bisuit jointing with a router

[J_SAMa]

i'm about to make a cabinet to house all my tools. i thought it would be a good chance for me to try and biscuit joint some pinewood edge-to-edge and see how well they work. i do not know if i will use biscuit joints frequently, so i dont wanna waste my money on a dedicated biscuit jointer and thought that my plunge router might be able to do the job with a slot cutting bit.
is this possible? will a normal slot cutting bit do the job or do i have to get some other sort of special bit?
if you have done something like this please tell me about it, thank you
Sam

 

[Louise-Paisley]

It's possible but not quite as good in that the slot will not conform to the biscuit shape as well, not sure how much difference that makes to the strength.

 

[chippy1970]

Yes you can get a biscuit cutter set and you change the bearing size to change biscuit size, they are basically a slot cutter as you say. You would then need a 4mm straight cutter to do slots on the face of timber, this is where a biscuiter works better.

Try www.wealdentool.com

 

[mseries]

I don't have a biscuit jointer either and use my router to cut the slots. I used a Trend biscuit jointer set which I bought years ago or a cheap Silverline 4mm slotter with one of three bearings to get the depth right. (I mislaid the Trend slotter so got the cheaper one recently). Do you mean edge jointing to make wider boards ? I have done this many times and it works well. I always square and straighten the edges with my router so that the adjoining boards are a perfect fit, the glue will do it's work and the biscuits just really help with alignment during glue up. I 'edge' both board simultaneously so that even if my straightedge that guides the router isn't 100% straight, my edges will be parallel which is the important thing. I usually do the slotting in my router table so the bearing isn't really needed, it;s just used to set the fence. Layout the adjoining boards, mark them up so that they stay in the same order, slotter height roughly central, cut the slots face up or down, one or the other, Job done. I find it quite satisfy and not really cheating at all (cutting T&Gs in much more satisfying though !!)

 

[MARK.B.]

You might try Aldi they had some for £25 , not the best in the world but good enough to spend just a couple of quid more than buying seperate cutters,its so much quicker and easier as well.

 

[AndyT]

I bought a biscuit cutter from Axi - a bit like this one and used it perfectly successfully to make some lightweight framed doors. I think it was cheaper than this one though - they have changed their range of router cutters - but there must be others around.

 

[SurreyHills]

I have used both - the router biscuit cutter bit does an OK job. It can be a bit fiddly to set up and you need to be careful with narrow boards to keep the router level. I have since switched a biscuit cutter and it's so much easier to set up and the level of control is miles better.

 

[Stormer1940]

I'm sure I picked my biscuit jointer up on ebay for £40 :shock: . Came from a workshop clearance... Has been going for years now...

 

[J_SAMa]

i understand that the biscuit joints cut by routers will be a fiddly, i just wanted to try it.
will this set work fine? it comes with bearings and everything i need for cutting biscuit joints
http://www.axminster.co.uk/axcaliber-bi ... rod803506/

 

[Phil Pascoe]

In some cases, of course, you could groove the whole piece and put a loose tongue in - the biggest problem with using a router is that you make the groove far to big for the biscuit, which might weaken the joint slightly.

 

[baldpate]

i understand that the biscuit joints cut by routers will be a fiddly, i just wanted to try it.
will this set work fine? it comes with bearings and everything i need for cutting biscuit joints
http://www.axminster.co.uk/axcaliber-bi ... rod803506/

I started out on this route several years ago, buying a Trend biscuit joint cutter. I found it inconvenient, to the extent that I often didn't use biscuits where they might otherwise have been appropriate, because of the time it took to set up the cut. The problem was that the cutter doesn't automatically make the correct shaped slot/groove with a single cut : you must move the router/cutter to the left/right by a rather specific, controlled amount to make a half-oval groove which matches the profile of the biscuit. I found it awkward to use, and that discouraged me.

I have recently invested in a Clarke biscuit jointer, and I find I use it much more because it is so much simpler and more accurate. I still have the 4mm router slot cutter, and it may come in handy one day, but I have yet to find a use for it.

 

[chippy1970]

Why don't you try wealdens like I said :roll:

Ask anyone on here they will tell you wealdens are great. I've got a biscuit cutter set from them an 8mm set for my small festool and I've got an old trend 1/2" set for my big dewalt. The wealden set is better and much cheaper too. I've now got a proper mafell biscuit jointer but still use the router for cutting long biscuit slots ie kitchen worktops

http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Onl ... t_138.html

 

[SurreyHills]

The Axi set looks expensive. As others have advised try the Wealden set, but if you plan on doing much work in future with biscuits invest in proper biscuit jointer. The cut accurately and the right size slots.

 

[Eric The Viking]

I have both. Now I've got a good biscuit jointer, I wouldn't want to go back to the router table setup. I'll keep the cutter for slotting, but I think it's a poor compromise for biscuit joining itself:

For a start, the radius doesn't mat ch the curve of the biscuits. This means if the slot is long enough to take the biscuit properly, it has gaps at the back at the ends. Secondly, if you fidget at all with the workpiece on the table the slots end up oversize - this isn't such a problem with a proper biscuit cutter. Finally, lining things up is much harder using the router table method, as there's no definite mark on the machine to work to.

Nothing I've made so far with the joiner has had any problems, but a shelf I made of deal strips (for the bathroom), using the router table method has split along the joints (in several places). That might be humidity, or the quality of glue used (cheap bulk PVA - I now use Titebond II almost all the time), but I think there was just too much play in the biscuit joints.

E.

 

[J_SAMa]

Why don't you try wealdens like I said :roll:

Ask anyone on here they will tell you wealdens are great. I've got a biscuit cutter set from them an 8mm set for my small festool and I've got an old trend 1/2" set for my big dewalt. The wealden set is better and much cheaper too. I've now got a proper mafell biscuit jointer but still use the router for cutting long biscuit slots ie kitchen worktops

http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Onl ... t_138.html

hi chippy,
is that all i need for cutting biscuits? nothing else is required?
Sam

 

[chippy1970]

That and a router :grin: but as others have mentioned once you cut the slot you need to move the router slightly to the right to elongate the hole otherwise the biscuit won't fit.