My first experience of nail guns :-(

[DaveL]

Well the poly is drying

I have just gone to the Axminster site and put biscuit in the search, the top item returned is the AGE jointer that the Ferm is based on :shock:

Having looked at my Ferm (FBJ710) while out in the workshop, I don't understand the comment about the height adjustment :?
There is a pair of bars the fence slides up and down on, using quite long sleeves on the bars. There is a locking lever on one side, but the lever is on a though shaft that clamps on both bars. There is only one knob to turn to wind the fence up and down, the bar and sleeve arrangement should keep the fence square.
I am sorry but if you got the fence out of square you must of adjusted it with a hairy thumb :twisted:

I have not seen the Axminster jointer, but looking at the picture on the web site, I cannot see how the height of the fence is adjusted? I have bought things from Axminster and have been impressed. Their cheapest jointer is £85, with 500 biscuits, Screwfix have the Ferm for £50, no biscuits but the £35 saving would buy 1300 biscuits.

Oh and I don't have an air nailer (just in case Charley checks for off topic posts) :roll:

Regards,

DaveL

 

[Anonymous]

Sawblade the Freud Biscuit jointer you have ordered from MTS is a 600W JS102 for 109 pounds

Would the Screwfix 710W JS100A have been a beter buy?

 

[kityuser]

daveL>
out of the box the ferm biscuit joiner was wildly out of square. Lowering the fence showed that it was no-where-near square. i.e. lowering it and looking at the front to compare it with the join line in the body-fence.

I was able to clamp the fence square, but this envolved pushing the non-locking-lever side down when locking off :shock:

when i returned it to the shop, the guy could`nt believe how bad the tool was out-of-square.
He gave me another in exchange which was better.... not perfect, but better.
BUT after threading 2 of the locking off handles (those cheap plastic jobbies)........ literally they came off in my hand :shock: I took the tool back again and got a refund.

I`m not for one moment saying that ferm tools are bad, i had a bad experience and quite probably it was one-of-a-kind. But I`m sure other people have had bad experiences with companies before and been scared off thereafter

I saw the draper joiner recently, was`nt overly impressed. My father`s next-door-neighbour returned his ferm and bought a dewalt (for 5x the price :roll: ) which i have to say looks a fantastic tool.............

 

[llangatwgnedd]

I also own the Axminster B/jointer it came with 500 Tansell biscuits in a all in price £99 at the time.
It is the only one I have ever used so I cant compare it to others on the market and it suits me sir.
Keeping the off topic going, any one seen Norm using a biccy jointer to cut a rebate? looked very scary to me :evil:

 

[Anonymous]

My father`s next-door-neighbour returned his ferm and bought a dewalt (for 5x the price ) which i have to say looks a fantastic tool.............

Oh no - that could start a "religious war" :wink: I've read a couple of threads where people talk about about DeWalt being over priced etc & not good value. I have no experience of the DeWalt biscuit jointer coz I bought the Ferm after reading a couple of good things about it on this forum. I would hope that for £200 or so you would get a fantatsic jointer whatever the badge says.

Going off topic completely - I have DeWalt 621 router & a 989 drill, both of which were bought second hand & work fine.

Back to the original topic - I have a Rapseco 181EL electric nailer which works OK, but can leave marks in softwood. I also have a cosmo air nailer/stapler which works fine. I actually don't use either of these much, preferring clamps,glue,dowels & biscuits. If I need to introduce some metalwork I generally use screws.

I make more use of the nailer when I'm knocking up a one-off jig or a prototype for a jig - but that's a different thread :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Ive just been looking at the more detailed photo of the Ferm one on their site & I see what you mean, its got a clamping bar which goes across both poles so unless its got loads of play in the movement I dont see how it can clamp up out of alignment.

[Stevezm]

I have read a review of the £99 axminster jointer in a magazine & they said it was very good for the price & performed more like a model at twice the price, so I would think that wouldnt be a bad buy.

As far as the height adjustment goes, it doesnt seem to have any levers of any kind & I think I remember reading that you adjust the height by undoing a screw in the base with a screwdriver, but on second thoughts they probably use a allen key.

Nick

 

[kityuser]

normfan:
>> I dont see how it can clamp up out of alignment.

i could`nt either, but it did, I think that the bush that rode up/down the chromed post was badly fitting.

not saying it happens on all of em, and as i said the second one i got was FAR better (not perfect, but better).

the point i was making, is that it might be worth checking on the one you get through. (I hope its ok though )

has anyone got the trend joiner?

