Tumbles1982 Posted November 11, 2013 Report Share Posted November 11, 2013 I searched for a Table saw for about 6 months and decided that I wanted about as high end as I could go, without requiring house electrical work. I'm in Australia, so this meant a 240v, 10 amp saw. In the Australian market, this left me with pretty much two choices. The Jet Proshop 10", and the Laguna Fusion. Both are what would be considered Hybrid saws. Turning to the internet for research (I live about 2 hours drive away from the dealers for each brand) I found a lot of information on the Jet, but next to nothing on the Laguna. However what sold me was the video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIqqwa2xJs4 and talking to the sales reps from each place. This is why I thought I'd put this review up, so that other people interested have something to look at! This is the first table saw I have owned except for a dodgy Ryobi table top unit that I took back because it wasn’t straight. Therefore I have nothing to compare against, but fair to say I am very impressed! I’l save the in depth specs details for the Laguna website (http://www.gregmach.com/Machinery/Saws/Table/FusionRip.html), but the quick summary is: 2hp induction motor (some info says 1 3/4 but this Australian one is definitely 2hp). Trunnion mounted blade guard and riving knife supplied. Bessy style T fence. Cast iron top AND wings. Full cabinet construction with integrated wheels and cabinet (not table) mounted trunnion. Cost: $1590 AUD (the same as the Jet Proshop). The saw arrived well packaged in a plywood crate, with the fence and fence rails packaged separately. This is probably to allow swapping between the 36” and 52” fence options. I got the 36”. There was also some funny Taiwanese cereal wrapper that the cabinet was resting on. Unpacking was a simple single man procedure due to the inbuilt wheels. I just used a scrap bit of wood as a ramp a wheeled it right off the crate and into position. Note though that the wheels are braked in the crate so you want to check the manual to see how to unlock them, rather than just wonder why the wheels are so stiff like me! Everthing was in mint condition except for some scuff marks on the cabinet on one face that rubbed out easily enough. The wings and fence attached about as easily as expected. That is to say its not easy to do solo, but is quite possible. I made maximum use of my builder’s spirit level to make sure the fence rails were flat and parallel to the table top as I screwed them into place. The wings and fence rails all just used bolts to attach. They needed a tiny bit of manipulation to hold in place as the bolts were done up but in general the alignment was very good. No bolts or washers missing and everything went together smoothly. Next I went through the calibration. I checked the alignment of the the blade to the miter slots, the rip fence to the miter slots, the 45 and 90 degree blade stops, the vertical alignment of the rip fence, and the alignment of the miter gauge. Overall everything was great. The left miter slot was -.002”, the right was +.001” to the blade. The 45 and 90 degree blade stops were bang on. The fence was -.01” so I adjusted that to -.005”. The miter gauge was out by only .1 of a degree at 90 degrees. The only thing that was a bit iffy was the measuring tape on the fence. Firstly it was stuck on slightly crooked, although the effect of this over 60 cm was negligible. It was also stuck on further down the fence rail than ideal. This meant that whilst the manual said the left end of the fence should be flush with the end of the left wing, I actually had to sit it slightly further to the left to ensure that the 0 mark on the tape was sitting in the right place. The overall result is that my 36” fence is probably only about a 35” useable fence. I fitted a Freud Fusion blade because the original blade was pants. Check out the quality of the carbide brazing (had to have the Fusion blade to go with the Fusion saw!) and prepare to power the sucker up. Damn! Turns out the plug had a 15 amp earthing pin rather than a normal sized 10 amp pin! Fair to say I was most disappointed in this, but then an idea came. I just connected it to an international adaptor plug. This had a larger slot for the earthing pin (probably for british plugs) and plugged straight in. I know that sounds a bit dodgy, but I used a quality outdoor power board with RCD protection (only the table saw attached) so I effectively had three circuit breakers in the line in case of trouble. I also know that 2hp is just under 1500 watts and 1500 watts at 240V is an amp draw of 6.25A. Plenty of fat allowing for initial power on spike. Sure enough the saw started up no worries and I was into my first cut! I just did a quick crosscut of some pine with the stock throat plate and wow. Just the faintest tear-out and very fine blade tracks. Tomorrow I’ll be into some Meranti and other random Australian jungle wood. That should test out the circuit breakers more but I am 100% confident that it won’t be a problem. I’ll update this once I start ripping some hardwoods and really start to test it out but day one impressions are that this is an awesome saw. I know the US market has more variety in this price bracket (around $1300 USD). However here there are far fewer choices and the Saw Stops here are just stupidly expensive (double the price for the contractor saw). I am very impressed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted November 11, 2013 Report Share Posted November 11, 2013 Welcome to the forums Tumbles! Great review! