Thread: biscuit joiners advice

When I was employed we had a Lamello brand biscuit joiner. It was in the early days of the system. I bought myself a DeWalt and I think its far better in a lot of ways over that Lamello. There is more adjustability and far easier to use.
I don't know whats out in the market place at present, but if you looked at the DeWalt and compared it to others with the same features I think you would be happy

I would go for a better quality brand should the budget permit. I have a Ryobi and while it cuts biscuit slots ok I spend more time clearing the dust chute than I do cutting. I can tell when it is clogged because it spits wood shavings to every corner of the workshop. The chute is simply too small.

My Ozito biscuit joiner is good value for the money.
There are obviously better, but it's good enough for what I have done so far.

I have a GMC and that does the job for me. The problem I found with it though was the height setting wandered, causing the slot height to not quite align. It has a screw in the front face where I attached a piece of locking wood and all was well. Ive made tables and benchtops with the thing and also used it to cut the arcitraves of the doors to lay a floating floor. Its a cheapie but really the work these things do, its not worth getting the super duper because it doesnt get that amount of work.

If money is no object, go the Festool Domino joiner. Worth every cent . . . all 180,000 of them (ouch!). Like Metester, I too have a Ryobi model and know first hand how the chute clogs up. In addition, there is no fine adjustment to get an equal depth on either side of the blade (e.g. trial and error to acheive a slot that is parallel to the top surface of the material). The adjustment screw for the depth-of-cut bugged me too but a bit of sticky tape stopped it from vibrating around and changing depth by itself while the motor was on.

Like anything, you get what you pay for. However, you can still achieve a great result for $80 - $100.

I've seen the biscuit jointer attachments you refer too. Don't know how good they are but for the few dollars extra it will cost, you may as well fork out for a dedicated biscuit joiner than to be forever stuffing around and changing attachments on a grinder - IMHO.

Cheers

I hav the Ozito biscuit joiner, and it does the job just fine. not fancy, but cheap.

Have a Makita - well worth the $$$, had a cheapie to start with - I certainly didn't buy the Mak because I liked the colour better. You really get what you pay for with this type of machine - sure they will all work but when the bits come together then the results are fairly obvious.

Re the problem of the dust chute clogging - attach your shop vac to the outlet, when using the machine just hook the vac hose over your shoulder.

Regards,
Bob

I have had a Makita for the past 15 years and I am on my 6th pak of 1000 biscuits.
This machine is faultless.
I have only changed the cutter one because I mainly use it in hardwoods.

Yes indeedy you get what you pay for.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Bob38S

Have a Makita - well worth the $$$, had a cheapie to start with - I certainly didn't buy the Mak because I liked the colour better. You really get what you pay for with this type of machine - sure they will all work but when the bits come together then the results are fairly obvious.

Re the problem of the dust chute clogging - attach your shop vac to the outlet, when using the machine just hook the vac hose over your shoulder.

Regards,
Bob

I attach the vac to my GMC biscuit joiner but the chute still clogs - unbelievably small aperture. It doesn't cut straight either. I don't use it much since I got the Festool Domino system, but even for the occasional use I will probably still get a better biscuit joiner. Its just way too frustrating using a crap tool.

I was in Carbatec this morning and had a play with the Archer biscuit joiner they sell. The adjustments are very neat indeed. At $149 it is reasonably priced too.

I too have a makita and it's faultless , though I tend to use the aussie dowel jig more now
Have a mate who bought the angle grinder attachment one and for what he wanted it was great , That was some years ago and it cost $99 , these days you can get an ortiz etc for the same money and no mucking about .
Greg think about how much you are going to use it , and then how much use it will get next year
If its for a one of job you can always borrow mine
Rgds
Russell

hi all
thankyou for your input
i found a joiner on ebay i am going to bid on so touch wood i will be succesfull
baring that i might look at a archer or ozito(3 year warranty)
russell can you pm your mobile please as i have misplaced it in my shed
thanks
greg

i have to have a little winge about ebay, what idiots go mad bidding on a mak biscuit joiner with 7 days to go and bump the price to over $100
i bet this dam machine will go for over $250 bugger bugger bugger

It's nearly $600 to buy new, so even if it does go for $200 or so thats pretty good for a quality product if it's still in good condition.