 

[Anonymous]

I ordered the Ferm yesterday from Screwfix & it arrived today, I dont know about previous versions of this model, maybe Ferm have improved it or something but from what I can tell so far its GREAT!!

I got out my digital vernier calipers & done some readings, yep sure enough when measuring an actual biscuit slot cut by the machine its out of alignment but only by 100th of a millimetre.. thats good enough for me.

The fence or whatever its called is clamped onto both poles & has no play in it at all, it even has a little wheel you turn to adjust the height which also doesnt have any backlash at all.

I had to adjust the little depth of cut end stop as the cuts were set to the maximum at the factory which created a sloppy fit with a no20 biscuit, but that was a very simple adjustment.

I followed the guide posted here by "DaveL" (thanks for that) & it passed all the tests that were on that page with flying colours.

I am very VERY pleased with the way it performs & would recommend it to anyone, I cant believe its only £49.99.. amazing!! :shock:

I will do a complete review in a day or two.

[StevenPrigg]

I can only think that Ferm have silently updated their biscuit jointer & that the ones you tried were either faulty or an early design as the one I have now clamps on one side but has a bar running across to the other post which also clamps, looking at the mouth where the blade comes out of against the fence its spot on, I can understand once bitten twice shy but this model is about as accurate as it comes, thanks for your comments & views though as after reading your post on the Ferm I knew exactly what to lookout for.

Nick

 

[kityuser]

could you quickly post a front-view pic... if they have changed that much and they are indeed as good as you say I`m up for giving them another go!

it was may last year that i had all the trouble.............

 

[Anonymous]

Sure, the first photo is taken from the review which I am currently writing, I have also just this minute taken two other photos showing the front of the machine, its hard to see if its aligned ok but believe me it IS!!

Does this look the same as the ones you tried?

Hope that helps,
Nick.
(hope Charlie doesnt mind that this post has gone way off topic, sorry m8, but its all about woodwork in the end)

 

[Anonymous]

mine looks like that too

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah I think its a little beauty

 

[kityuser]

sadly its exactly the machine that i had (obviously not your one [which seems ok])

I WISH i had taken some pictures now , be4 i took it back.

not sure about whether I`d give another one a go..... the axminster one looks nice as does the freud one (a bit more expensive).

anyhow, I`m sure your will give you years of service

you seem to be spending a "shed load" of money recently on tools, do you have some big projects waiting in the wings????? *interested*

 

[Anonymous]

Yes im dreading my credit card statement coming in the post

At the moment im just aquiring all the tools needed so I can make pretty much anything without thinking "hmm I cant do that without a ....." im no professional when it comes to all of this but I am extrememly fussy when I make something which really does help I think.

Ive never had any tools like this before, its always been hand tools or crappy black & decker things, but from what I can tell so far these tools have a greater accuracy & so I can see I can make some nice things now.

Ive pretty much got everything I need now though, the Basato3 bandsaw im still waiting on, but soon as that comes I should be able to cut pieces to size, plane & thickness them, biscuit join them, & sand it all smooth as I also brought a £30 random orbital sander from Ferm which looks great.

Luckily my father is going halves with me so that keeps the costs down :wink:

Whatever I do make I will post here.

Nick

 

[kityuser]

can`t wait to see the up and comming projects :shock:

I`m also into woodworking with my father (nearly retired now, not really fair, that means he`ll get far more time to "play" than me )

I does help sharing the cost of tools, it enables you to get far better quaility for the same money you would pay by yourself!

 

[kityuser]

sorry then :shock: was not intended (i his the wrong one) i ment to say


and last line should say "it", not "i" :roll:

 

[eeyore]

Steven

Maybe you've not noticed ...

If you look at the top right hand corner of your messages you should see a button marked 'Edit' - could save you some typing ...

Regards

eeyore

 

[kityuser]

manythanks
strange how you look at these things but never "see" them :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Yep it sure does help to spread the cost & its great working with my dad in the workshop

I never knew about that "Edit" feature either

Nick

 

[Anonymous]

well
had a duofast huge thing took loads of air ached my arm after an hour but lasted 18 years !!!!

just bought a cosmo air stapler £24.99 from no frill diy
light as a feather brilliant on brads and small stuff ...
used it non stop for 10 hours doing a fence .. my arms dont ache ...
50MM/10mm epoxy staples into birch ply ... not a chance
well should have bought a duofast
off to the bank !!
more overdraft please ....Sir

oooooo buiscuit jointers ... hired a freud and burnt it out fitting a teak kitchen work top !!! router did it no problem .... but the cutter was dearer than the fern ...

keep dusting
karl