Wednesday of last week brought a delivery truck to my garage/workshop. on the palate was a MiniMax 16" (now designated the "MiniMax S 400 P"). Being a Festool junkie has made life difficult in some regards....like everything else is somewhat of a disappointment. Being of Italian Heritage I was expecting the Ferrari or possibly,the Lamborgini of bandsaws....what showed up was, at best, a Fiat. Fit and finish...not good. The first thing I did was cut my fingers on the casting flash on the upper wheel. This is my first real bandsaw so I guess my expectations were a bit high, but I kind of expected it to have things like a flat table....oh well I get to see how good or bad the service from MiniMax is!
I did get everything up and running and can't wait to start using it on a long list of projects.
Someone had asked if Laguna's Guides fit on this bandsaw, although their salesman was sure that they would easily fit, I can tell you with certainty (three hours worth of trying)....that they do not fit on this saw.
Onward
Brian

How depressing, Brian. I'm really sorry. I agree - I would have expected an Alpha Romeo at the very least. Please keep us informed about your dealings with the company. Hopefully once you get it tuned up it will do what you need it to do. I've been extremely pleased with my Laguna 14SUV, once I got over the condition it arrived in.

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I don't have as many Festools as Fred. Or Marcou's, or Brese's, or Lie-Nielsen's, or Lee Valley's, or Blue Spruce's, or Harold and Saxon's, or...

Brian,

I have had the MM16 since 2003 and it is a fantastic saw. Your expectations were not too high and I would jump all over the MM group to set you right. The Laguna guides fit easily on mine so I am really surprised by this. MM has their somewhat lower level bandsaw, I think it is the MM E16. Could they have slipped that in there instead?

Fred

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Poto,
Similarly, once I get over the saw not being up to my expectations, I'm sure it will be great, but some of the issues will have to be addressed.
I really haven't been exposed to many different machines and did as much homework as I felt I could have, but in the end I must complain that Festool doesn't make band saws.
I don't own a table saw and wanted a band saw that could handle ripping and re-sawing with ease. Hand tools are my preference, but getting the stock prepped has to be a job for power tools as time is limited.
I'm sure this will get the job done.....but riding in a Ferrari beats the hell out of commuting in a Fiat!!
Brian

Hi Fred,
I'm pretty sure that the MiniMax S400 P as it is now called is indeed the current model of the MM16, complete with the 4.8HP motor, but I'll attach some images so you can let me know what you think. MiniMax is no longer selling the E16 so I was told. Possibly they have changed the lower guides design on the saw, it was the lower guide that could not have the Laguna guide fitted to it's post. When I called Laguna's technical person he said that it does not fit that model of saw.
In the end, if it does the job, it will be OK.
Please do check out the images and let me know if it's like yours or not.
Thanks, Brian

Attached Thumbnails

         

Sorry to hear of your troubles, Brian. That is a bummer. My Grizzly G0636X worked great right out of the box.

Jim, I remember seeing the glowing review of that saw a few years ago. How is it on the resaw duties?

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Water separates the people of the world; wine unites them.

"If you have good manners and are well spoken, you can be welcome anywhere." -Mom, 1959

Hey Jim.....Yeah, but mine cost more than yours! ......?
I got to work with and on, the saw some this weekend. It will be fine in the end....I hope.
Brian

It's awesome! The El Cheapo Grizzly fence is more than adequate and is quote stout and the blade doesn't drift at all so no need to skew it. I don't have a single gripe about it, Alex. It was on special, I paid $2k delivered.
Sorry Brian, I didn't mean to hijack your thread.

Time for an update on MiniMax's service department.
While it (understandably) did take a while, MiniMax sent to Italy and found a flat table for my MiniMax 16. It arrived yesterday and was installed and adjusted last night......I believe this one is as flat as could be expected (within .001 across the whole table)!
Paolo, at MiniMax stayed on top of the matter and checked everything out before it got shipped to me.
The band saw is now up and running very well. Everything is flat, and square.... time to cut curves!