Chems
Established Member
I got the chop saw, used one very similar to it at the weekend and for just a simple clean cut can't go wrong for £20! Will unpack and test tomorrow.
Aldi offers 9th October 2008
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Chems
Established Member
The chop saw does what it says on the tin for £20, the laser is good an batteries are included. There is a little bit of play in the motion but nothing you can't clean up after.
TheTiddles
Established Member
Chems":23wm1nq7 said:
Well apparently it does suck...
Aidan
Chems
Established Member
lol, I'll give you that one.
chipchaser
Established Member
Hi,
bought the Aldi biscuit jointer. It does work quite well but having a little trouble with producing consistent height of cut.
First the scale is poorly designed and badly made. The scale is 4mm off. I could unscrew it and re-fix it but not sure there is enough length in the plate bearing the scale to allow this.
Second having set the height using a rule to measure centre of blade to sole of fence I measured 8 slots and found the slots out of parallel with the face from which I was working (0.4mm in width of biscuit) and slightly varying in distance from working face (1.3mm variation).
The box says the tool has micrometer adjustment but not so. There is a screw to adjust height of cut but there is about 1.5mm backlash due to sloppy fit of the washer and circlip at the bottom of the screw.
The fence angle adjustment is ok but the scale is distant from the reference arrows cast into the machine so an accurate reading is unlikely. The pivot of the fence has play in it which probably explains part of the inaccuracy described above.
I don't like the plastic plate clipped to the bottom of the fence, what happens when it breaks or is damaged?
For £20 I am being too picky but i think i may be frustrated with this after a while so may take it back.
Would anyone suggest a better moderately priced machine? Luthier 49 liked the Erbauer ERB900 from Screwfix and Streepips liked his Clarke BJ600 from machine mart.
I am not likely to use this often so cannot justify a Lamello or DeWalt
bought the Aldi biscuit jointer. It does work quite well but having a little trouble with producing consistent height of cut.
First the scale is poorly designed and badly made. The scale is 4mm off. I could unscrew it and re-fix it but not sure there is enough length in the plate bearing the scale to allow this.
Second having set the height using a rule to measure centre of blade to sole of fence I measured 8 slots and found the slots out of parallel with the face from which I was working (0.4mm in width of biscuit) and slightly varying in distance from working face (1.3mm variation).
The box says the tool has micrometer adjustment but not so. There is a screw to adjust height of cut but there is about 1.5mm backlash due to sloppy fit of the washer and circlip at the bottom of the screw.
The fence angle adjustment is ok but the scale is distant from the reference arrows cast into the machine so an accurate reading is unlikely. The pivot of the fence has play in it which probably explains part of the inaccuracy described above.
I don't like the plastic plate clipped to the bottom of the fence, what happens when it breaks or is damaged?
For £20 I am being too picky but i think i may be frustrated with this after a while so may take it back.
Would anyone suggest a better moderately priced machine? Luthier 49 liked the Erbauer ERB900 from Screwfix and Streepips liked his Clarke BJ600 from machine mart.
I am not likely to use this often so cannot justify a Lamello or DeWalt
chipchaser
Established Member
Hi again,
no recommendations for a more accurate cheap biscuit jointer so I persevered with the Aldi offering. I tried adjusting the machine by loosening the four screws that hold the fence to the front of the jointer but without success.
Next move was to take it back to Aldi and explain that it was out of alignment. I don't think the assistant understood what I was trying to explain but was happy for me to try another one and didn't even look in the box of the one I bought back.
This machine is a copy of the Porter-Cable 557 which got top marks in the PlansNOW review of Plate Jointers. Thanks to Scrit who posted this review which I found very useful:
http://www.woodnet.net/plansnow/review- ... inter2.pdf
The replacement appeared better as the blade seemed parallel with the bottom of the casting forming the front of the jointer but the plastic plate covering the blade was proud of the casting so the machine wouldn't sit level on its base. This was fixed by undoing the two screws holding the front casting to the sliding part and adjusting them to be level with one another.
I then tried to adjust the fence to be parallel with the base by releasing the four screws securing the fence and retightening whilst holding the machine square and tight to a piece of hardwood squared up in the planer thicknesser.
The screw retaining the fence in position was simply a bolt with the usual slightly ragged and sloping end left by rolling the thread. I carefully domed and polished that on the fine wheel of the wet grinder so that it doesn't try to adjust itself when tightening. Later I might fit a loose brass pellet or a ball bearing to isolate the holding screw from the rod on which the fence slides.
The screw which raises and lowers the fence has lots of slack as the last sample did but it isn't critical and I can add more washers behind the circlip if it annoys me
I adjusted both the angle scales to read 90 degrees when the fence was set using my hardwood square. I also adjusted the little hex headed grub screw 90 degree stop which the Aldi manual does not even mention!