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumbles1982 Posted November 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 Here's a couple more photos. 1 showing a plastic laminate cut. I really like that Fusion blade! The other is the stamp on the side of the motor showing 2hp and less than 10a rating. I just took delivery of a dado stack today so will see how the saw goes with that. I've had no issues with the full kerf blade so far. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBaker Posted November 18, 2013 Report Share Posted November 18, 2013 Really nice saw, Tumbles. Welcome to the forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Wilson Posted November 21, 2013 Report Share Posted November 21, 2013 I have also just purchased the Laguna Fusion from GregMach. I have to say that I am really impressed with the build quality. I just have one issue. The tape on the fence appears to be out a long way. Could you please show me a pic of yours showing your placement of the fence rail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumbles1982 Posted November 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2013 One of the photos in the review post shows me holding a ruler to it. It's way out. The real effect in terms of inaccuracy is very small though. Having said that I am investigating replacing it with stick on tape. I'm just looking for one that's got both inches and cm and looks like similar to the original. Or I might just lift it and stick back down straight I haven't decided yet. Did you get yours in the latest batch or had it for a while? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Grondin Posted August 4, 2016 Report Share Posted August 4, 2016 My laguna fusion came with the tape seperate with a sticky back that you peel and stick yourself. Great review, I love this saw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted June 13, 2017 Report Share Posted June 13, 2017 3 minutes ago, shaneymack said: Get bent buddy, no one cares about your clickbait crap. Take a hike. Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk Now that's what I call friendly! And well deserved. Morning Shane, Try and keep yourself outa trouble today. It really is nice to have you back. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted June 13, 2017 Report Share Posted June 13, 2017 43 minutes ago, shaneymack said: Get bent buddy, no one cares about your clickbait crap. Take a hike. I'm glad Shane has decided to assume some of my workload around here. LOL 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim DaddyO Posted June 13, 2017 Report Share Posted June 13, 2017 Nice to hear of your experience with the saw. I am likely years away for replacing my '86 Craftsman contractors saw, but this one is on my short list of saws I am considering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted June 13, 2017 Report Share Posted June 13, 2017 42 minutes ago, Eric. said: I'm glad Shane has decided to assume some of my workload around here. LOL Curmudgeon in training. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted June 13, 2017 Report Share Posted June 13, 2017 I though Canadians were supposed to be nice? Did Shane move to Arkansas? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post shaneymack Posted June 13, 2017 Popular Post Report Share Posted June 13, 2017 1 hour ago, Llama said: I though Canadians were supposed to be nice? Did Shane move to Arkansas? I being nice to everyone else on this forum by trying to get that loser off of it. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted June 13, 2017 Report Share Posted June 13, 2017 I apologize to all the good people here, but I deleted Shane's post above because it still contained a spamming link from an individual that has since been banned. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted June 13, 2017 Report Share Posted June 13, 2017 36 minutes ago, Chet K said: I apologize to all the good people here, but I deleted Shane's post above because it still contained a spamming link from an individual that has since been banned. FWIW Chet...you can edit other people's posts. Not that it matters because these are all junk posts anyway...but for future reference...you have a hatchet and a scalpel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gee-dub Posted June 13, 2017 Report Share Posted June 13, 2017 2 hours ago, shaneymack said: I being nice to everyone else on this forum by trying to get that loser off of it. Booyah! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronn W Posted June 18, 2017 Report Share Posted June 18, 2017 I have the fusion saw, or I should say the 2014 version of it. It has been great. I replaced the tape though since the one it cam with was way off. Not just out of place - it was out of scale. Great coustomer service with Laguna. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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