Biscuit jointer.

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I’ve got an old Lamello biscuit jointer and despite it lacking the bells and whistles of some newer models, I find it brilliant at what it does. The key thing for me with biscuit joints (mainly on panel glue ups) is that the slot must be cut in exactly the same plane as the reference surface i.e. the surface the fence registers against. My old machine does this to within a thou’ (according to my calipers) and as such, combined with a solid fence that locks square, is more than good enough for my bodging. I’d therefore keep an eye out for a good used one the bay rather than risk a poorly made new variant.
 
I have an older-style Makita (blue all along the motor casing). It's excellent.

But I have heard, possibly from here, that they are now building down to a price point (and there have been quality issues).

You need the fence to stay true and square to the slot, and the slot to be accurately parallel with the base of the machine too. That and a good plunge and you're as good as it gets for a biscuiter really. If you can find an older Makita, go for it. People also highly recommend the DeWalt, but it is constructed rather differently, for example needs its baseplate aligning sometimes.

I couldn't say which is best, but the cheap ones can be out of true, which will be money wasted.

You also need dust extraction of you also want precision. Both the DW and Makita rely on the spinning cutter to move the sawdust when using a collection bag, and without extra extraction I find the slots can be a bit ragged. With DX all is crisp and fine.
 
+1 on the Makita, don't know why custard didn't include it in the list.
Mine has been faultless.


Pete
 
So now I'm curious. I have a cheap old Draper-branded biscuit jointer that I got second-hand; I gave up on the fold-down fence within about fifteen seconds of opening the box, and reference everything off the base-plate of the tool and a common flat surface (sometimes finding the common flat surface is the hardest part!). I haven't noticed any problems with the slot not being cut parallel to the base plate. If it makes any difference I only use Trend biscuits, which I've been buying in the big 1000-unit boxes, after finding the Erbauer ones didn't actually fit in the slot half the time. I connect one of those Lidl wet-n-dry vacs with the power take-off, and it seems to extract the chips with no problem.

Were I to buy a fancy expensive biscuit jointer as recommended in this thread, what improvements can I expect to see?
 
I think you have answered you own question. :)

I try as much as possible not to use the fence on the Makita. There's nothing wrong with it, but using the baseplate avoids my own mis-setting mistakes. On the occasions I have needed it, it's been spot-on and hasn't let me down.

It matters if the blade is parallel to the base, and it sounds like yours is.

I doubt that any manufacturer actually intends to make a tool shoddily, but some are a lot more cost-of-materials conscious than others (also cost of tooling and time in production). With the cheap stuff you _might_ get a good one, or perhaps not. One thing you are paying for in more expensive brands is consistent quality.

In biscuit jointers there is definitely a race to the bottom now, as most of the significant patents have expired. I've seen many "brands" of the same tool, presumably from the same Chinese factory. Unlike the copies of the Elu routers, you don't see several quality brands using essentially the same production line - the biscuit jointers are cloned at the low end of the market instead, as it seems to be becoming a volume (rather than value) business.

When the latest Makita came out, I wondered what they could possibly have done to improve on mine. Answer: nothing - as far as I can tell the latest one is a cost-reduction exercise. I imagine Makita thought they were being stranded in the middle of the price range - too cheap to be chosen by the quality-above-everything fraternity (who would go Mafell, Lamello, etc.), and too expensive to sell in big volumes.

There's still nothing obvious wrong with my earlier Makita model. It _is_ a quality tool (the build and finish on it are excellent), and I would guess it performs pretty close to a Lamello, but at around half the price when I bought it.

But people tend to shop by reputation or happenstance or price - it is relatively unusual for mid-low end purchasers to take the time and effort to try a range of items first (and anyway, cheap tools are not sold that way). We rarely make considered decisions as objectively as possible, and the manufacturers know that. Their first priority, _always_ is to make a profit and stay in business. As markets change they have to adapt.

It's similar to drills and other power tools: I think sticking batteries on everything remotely portable is expensive and wasteful, very bad for the environment (battery tools are horribly energy-inefficient and the batteries themselves are about as eco-friendly as an oil slick), and gives you a sub-optimal design in most applications, but Lithium-ion battery-powered tools are what the majority of purchasers with dosh now want to buy.

