Biscuit jointers.

[garywayne]

Hi folks.

I have a cheap biscuit jointer given as a present. Great I thought. That will came in handy. Set it up, make gash type things in wood, put both pieces together, hay presto------They don't line up.

The depth gauge fence has a cog mechanism on one side, and a guide on the other. When I set the depth up, the fence sits at an angle. So when I cut the slots and put the pieces together they actually cross each other rather than line up. To ponce about and set everything straight takes so long it would be quicker to dowel it all. So I am looking for a not to expensive biscuit jointer that cuts straight. Any suggestions.

Thanks for listening to my ravings.

ATB Gary.

Sorry chaps. Just realised, wrong place.

 

[Colin C]

Hi Gary
I have a question for you before you get a new one, have you tried taking the fence off and gettting it straight as it might have been put on wrong.

 

[OLD]

Use inexpensive depth guage to set up fence same both sides, good jointers are expensive £200+.

 

[Colin C]

Sip also do one for £50 I think that has had some good reveiws here

 

[Philly]

Gary
One way to get use from your BJ is to reference from the bottom surface of the jointer (i.e. put the BJ on the workbench as well as the workpiece-should work well for most work)
Otherwise it's shopping time (if you find you can't sort out the fence)
Cheers
Philly

 

[LyNx]

As Philly has stated, place your boards face down and use the bottom surface of the jointer. Alot of the time, is alot quicker this way too.

BTW, i had the same problem with my first machine, fence is in land fill at the moment.

 

[DeepBlue]

It sounds a lot like the cheapie screwfix-own model that I've got- like yours the fence is pretty useless if you try to set it using the cog.

I found that the only way I could get any kind of accuracy with the fence was to use vernier callipers to measure from the bottom of the jointer to the fence.

I soon got bored with this, and now I only ever join stuff using the bottom plate itself (like the others say), but it's still a bit hit and miss.

Time to start saving for a new one I think- has anyone tried the DeWalt offering?

 

[engineer one]

having had and been happy for many years with my old AEG,
machine which is pretty decent.

i have learnt that one useful thing is to make some jigs.
if you have access to the american magazine woodworkers journal
for august 2006, has 7 tips for setting up your biscuit jointer.

but the basics are that you always reference off the base, and ignore the fence.
so if you know what you are going to use in terms of wood thickness
then you can construct something like a tenon jig , ie. a vertical block of wood which can hold your 90 degree wood, and joint at various depths
off that.

www.woodworkersjournal.com

it's easier to cut the jig square than set the fence.
don't forget cheap machines are not guaranteed to be square and
straight so think about jigs.

paul :wink:

 

[Alf]

Sorry chaps. Just realised, wrong place.

Not to worry, Gary. All we need now is one of the mods to notice. Philly's obviously just a teeny bit distracted at the mo'... :wink:

Cheers, Alf

 

[DaveL]

Sorry chaps. Just realised, wrong place.

Not to worry, Gary. All we need now is one of the mods to notice. Philly's obviously just a teeny bit distracted at the mo'... :wink:

Cheers, Alf

Oh thats me then, I must be awake, best go to the workshop now. :roll:

 

[garywayne]

Hi all.

I've had another look at the offending tool.

Colin C, I can't see any way of sorting out the fence.

Old, I use a vernier at the moment. I just don't want to keep poncing about.

Cheers Philly, & Andy, perhaps I should hold fire a bit and see how things pan out. As Paul has suggested. The use of jigs should help.

Alf.

garywayne wrote:
Sorry chaps. Just realised, wrong place.

Not to worry, Gary. All we need now is one of the mods to notice. Philly's obviously just a teeny bit distracted at the mo'...

With Saturday coming up, I suppose there is a lot of sorting to do. It will certainly be nice to meet some of you.

Thank you all again.
ATB Gary.

 

[Wanlock Dod]

Gary,

Another vote for the Philly method, I have a really cheapskate biscuit joiner with a fairly poor fence and I find that registering everything off the table top gets me decent results (and will put the slot in the middle of a three quarter inch board).

Cheers,

Dod

 

[ivan]

I had an early Freud with a Very Basic fence. The best way to set the fence is to make up a few (thick) wood shims. Place the tool on a flat surface base down, tuck the shim under the fence hold carefully and tighten fence knobs. Hey presto! (I assume blade is parallel to the base?)

For a flush joint, each side of the joint should referenced either from the base, or from the fence: base-base, or fence-fence, but not base-fence. (Unless you pay for something really accurate,).

Axminster seems to have dropped the base Lamello that had everything but the paint of the next model up.