Wadkin AGS 10 Or Laguna Fusion 3 Table saw

[PostmanPat99]

Hi All,

I am looking at buying a decent table saw - choice is between:

1. Refurbed AGS 10 - obviously very solid and I know they are well thought of here. I do have a bit of a personal passion for old world manufacturing and looking after things. I have refurbed a lot of my hand tools, wear a mechanical watch, wax my Barbour jacket and work on my own motorbikes etc. Main downside is probably the dust - as this will be in a combined workshop where I also work on the bikes - so when I do, there needs to be minimal sawdust around.

2. Laguna Fusion 3 - Very well reviewed and for me - the decent dust collection and a few more useful features make this very appealing too.

The price is similar between the two so that is not a factor in the decision. All thoughts appreciated.

 

[Fitzroy]

Looks like you are thinking of spending c. £2k. Feels like a lot of money on an AGS10, which can be picked up for £300-£700. I have the AGS10 and whilst it's a great little saw it would have to be a pretty special refurb to persuade me to spend £2k on one, and I'd want some after sales service/guarantee if I had any issues with it.

Some things that frustrate me about my saw:
- The full length fence is great but getting it to run square front and back can be troublesome as the mechanism is somewhat agricultural. I have never been able to set it up the mechanism with sufficient confidence that I don't have to check the distance to the fence at the front and back of the blade before use.
- The original fence is not sufficiently flat/straight and I had to fit a sacrificial fence and plane it flat and square to ensure the inaccuracy in the fence did not result in rough cutting.
- The riving knife on my saw is not linked with blade height, you need to manually adjust the position when you change blade height, and remove it for any none full depth cuts. I think later models may have had a linkage such that the riving knife and blade both rise and fall together
- Dust management was not a design consideration for the saw, it just falls on the floor underneath. There have been several threads with user modifications to manage dust.

Please don't see this as a negative post about the AGS20, I love my saw but there are shortfalls which if I were to spend £2k on an example I'd hope had been resolved.

No experience of the Laguna so can't compare.

Fitz.

 

[Doug71]

Just saw this on ebay and thought I would throw it in the mix, it's a lot of saw for £1500 and I don't think you would have any problems with the fence flexing!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/17669610...E9GMTN&hash=item2923e89f0e:g:gWMAAOSw4pJnNY6R

 

[HOJ]

I bought a Laguna F3 a few years ago to add to my options, a couple of things that I have found very useful are the blade tilting away from fence (left) and

Spoiler

that it can take a dado head!

I have a Sedgwick TA450 as well, but having the F3 has made it pretty much redundant, unless I need to cut 6" stock.

 

[deema]

I believe @Sideways has played with both machines.
Wadkins are nicely built machines, their only foible is that the fence must be set by moving it towards the blade. You must not try setting it moving the fence away from the blade. So you wind it far enough away from the blade and then move it towards the blade to set it.

I’ve had a good look at the Laguna, it appeared to be a nicely built machine, not a robustly built as tge Wadkin IMO.

 

[Mike Fletcher]

I have an Axminster AT250SB (I think). The fence is superb, locks front and rear and stays where you put it. It cuts straight every time, and it is not difficult to set it parallel to the blade. I always adjust the fence while moving the fence toward the blade. There is a lot of space between the blade and the infeed end of the table. This is important (to me anyway) as it allows plenty of space to make sure the work piece has as much fence contact as possible. I also modified the dust collection by adding a full 100mm duct into the lower dust shroud. And, I opened up the take off port in increase the vacuum flow to the blade guard. Almost no dust.