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hi all,
Ive done a search on this topic, but came up short.
Can someone share a tip as to how to safely cut a biscuit slot using a hand-held biscuit cutter in the 45deg mitre corner? Having to push the cutter in an angle always pushes the work piece along the table. I am holding the workpiece with one hand and pushing the cutter with the other, but this always produce inconsistent cuts and seems unsafe.
Thanks in advance! :)
Clamp the work piece to the table, leaving you with 2 hands to use the cutter with
Do a search on threads by Rocker. He's got a few posts on the subject of biscuit jointed mitres.
Do a search on Lignum's 3-way Dominoed mitre joint (Rocker and I have both made this type of joint). Ok, a biscuit isn't the same thing really, but the basic principles apply.
The Domino has an attachment that acts as a jig to securely hold narrow stock, and one can set the angle of incidence very accurately. I'm sute something similar could be done with a biscuit joiner.
Best of all, get a biscuit joiner like the Porter Cable, which allows you to set the plate at 135°. You can then hold a 45° mitre in the acute angle between the plate and the body of the biscuit joiner.
Rocker
The GMC can do the sameQuote:
Originally Posted by Rocker
Clamp as mentioned. With a good cutter should not be a problem. A simple jig can be made if you are going to do heaps of them.
cheers,
conwood
I didn't do anything special. I used a pair of holdfasts (because I have them) but a pair of clamps would do just as well.
Hullo Minvec,
It's fairly easy - depends on the brand of your biscuit jointer, however.
THe manual may tell you.
If not, here's a really rough sketch showing the method that they use on the higher end machines. You reference off the inside corner of the mitre
Cheers,
eddie
Minvec - reread your post.
The risk you describe is real - a few people I know of have run an extra slot in their left thumb.
As others have said, clamp the work securely.
Hold the biscuit cutter securely - remember that they are designed for cutting chipboard that doesn't really have a grain direction. When you're cutting into endgrain of solid timber, they jump to the left. They will get to your thumb before the guard retracts.
best regards,
Minvec, do you mean a mitred corner as in a picture frame or as in Eddie's sketch?
If it's as in a picture frame then clamping the workpiece to a bench works fine.
If it's as per Eddie's sketch then ...
Fletty
- using the fence at 45degrees works or ...
- clamp 2 pieces back to back makes a 90 degree angle on the end and use the fence on 90 degrees or ...
- I made a jig that looks like a 45 deg ski ramp. There is a flat section that clamps to the bench, the workpiece clamps to the 45 degree ski ramp thus making a 90 degree angle between the workpiece and the flat base and use the biscuit cutter without fence (could sketch when I get home if wanted)