Biscuit Jointer And Radiator Cover Making?

[pollys13]

This morning I started to think about making radiator covers. I did a quickish Google to look at various design ideas and how toos.
MDF seems quite a common material and used with a biscuit jointer. Also downloaded a couple of YouTubes and had a quick look on radiator cover making posts on the forum.

I've had a brief look at some of the reviews on Amazon. I'd be interested to know members views, experience with biscuit jointers.
Features I should be looking for, as I say thinking of radiator covers but more sophisticated feature, if anys might come in handy for more ambitious projects in the future.
I see on Ebay, is Neilsen 900W 100mm Electric Biscuit Jointer Joiner Router Cutter 11000RPM £46.57 £10 less than Amazon.
Do biscuit jointers ever come up in Aldi and the other place?
Cheers.

 

[MikeJhn]

I think the Silverline, Silverstorm and Neilsen are all clones of each other: https://www.tool-net.co.uk/p-338971/sil ... 0woddtIHuw, I have one of the Neilsen's, but I don't think its going to last long, the castings seem rather crude and the fence angle guide is pressed metal would not take much to bend or break it, but saying that the 135 deg facility is a definite advantage when joining mitred corners.

Mike

 

[custard]

Fine Woodworking ran a test a few years ago on a number of biscuit jointers, they did something that's blindingly obvious but I've never seen repeated elsewhere. They cut a biscuit slot with each machine and then measured how parallel it was to the reference surface. If I remember correctly the only machine that was perfectly accurate was the Lamello, and I think they also concluded that the top of the Bosch range was acceptable even though it was very very slightly out of true.

What does that mean in practise? If you joint together two boards at right angles the Lamello would give you a perfectly flush joint, with the Bosch almost perfectly flush. All the others would leave a slight ridge. Is a slight ridge acceptable? That's up to you to decide. But if you want real precision that'll stand up to heavy professional use, as well as something you can easily re-sell in the future and get your money back, then buy a clean, used Lamello.

Good luck!

 

[Bodgers]

Personally, I wouldn't waste your time with a cheap biscuit jointer. They live and die by their fences, and the few I tried were all bad in that they moved about and offered little repeatability. You are basically better off without one.

Sent from my MI 3W using Tapatalk

 

[MattRoberts]

I got the erbauer biscuit joiner - cheap as chips. As custard says, it can do the job, but the boards were rarely flush, which requires a fair bit of planing / sanding to level out.

As is almost always the case, you get what you pay for.

 

[MikeJhn]

I have found the Neilson to be accurate enough to provide a good joint when joining panels at right angles to each other, now this may be because the slots cut by all biscuit jointers are oversize compared to the biscuit to allow it to expand once the glue is applied, this expansion obviously has a bearing on how your panel will be once it has gone off, but in practice I have found this has not happened and have had perfectly acceptable joints, I also have a Porter Cable 557 and the difference is quite noticeable when using it compared to the Neilson, but still the joints are very similar, but you can't expect professional results from any cheap tool, but perfectly acceptable is achievable with a little work.

If joining flat panels end to end or side to side I use a router table with a slotting bit this provides perfect accuracy and flat panels, never had to carry out anything but superficial sanding.

Mike

 

[pollys13]

OK thanks people.

 

[Eric The Viking]

I've had a Makita (240V) for about six or eight years. I really like it.

I note Custard's comments about the accuracy of the Lamello, but I find the Makita pretty good, although I've not used it a huge amount - it's certainly parallel to the reference surface at any rate. It's also got a decent length rubber-covered cable, which I value.

The oddest thing I've ever done with it was rebating the window edge of an eight foot wide window board - I couldn't take the board out (without doing a lot of damage), and it needed a filler piece to be let in accurately, as it had a varying gap left behind by uPVC window fitters years earlier. I ran the jointer upright, with the base running along on a bit of 3mm MDF, protecting the window frame, and the fence sliding along on the window board, cutting an 8' long slot vertically downwards.

I made overlapping passes, packing out 3mm more from the window each time, until I had enough of a rebate to let in some more softwood and screw it in place while it glued. It worked pretty well: there's a hairline step in the board now and a clean, parallel, narrow crack next to the UPVC. That will finally get filled with caulk next time the window board is painted (probably this year), but it's hardly visible (white uPVC, white window board).

When I've done odd-angled joints, mainly for MDF jigs it's been great. I have also used it to groove for for invisible splines at the back of picture frames (you have to make your own "biscuits" for that, to get the grain direction right).

[edited]It's actually Japanese (just checked - it says so on the label -got muddled earlier). I thought it was British, as Makita make a few power tools here, it seems, including their rail saw, and the belt sander I have.[/]

One final thought: I get much cleaner slots when it's connected to the vacuum. The dust bag is handy for awkward things, but it clogs easily. There's a bit of tearout on the 'trailing" end of the slot if I use it with just the bag (not the sides, just the end. It's probably because it's usually cutting softwood though.

E.

 

[MikeJhn]

Good point Eric, I consider it essential to use a vacuum on the biscuit jointer when machining MDF as that is what the OP is considering, also some kind of power assisted mask if your vacuum is not powerful enough to suck it all into the container, together with a very efficient filter inside the vacuum.

Mike

 

[Roughcut]

I've got a Dewalt biscuit jointer.
I must of had it for 10 years now and it has been faultless, accurate and the dust extraction is decent too.
I've also used the biscuit jointer for running a 4mm groove in cupboard door rail and stiles to accept a decorative panel screen, which worked well.

 

[pollys13]

Eric The Viking - Sounds quite a versatile bit of kit.
Thanks for input, MikeJhn and Roughcut.

 

[MikeJhn]

One additional point, the more teeth on the blade the finer the cut, I changed my Porter Cable one for the DeWalt: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0013LHYFE/ ... 71_TE_item made a world of difference to the cut and the extraction.

Mike

 

[pollys13]

One additional point, the more teeth on the blade the finer the cut, I changed my Porter Cable one for the DeWalt: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0013LHYFE/ ... 71_TE_item made a world of difference to the cut and the extraction.

Mike

OK thanks for that I noticed was quite a difference in prices for replacement blades from different manufacturers. So think can use different blades with different machines, as you did.

 

[Paddy Roxburgh]

Pollys13 I have a biscuit jointed in my cupboard of power tools that I never use. I will have to check tomorrow when I go to work but I think it is a Makita and last time I used it (3 years ago?) it was fine. I want to have a big new year clean out at the dry dock and am going to ebay the tools I don't use. If you're interested then let me know and I will test it tomorrow. You can have it for less than the price of a new Nutool, we could negotiate after I check it (I'm not even sure it's a makita).
Now for my normal sales technique of trying to persuade you that you don't want to buy the thing I want to sell (I'll never be a business man). I have a Domino which does everything a biscuit jointer will do (and much more), but to be honest I never found it to be a solution to much of my woodworking needs and it sat idle long before I got the Dom. I prefer to edge joint without any fixings and just align with a soft hammer when clamping and for situations where tenons or dominoes are not suitable I prefer to use dowels either with a simple homemade jig or just drilled from the outside as you might with a screw or a nail, it wouldn't suit everyone but I quite like the look of exposed dowels as long as the spacing is even. Saying that some people find them very useful and I never use MDF (apart from templating).
Paddy

 

[pollys13]

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