Biscuit joiners

[Jervisekken]

I am looking for a biscuit joiner which I will use now and then for small projects and when glueing up wider boards (for aligning). i will not make cabinets from plywood and biscuits for example.
I see that the choice is between cheap "obscure" brands around £ 50 and the well known quality brands at 3-4 times that price, or a Lamello at still more.
The question is of course are the cheaper ones good enough?

 

[Ironballs]

Only one I have experience of is the DeWalt, does pretty well though getting the fence set to 90 degrees was more of a fiddle than I would have liked

 

[OPJ]

If you're only doing 90º joints and are happy to work off the base of the machine then, I reckon you could get away with using a cheap biscuit jointer now and again. I wouldn't trust the fences though - in my experience, they need shimming in order to get them parallel with the blade and, no matter how hard you tighten them, they will almost surely move. :?

I managed to get an almost-new Makita model for £130 on eBay earlier this year and I'm very happy with it.

 

[Mr Ed]

I have a Lamello C3, which is excellent quality. I don't actually use it that often, but its a real pleasure when I do - it has a real feel of quality to it. Mind you, at the price you'd be expecting it to make tea to go with the biscuits! :lol: (sorry couldn't resist the joke...)

I figured that the company who would make the best biscuit joiner would be the one who invented them, hence my choice of Lamello. I have not been disappointed.

Never used any other makes, so can't really comment, but I'm sure other people can make them to a high standard as well. Accuracy is important, as to make biscuits an easy to use timesaving technique the accuracy needs to be right, or they're more trouble to fit.

Cheers, Ed

 

[Digit]

I've got the Axminster one, now discontinued, and it is excellent, with the fence acting as a door stop that is!

Roy.

 

[maltrout512]

I have a freud which is the same as trends. Had no problems with it and yes it's in the mid price bracket. Have you a router and thought about the cutter for doing the joints. I have not used one so can't compare between the two. Just a thought.

 

[fossil]

i have a Mafell LNF20 fantastic piece of kit :wink:

does what it say's on the tin ( of biscuites ) :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Argee]

I am looking for a biscuit joiner which I will use now and then for small projects and when glueing up wider boards (for aligning). The question is of course are the cheaper ones good enough?

The thing about using biscuits for glueing up panels is that, unless you want to do a lot of sanding afterwards, the alignment needs to be spot on. The two things that suffer on the cheaper models are fence quality/accuracy and cutter run-out. Run-out would at least be consistent, but using the fence for aligning could be a nightmare. However, if - as suggested - you use the jointer without the fence, on a flat surface (as shown below), you'll probably be OK.

Ray

 

[Paul Chapman]

I use an Elu DS140

If you don't need a fully adjustable fence, then it's a great machine - very well made and very accurate. Elu no longer exists but it's still available as the DeWalt DW685K

Further details here http://www.dewalt.co.uk/powertools/prod ... no/DW685K/

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[chipchaser]

There are several threads containing information and members experience on this site. Try searching for Biscuit Jointers to turn them up.

There are a couple of reviews also worth looking at

Taunton, Fine woodworking review at:

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ ... it+Joiners

and PlansNOW review at:

http://www.woodnet.net/plansnow/review- ... inter2.pdf

You need to subscribe to get the full review from Fine Woodworking but the free info is quite useful too. As you will see the Lamello has better parallel accuracy than all the others but it is much more expensive.

I bought a very cheap Aldi jointer which will be ok for me. It is accurate enough for me working from the base rather than the fence. There is play in the sliding assembly that allows the blade to be advanced to make the cut but I think that can be minimised by careful use.

If I could justify spending 8 to 10 times more than the Aldi cheapo I might have bought the Bosch or Makita which appear strangely similar to one another!

 

[Racers]

Hi,

I have the Makita one, its very good I can't fault it, but I haven't had a play with a Lamello and don't intend to (just incase I gat the hankering for one)


Pete

 

[Michael7]

Take a look at this post with regards to what is said about the Clarke BJ600

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... t&start=15

I'm waiting for one to arrive through the post. SWMBO has been asking for wardrobes for the bedroom for ages.

 

[busy builder]

If you have a decent 1/2" router then why not get a biscuit cutter ? around a tenner.
Cheapest option by far.

 

[13eightyfour]

Ive got the milwaukee 710 and so far its been great, nice and accurate easy to adjust. Id agree with bb though, if your only going to use 90* joints then a cutter for the router has to be worth a look.

 

[neilyweely]

I have the T20 and have found it to be great with straight or 90' joining. I haven't tried it for anything more adventurous yet, and maybe I will never need to. However the only reason I bought it was because it was available for 20quid, otherwise I was going to get the Clarke BJ600 (have used one and they are very good). Be sure to get the correct model though; there is a more powerful yet inferior model.

Before I got the Trend I always used the Router table, and had no problems at all. For simple joints on small projects it is perhaps easier on the router table. However I recently made some speaker boxes that stood 1.5metre tall. The RT just wouldn't be practical.

There are rarely bargains to be had in the powertool market; I think the Clarke BJ600 is one of these rarities!

HTH

Neil

 

[jedmc571]

Hi Geir

I have the JS102 made by Freud, it's identical to The Trend one, I've used it a lot and had no problems, that is of course till I cut the top of my left index finger off with it!
Dust extraction is very good, all said and done it's a well put together tool, good locking fence and accurate.

Now this is a real long shot, I'm sure their are many "Geir's" in Norway, but.........You didn't happen to work in the Uk for Stokke?

Good luck with your decision

Jed.

 

[chipchaser]

Hi Jed,

that sounds terrible. I thought these things were fairly safe, how did you manage to do that?

Hope its somewhat better now!

Regards

Graham

 

[Krysstel]

I also have the Trend T20, recently purchased, my first biscuit joiner. Have previously used a biscuit cutter in my router but never found it satisfactory.
However, I have made some test cuts with the new T20 and am rather disappointed with how loose the biscuits are in the slots. Sounds stupid maybe but with a biscuit cutter in a router the biscuits were a tight fit in the routed slots making the joint quite accurate and solid.
It almost appears that the biscuit joiner blade ought to be 3.5mm not the standard 4mm.
Does anyone else experience this "problem" or is it normal and I'm maybe doing something wrong ?

Geir, if you reads this - note my location !

 

[alg]

Hi Krysstel
Dry biscuit should be slack allows for expansion when soaking up glue.Cheers

 

[Krysstel]

Yes I see your point. Thanks for quick answer. I'll continue with the first job I actually bought the machine for.