So, very soon I will be unable to choose from a range of corded tools - it will be battery-powered or a very limited selection of either really, really cheap corded (or niche high-end stuff).

Meanwhile, back at your biscuiter - the short answer is you would gain very little from swapping to something expensive, probably. If your work relies on being able to plant biscuit slots accurately , many times per day, every day, you'd appreciate the difference, not least in reliability.

It sounds to me, though, that you're using your biscuiter in the work pattern it was intended for. You don't care about the quality differences with more expensive models, and the manufacturer correctly predicted that.

Yours isn't a "wrong" choice either, in my view, just not the one I would make.

E.
 
If it's just for panel glue ups, you can buy router bits that'll cut a biscuit slot.
Does the job for occasional use, for under 50 quid.
 
I have one too. I found it impossible to use for biscuits, but it is handy (with different sizes of bearing) for making grooves, and occasionally rebates. The proper biscuiter gives much more accurate slots*, and lets you biscuit for shelves, etc. in the middle of a board, where you can't fit the router cutter.

You can also use a proper biscuit jointer for grooves and rebates. You don't hear much about this, but in my limited experience it does work very well. It got me out of a nasty difficulty repairing a wide window board (internal windowsill): I couldn't remove the board to work on it, but needed to make a rebate at the back, next to the window frame, where no other power tool would fit. The finished rebate was about 3/4" wide by about 3/8" deep (cut in narrow slices, obviously).

E.

*with the cutter used in a router table, the slightest wobble of the stock (which you move to the cutter) means an oversized slot and a sloppy joint that is quite weak, too. The radius also doesn't match the curve on the biscuits, meaning there are gaps and again weakening the joint. Altogether unsatisfactory (for me, anyway).
 
Just reviving this thread to ask people's opinions on the Clarke BJ600 contractors biscuit jointer.
I've searched on here and years ago they were getting good reviews but I'm wondering if this has changed.

In seriousness it's going to be used once or twice a year, maybe a little more.
 
custard":3hls86lc said:
The three biscuit jointers that I see in professional workshops are; any model from Lamello, the Mafell, and the one that is the top of the DeWalt range.
I also heard pretty decent things about the Makita, though I've never used used one. SWIMBO bought me one of the early C2 Lamello machines and although I don't use it much these days, it does on occasion see the light of day in the 'shop. Even so, it's worthwhile having it around and I wouldn't dream of flogging it - Rob
 
basssound":7vzut32y said:
Just reviving this thread to ask people's opinions on the Clarke BJ600 contractors biscuit jointer.
I've searched on here and years ago they were getting good reviews but I'm wondering if this has changed.

In seriousness it's going to be used once or twice a year, maybe a little more.

It's hit or miss with Clarke in my opinion, I've had Clarke stuff that lasted decades and some that lasted ten minutes.

If your expected usage is going to be very limited I'd be very tempted to get a 'biscuit jointer' router bit. It will prove far more useful beyond biscuit cutting and would allow you to buy quality tooling at a similar price to what the Clarke would sink.

*I appreciate you may not have a router but I suspect this is unlikely given your want of a power tool for this task.
 
Selwyn":26t29qnj said:
When will other companies start making a domino copy?


Festools IP runs out some time this year IIRC, I seem to remember reading an article about it recently, so should be a flood of copies over the next 18 months or so
 
Apparently (and this is heresay), Makita have "cost-reduced" their BJ a lot recently.

I have the old one (3901), and that is very nicely made - well machined and plunges smoothly. I have also used it for weird things such as cutting rebates (essentially as a plunging circular saw, which it is, basically). So that would be a recommend (from me, anyway).

If you were going to use one daily, reliability would be important. But even if you only use it once a year, accuracy is always important - biscuit joints aren't much stronger than simple rubbed joints, if at all. The biscuits aid alignment mostly.

I have also used mine to put splines across mitres of picture frames (out of sight at the back), and there, too, you really don't want a sloppy fit.

Given the above, I'd say anything that's not spot on (square fence, etc.) would be frustrating. The DeWalt apparently is adjustable, to align the cut to be parallel with the baseplate. My Makita is dead-on, so not an issue, but anything that's slightly off will be a real PITA to use and quite limiting.

