makita or lamello jointer

[markus]

hi, any one got a makita/dewalt biscuit jointer?? changing my cheapy cos its ****!! and i'm stuck between makita/dewalt (wich my pocket says yes to) or should i bite the bullet and get a lamello??? any thoughts??

 

[p111dom]

I'm looking at a Trend T20 and I'm curious as to why that didn't make your short list.

 

[markus]

no reason really, its just that i'm a big makita fan, i want to buy once and by wisely even if its heavy on the pocket!!!!!

 

[chippy1970]

I think I would go for the Makita only because I know Makita stuff is built much better than Dewalt and I wouldn't go anywhere near Trend power tools as I have had 2 T5 routers now and they are very poorly made.

 

[markus]

yeh makita are the dogs bollocks, but saying that,i have a few dewalt tools and i carnt really fault them,especially the 18v comby its stood up to some hard hammer!!!!!

 

[dirtydeeds]

perhaps i may be able to give some idea

ive had the trend
ive got the makita
and i want the lamello


TREND
the trend was a real disapointment, the hinge point of the fence was set 1mm to high on one end, so the cut was never in a million years going to be paralell to the fence

it went straight back to the shop and toucan tools stopped selling the trend

no doubt it was a manufacturing error


my biggest problem with trend is that their power tools are rebadged slightly older models at rather inflated prices

the trend biscuit jointer is no exception and the fence isnt particularly good

MAKITA
i swapped the trend for the makita and paid the extra. at the time the makita was the very best tool i could afford

having had it for about 3 years i now have some resevations about it

reservations
first when doing repair works on narrow box sash windows the body is too long

second when cutting slots in oak and ordinary wood the waste chokes the machine, that ive cured by using a dust extractor rather than rely on the blade spinning the waste through the outlet into the bag

for all of my 2 reservations its a good reliable machine

LAMELLO
in my case the only way with tools is buy the very best you can afford and then some

so seeing i have reservations with the makita i have begun to think about the lamello and have looked at both models


300 quid and 500 quid

if i was going to buy a lamello im not yet sure which id buy. the reason for the dilema is that im not convinced either way about the top model

i dont know what benefit there is in being able to move the blade in 0.1mm steps

 

[Philly]

Markus
After using a cheapy I bit the bullet and bought a Lamello. Worth every penny - does what it says on the tin, every time.
Depends how much you will use it and how much you like your accuracy :wink:
Philly

 

[woodbloke]

Lamello - every time - Rob

 

[Another Dave]

I had Freud biscuit jointers. Basic, but good for the money. They put in thousands of biscuits. We originally bought two of them.

When replacement time came we looked at and tried many makes, and now have Maffel. Super tool, well made, accurate, repeatable settings and has proved to be an excellent choice.

And the Maffel comes in the same case as Festool :shock:

 

[Max Power]

Hi Markus,
Have had a Lamello for a while and it really is the mutts nutts. The only negative is the price ,but you will only need to buy it once

 

[Escudo]

I have the Lamello but have been wandering if I should have bought the Festool domino?

In any event, the Lamello is very well made, a one time purchase when it comes to biscuit machines.

Esc.

 

[woodbloke]

I have the Lamello but have been wandering if I should have bought the Festool domino?

In any event, the Lamello is very well made, a one time purchase when it comes to biscuit machines.

Esc.

Esc - I have no experience of the Domino, but as I understand it, the two machines are used for different purposes, so in an ideal world, you need both :lol: which of course keeps the 'slope' well greased - Rob

 

[BradNaylor]

I have the Lamello but have been wandering if I should have bought the Festool domino?

In any event, the Lamello is very well made, a one time purchase when it comes to biscuit machines.

Esc.

Esc - I have no experience of the Domino, but as I understand it, the two machines are used for different purposes, so in an ideal world, you need both :lol: which of course keeps the 'slope' well greased - Rob

The Domino is near the top of my 'to buy' list, as I make a lot of face frames, and for this the Domino looks perfect.

The thing is though, when I have a Domino, when would I use my biscuit joiner? Surely the Domino would render it obselete. I can't think of anything a BJ can do that the Domino couldn't do just as well if not better.

 

[Escudo]

In deed I'm sure you right Rob.

Although, when I saw a demo of the domino I thought the baby floating tenon pieces could easily double for biscuits.

The domino would therefore seem to be more versatile than a biscuit machine.

I don't have much experience so may have to leave this line of thought to the experts.

Cheers, Esc.

 

[dirtydeeds]

i have a domino and a biscuit jointer and thought that the biscuit jointer would become redundant

not a bit of it, for prescison the domino has no equal

the biscuit jointer is rapid and the miniuum depth a domino is 12mm

 

[houtslager]

I have had the Makita since it came on the market, and next to it in the shop, was the Lamello machine. The dealer and I both agreed, pound for pound the Makita gave more value for maney.
The biggest down side for the Lamello, is the dust ejector is square , SMALL and does not rotate. Unlike the Makita, which is round , LARGE and rotates.

hs

 

[Argee]

Lamello - every time - Rob

To paraphrase an advert, "Forget the rest, get the best - Lamello."

The dust extractor is easily converted using one of those stepped connectors, BTW. More detail on the Lamello here if you get the time.

Ray.

 

[Paul Chapman]

You might want to consider the Elu DS140 (still available as DeWalt). It works differently from the Lamello-style jointer and lacks some of the Lamello features. However it does have a conventional fence arrangement and continuously variable depth of cut, which I find very useful. It really depends of what type of work you do and which features would best suit that.

The Elu is very well made (had mine 20+ years)

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[newt]

I have the Trend T20. I had to do some machining on the fence to ensure parallel slots. The two scales one imperial the other metric are stuck on and they had to be removed and repositioned. It is a shame that the two scales are not the same, so that you could position the fence square, relying on the locking arm to set the fence square will result in disappointment. I always use a ruler to check the fence is square.

 

[pe2dave]

Makita. Lots of years of good use out of it.
No complaints, just does the job.
I'd recommend it any time. Is the rolls royce of jointers really worth
that much more?