All machines also come with an extra plastic clip-on base that allows you to cut wood 12mm (or 12.5mm on some machines).ĥ. On the DeWalt the fence is more sophisticated and offers all the functions as a one-piece unit (photo 1). On the Makita and Lamello the extra fence slides on to the main fence and allows good height adjustment for wood that’s thicker than 20mm. The extra adjustable right angle fence slides onto the main fence and allows height adjustment for materials thicker than 20mm. Swing the fence flap down and rest this on top of the wood, and use that face for referencing the position of the slot. But this is only for shorter lengths of material. Placing shims under the base will raise the slot for thicker pieces. This will position the slot centred for a 20mm thick board or panel. The weight is down and the joiner is plunged into the wood. It all comes down to referencing from matching faces to achieve flush joins.įor better results the biscuit joiner works with the base of the tool on a flat surface. Use the mark to centre on the pointer of the tool and make the cut. Basically you butt the two mating pieces of wood together and strike a pencil mark where the biscuit slot will be. You can use a joiner for edge joining, shelves, mitres and small cabinet doors. Don’t get a really cheap tool as I have found they are problematic, for example the blade and base and fence may not be parallel, making good flush fitting joints impossible. They have several versions all very well made at different price points. Previously I have trialled other tools and found the DeWalt also very good but the best is the Lamello, being the real deal. I have a Makita joiner at the moment and it is very good. With the shelf clamped down along the pencil lines, the lower edge is the reference face. Cordless tools are available now which is great, but if you are plugging in a dust extractor hose (a good idea) then you may as well have a cabled tool.ģ. Brand selectionĪ good biscuit joiner will have around 700 watts of power, several depth settings for the different sized biscuits, a facility for being used on mitres, a good right angle fence with height adjustment and a dust outlet. This system is perfect for manufactured boards like MDF and ply, but also suits real wood joining very well. Normal times for letting the wood glue cure still apply. When the glue and its moisture make contact with the compressed wood biscuit it expands making for a tight joint. The grain direction of the biscuit is angled slightly to avoid short grain weakness at the sides. This offers a range of widths for different workpieces. Biscuits are 4mm thick and available in three main sizes – #0 at 47 x 15mm, #10 which are 53 x 19mm, and #20 at 56 x 23mm. The biscuits are compressed slightly and usually made from beech. The fence and depth adjustment system set the height of the cut and depth.
Plunging the tool leaves an arced slot that accepts manufactured wood joiners called biscuits – hence the name biscuit joiner, although plate joiner is also used. The motor in this tool is housed in a barrel driving a 100mm diameter TCT tipped, 4mm thick sawblade – actually on my calipers it was 4.16mm thick. With the extra fence fitted slots can be cut in various thicknesses of wood. But recently, I’ve come back to the biscuit.ġ. I sold my biscuit joiner and converted to dominos and have never left them. The actual technology had been around for years in heavy joinery machines but packaging it in a handheld power tool was an innovation. When Festool released their domino tool in 2007 it was a game changer.
#Biscuit joiner portable#
Later on, Lamello was the name he chose for the 1968 release of the first portable version of a quick jointing tool. In 1956 a Swiss carpenter, Hermann Steiner converted an angle grinder to make simple joints for panels made from a then-new material known as chipboard. There are many reasons why you can rely on the functionality of the biscuit joiner, explains Raf Nathan.
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