Incidentally I try to always use the base to index from, rather than the fence's sliding stop, and prefer to run it on the benchtop, or another flat surface under the workpiece, if I can.

The Clarke may be fine - I've no idea - but I would want to inspect and test carefully the actual unit I'm buying. Otherwise look out for secondhand Lamello or one of the other higher-end makes - you should get the accuracy, which is the most important thing.
 
shed9":35cyea1p said:
If your expected usage is going to be very limited I'd be very tempted to get a 'biscuit jointer' router bit. It will prove far more useful beyond biscuit cutting and would allow you to buy quality tooling at a similar price to what the Clarke would sink.
*I appreciate you may not have a router but I suspect this is unlikely given your want of a power tool for this task.
Or for future versatility an arbor with the correct sized cutter - you can then add different sized cutters as needed.
 
I beg to disagree.

I have both a BJ and a slotting cutter for the router table. The latter is almost impossible to use successfully and very limited in what you can actually do with it.

You have to plunge the workpiece onto the cutter, dead parallel to the tabletop, and move it left-right very slightly to get a long enough slot for the biscuit. The curves of the cutter and the biscuit don't match, so there's a lot of empty space at either end of the biscuit. It's even worse doing the other side of a carcase joint as you're moving the workpiece sideways whilst balancing it vertically. At best you need a jig or a fence to keep it vertical. You cannot plunge in the middle of a board, obviously, so forget about using biscuits to hold shelves in place, or similar purposes.

With either task, any wobble gives you a sloppy fit.
 
I've never had any"wobble"- but I've never used a router table. There is no difference between the cut from a dedicated router cutter and a cutter on an arbor assuming it's the correct size, but the arbor is more use in other ways. You'll have a slightly different shaped slot than that of a dedicated jointer, but what difference does that make? It certainly doesn't justify buying a biscuit jointer for a very occasional use. I have a DeWalt jointer but I never had the slightest problem with either type of router cutter.
 
basssound":uc9o1yjv said:
Just reviving this thread to ask people's opinions on the Clarke BJ600 contractors biscuit jointer.
I've searched on here and years ago they were getting good reviews but I'm wondering if this has changed.

In seriousness it's going to be used once or twice a year, maybe a little more.


I got a BJ600 a while back, and I've found it very satisfactory, especially as I got it second hand, and it appeared unused.

I made a suplimentary fence for angled work, and try to reference we from the base plate when practical, but I've found it very accurate, once set up. Dust extraction works very well with a shop vac attached, though I did modify the connection so it is removable without undoing the baseplate (ok, I broke it... bit it's an improvement). Only downside is it's noisy, but I've nothing too compare it to, and it is basically an angle grinder...
 
Setch":ghj71qsd said:
basssound":ghj71qsd said:
Just reviving this thread to ask people's opinions on the Clarke BJ600 contractors biscuit jointer.
I've searched on here and years ago they were getting good reviews but I'm wondering if this has changed.

In seriousness it's going to be used once or twice a year, maybe a little more.


I got a BJ600 a while back, and I've found it very satisfactory, especially as I got it second hand, and it appeared unused.

I made a suplimentary fence for angled work, and try to reference we from the base plate when practical, but I've found it very accurate, once set up. Dust extraction works very well with a shop vac attached, though I did modify the connection so it is removable without undoing the baseplate (ok, I broke it... bit it's an improvement). Only downside is it's noisy, but I've nothing too compare it to, and it is basically an angle grinder...

Nice one, I think I'll give them a bell to see if it's still available, all I want to biscuits to do is align the board before screwing together as I'm doing quite a bit of MDF work soon, after that it won't see too much use.

To be hnoest I don't want to go down the route of a router and cutter, I'd like a biscuit jointer really.
 
basssound":1mfn1zeq said:
To be hnoest I don't want to go down the route of a router and cutter, I'd like a biscuit jointer really.

Fair enough, just throwing options out is all.

Have a search for other biscuit jointer uses. They can do more than just slots for biscuits. I very rarely use mine (have a Domino) but it has paid it's way over the years.
 
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