Doh! I sent it to the wrong DIY group was wondering why I wasn't getting a response.
I got a new toy for xmas and have been having a go at it today. Its a Biscuit Joiner and I seem to be missing the way it should cut the joint slots in relation to height of the workpiece?
Lets supposing I took a piece of wood with an 1/2" depth an used the BJ to do a cut this would be practically spot on in the center but if I take a piece of wood about 3/4" depth this would mean I would have to adjust height adjustment so that the cutter is spot on in the center of the wood and would mean the BJ base(shoe) is hovering above the flat worksurface and I would find this a wobbly(unbalanced) situation. What am I doing wrong?
Not that I have *any* experience of using one, but it might help if you can give some more of a clue as to the manufacturer...
Failing that, perhaps if you keep some shims handy to "adjust" the height above the true surface of the workpiece if the joiner has no adjustment built in.
Depending on what you are doing, a jig or a packer piece may be the most appropriate way to be sure that the tool is stable. Depending on the joint, it isn't necessary for the biscuit to be central to the material thickness either.
There are a number of different ways of using a biscuit joiner and you might find it worthwhile to buy a book to be able to compare the different approaches.
"Success with Biscuit Joiners" by Anthony Bailey, published by GMC books is pretty good.
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are also a set of basic HowTo videos on Lamello's web site. go to
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select English if you need it vs. German and you will find them in the Downloads area.
Its a Bosch,although it does not matter as to what make it is, this tool is the same workings as many other brands.
I think you misunerstand the question?
The BJ's blade has got to be centered within the center of the workpiece using the sliding up&down height adjustment this means that the base will be hovering above the working area and is a bit wobbly when you are working on a 1"x1" piece of wood.
As for shims, well I think that would defeat the tools ability to be useless.
I am having problems understanding what you mean by depth and height adjustment. I think they are different from what I would call them..
All the BJs that I have seen appear to have the same features. The blade pushes against a spring to a depth that you preset. The base sits on the wood the whole time you are cutting so it should not be wobbly. The depth of cut depends on the size of biscuit that you are going to use. The distance between the blade and the guide also needs to be preset and would be about half the thickness of the wood that you are joining. So if you are joining pieces of wood which have the same thickness (e.g. to make a large flat piece from a number of narrow pieces), that can be done very accurately without changing any settings.
However if you are joining a piece of wood at right angles to another, such as a shelf against the side panel, you will have to line the BJ with a pencil line on the side panel and push the blade down against the spring to cut the slot.
However, to cover the scenario you describe of a small piece of material (e.g. a frame component), there are several solutions:
1) Put a piece or several pieces of material of the same height as the piece to be slotted behind the workpiece. This will provide a rest for the fence at the front. You can push that down as you push in the joiner.
2) Put a piece of material of suitable thickness in front of the workpiece and use that to raise the height of the joiner base. In effect this is the shim idea.
There isn't really a single way to use a biscuit joiner. Each person has their preferences and it will be different depending on the make and model of the tool and the job being done.
There are similarities in basic function but fences and adjustments vary between makes and models.
That depends on the size of the piece and where the slot is located.
... with the shelf clamped to the side panel.
The location of this cut will normally be about 9mm up from the base of the sole plate of the joiner because they are designed nominally for 18mm material.
There are joiners like the Lamello Top 20 which have an adjustable blade height with respect to the sole plate as well as from the front fence.
A BJ takes its reference point from the top of the wood, the height (thickness) is more or less irrelevant.
I assume you mean 1/2" 'thickness' rather than depth? As I said, a BJ is used with the adjustable baseplate flat on the surface of the wood as its reference point. If that means the wood overhangs the bench so be it.
It sounds to me that you are resting the base of the BJ on the bench? The adjustable baseplate rests flat on top of the wood.
It can reference from the bench if you want to do that.
I think that John's question related to what happens if the area to support either the front fence or the base plate is small. This happens if the workpiece is small or if trying to work into the side of a piece in mid air.
The answer is then that the technique needs to be re-thought so that there is adequate support for the relevant part of the tool and is done by clamping on a piece of material or use of a jig if appropriate.
In effect, it's a similar problem to a router used to cut into the edge of a piece - inadequate support. Again a way has to be found to address that in order to get an adequately precise cut.
I have looked at a Bosch GFF 22A biscuit jointer and it seems to have the same features as all the other BJs that I have seen, including my el cheapo Chinese one. I can't imagaine any manufacturer managing to sell a BJ without allowing those adjustments.
This is the bit I don't understand. Surely you hold or clamp the piece of wood firmly, rest the base of the BJ against it, and push the spinning blade into the wood against the spring until the correct depth of slot is reached. Are you aware that the blade is spring-loaded?
I've never had a problem with "wobblyness". Clearly there is some misunderstanding here.
How can the shelf be clamped to the side panel when I am trying to cut a slot in the end of the shelf and another slot into the side panel where I am going to glue the shelf?
Any joiner that does not allow those adjustments is mostly useless. Please give me the make and model number of a jointer without those adjustments. I would like to see a picture of it.
No there isn't - at least not from my perspective.
If you try to cut a slot in a small piece (e.g. 25mm square as John points out), the fence is not very well supported and this can lead to the slot not being perpendicular to the surface.
In order to support the fence better, one way is to put another piece of material of the same thickness as the workpiece behind it.
Very simple. Clamp the shelf flat on the inside of the side panel. Cut slots in shelf from end. Then using end of shelf as a guide, cut slots in side panel
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in this example that the slots are referenced from the bottom plate of the BJ and the fence is folded up out of the way.
Compare and contrast with the L-joint
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an accessory fence is added to support the BJ when cutting into the end panel. Note also that the reference is from the front fence here.
I said with respect *to the sole plate* as well as from the front fence.
Most do not have the feature that I describe and are not useless as a result.
In general, the depth is referenced from the underside of the front fence. However, for some joints like the shelf T joint it doesn't matter anyway.
The Lamello Top 20 has a fine adjuster which can be used for fine tweaks of blade height when referencing from either the underside of the front plate or from the sole plate. +/- 2mm adjustment is possible
Compare this model with the Classic, which is the conventional reference design and from which others are copied.
May I respectfully suggest that you watch something like this. New Yankee Workshop on Sky Discovery Home & Leisure channel. It certainly has given me allot of tips in the past.
Yes you could do that. There are various jigs described in the book I mentioned.
Generally, cutting lots for a mitre joint in an edge at 45 degrees isn't too bad - the main trick is to make sure that the fence is registered in position properly and held down as you plunge. Starting the motor first can be helpful here.
Mitre joints in the ends of pieces used to make a frame are more challenging, mainly because of material width and biscuit size. You can go for a size 0 or 10 biscuit to help here or if the outside won't be visible you can use a size 20 and trim the exposed piece after gluing.
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