the original motor to a motor shop … they determined the problem was a defective centrifugal switch, so for another $85 I have a spare motor.

The last week or two, the replacement motor motor is starting to squeak, and I notice that the dust is starting to show up on the top of the bin. Any one want to guess what the problem is?

So to me, it comes down to this. If you want to spend your time fixing machinery that you paid good money for and waiting on backordered parts, knock yourself out. I would rather spend my time using the machines in my shop to enjoy my time there. That's why there are 2 Powermatic lathes in my shop (a 3520C and a 2014), and soon there will be an Oneida Supercell dust collector. I'm done with Laguna.


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## MadMark

Sounds like Laguna is the Harley Davidson of wood tools. Rides nice but bits keep falling off.


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