The depth gauge on this sample was much better than that on the original purchase but what you need to know is that the scale reads relative to the centre of the blade with the plastic plate in place. The manual does not make this clear or maybe I have poor comprehension skills :wink:
I made some test cuts and found the out of parallel relative to the fence (without the plastic plate in place) was 0.09 to 0.17 mm. Out of parallel .
relative to the base or sole plate was between 0.01 and 0.04 mm.
Fine Woodworking tested b'jointers and found the Porter-Cable 557 was accurate to 0.005" (0.127 mm) and 0.001" (0.0254 mm) relative to the fence and base respectively.
The Aldi worst case of lack of parallel with the fence averages out to 0.13 mm so if I made a single biscuit joint for edge to edge jointing and assembled it the out of level at the face might be 0.26 mm or 0.34 mm at worst.
I am now happy with this Aldi jointer. From my experience of only two samples it seems that any problems of accuracy can be amplified by lack of care in assembly where they are not adjusted to achieve the best accuracy possible at this price point. There is still play in the sliding parts but I think that can be minimised by careful use keeping pressure on the body as it is slid forward.
The manual is very poor. The Porter-Cable manual is much better having 23 pages rather than the 17 sparse pages provided by Aldi. The P-C 557 manual can be downloaded from their web site.
In conclusion, for £19.99 I have an acceptably accurate Aldi biscuit jointer with a three year guarantee
no recommendations for a more accurate cheap biscuit jointer so I persevered with the Aldi offering. I tried adjusting the machine by loosening the four screws that hold the fence to the front of the jointer but without success.
Next move was to take it back to Aldi and explain that it was out of alignment. I don't think the assistant understood what I was trying to explain but was happy for me to try another one and didn't even look in the box of the one I bought back.
This machine is a copy of the Porter-Cable 557 which got top marks in the PlansNOW review of Plate Jointers. Thanks to Scrit who posted this review which I found very useful:
http://www.woodnet.net/plansnow/review- ... inter2.pdf
The replacement appeared better as the blade seemed parallel with the bottom of the casting forming the front of the jointer but the plastic plate covering the blade was proud of the casting so the machine wouldn't sit level on its base. This was fixed by undoing the two screws holding the front casting to the sliding part and adjusting them to be level with one another.
I then tried to adjust the fence to be parallel with the base by releasing the four screws securing the fence and retightening whilst holding the machine square and tight to a piece of hardwood squared up in the planer thicknesser.
The screw retaining the fence in position was simply a bolt with the usual slightly ragged and sloping end left by rolling the thread. I carefully domed and polished that on the fine wheel of the wet grinder so that it doesn't try to adjust itself when tightening. Later I might fit a loose brass pellet or a ball bearing to isolate the holding screw from the rod on which the fence slides.
The screw which raises and lowers the fence has lots of slack as the last sample did but it isn't critical and I can add more washers behind the circlip if it annoys me
I adjusted both the angle scales to read 90 degrees when the fence was set using my hardwood square. I also adjusted the little hex headed grub screw 90 degree stop which the Aldi manual does not even mention!
The depth gauge on this sample was much better than that on the original purchase but what you need to know is that the scale reads relative to the centre of the blade with the plastic plate in place. The manual does not make this clear or maybe I have poor comprehension skills :wink:
I made some test cuts and found the out of parallel relative to the fence (without the plastic plate in place) was 0.09 to 0.17 mm. Out of parallel .
relative to the base or sole plate was between 0.01 and 0.04 mm.
Fine Woodworking tested b'jointers and found the Porter-Cable 557 was accurate to 0.005" (0.127 mm) and 0.001" (0.0254 mm) relative to the fence and base respectively.
The Aldi worst case of lack of parallel with the fence averages out to 0.13 mm so if I made a single biscuit joint for edge to edge jointing and assembled it the out of level at the face might be 0.26 mm or 0.34 mm at worst.
I am now happy with this Aldi jointer. From my experience of only two samples it seems that any problems of accuracy can be amplified by lack of care in assembly where they are not adjusted to achieve the best accuracy possible at this price point. There is still play in the sliding parts but I think that can be minimised by careful use keeping pressure on the body as it is slid forward.
The manual is very poor. The Porter-Cable manual is much better having 23 pages rather than the 17 sparse pages provided by Aldi. The P-C 557 manual can be downloaded from their web site.
In conclusion, for £19.99 I have an acceptably accurate Aldi biscuit jointer with a three year guarantee
lurker
Le dullard de la commune
For anyone interested there are still a pile of these BJs in Blaby (Leicester) Aldi.
Woodmagnet
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I bought the router table today, a x-mas pressie from
my daughter , but i can't use it until x-mas .
my daughter
, but i can't use it until x-mas .andycktm
Established Member
Nice one kev. I hope your not pestering to open it early.
Woodmagnet
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