Biscut jointer Q's

[Phisherman]

Some biscuits may be a better fit than others. No so tight that you have to tap them in. A 1/64 slop might be OK for some applications, but certainly not fine cabinetry.

Come to think of it, my biscuit cutter *does* sound like a loud coffee grinder. It is an old Skil biscuit jointer with plastic fence, but does the job exceptionally well at 1 fifth the cost of a Lamello biscuit cutter. Lamello biscuits are very good if you can find them; store them in a dry location and don't buy too much at a time (they are somewhat expensive and may get damaged from moisture).

[CW]

I don't. In a good mortise and tenon joint, the wood bears all the load with the glue just holding it together. With a sloppy fitting tenon, the glue takes the strain. I was rather surprised that he did that.

[Lew Hodgett]

Time for some definitions.

Jack was commenting on the small dimension of the M/T which I refer to as the "end" rather than the large dimension of the M/T which I refer to as the "side".

Strictly arbitrary, but keeps everybody together.

Lew

[krw]

The biscuits are a bit undersized; .150-.156. The carbide tangs on cutter blade are a bit over at the tips; .162. I guess the difference comes close to the 1/64" I estimated the slop to be.

That's easier to describe than to do. ;-)

I practiced a bit with it this afternoon (got too hot in the garage) but I think I was doing it right. The fence isn't going anywhere when I plunge the cutter and the slop is still there. I'm in the process of gluing up some cauls so haven't gone any further with the panels. I'll try glue on the biscuits when I have the cauls to do the alignment.

[krw]

Would 1/64" on *both* sides make you happy? That's what we're talking about.

I didn't mean that it mattered. I was just clarifying which dimensions I was talking about.

[krw]

Hmm, when I watched Norm he always had a specialized power tool to do every operation. ;-)

That makes the tongues easy enough though getting the blade height exactly right would be critical. The same with the groove? The panel on end doesn't sound fun.

[Lew Hodgett]

It's a piece of cake, have done it several times.

The plywood will be some bastard size, thus a digital vernier caliper is a must to accurately plane the wood to match the ply thickness.

Set the dado to 1/4" wide x 9/32" deep.

Use featherboards as req'd.

Run ply thru them turn end for end and run thru again to center groove.

CUt tongue 1/4" long.

Sneak up on the tongue thickness by setting using a scrap piece and testing scrap piece for fit after every cut.

If it takes more than an hour for the whole thing, you spent at least a half an hour screwing around.

It's just not that difficult a task.

Cutting the mitered ends to size and cutting biscuit slots in the miters is the most challenging part of the project, IMHO.

Have fun.

Lew

[krw]

^ twice.

Some time back I tried that with a RAS and a "glue joint" cutter in a molding head. Not so easy.

[Jack Stein]

I guess it would depend on how much sanding was needed to smooth things out. I think 1/64th would sand out w/o much fuss.

OK, you made that clear. I was just mentioning what Norm said about side to side clearance in a large, heavy, exterior door. I was rather surprised that he did that. I always use a square mortiser but note that those that use a router generally either square up the mortise, or round over the edges of the tenon to fit the mortise. After seeing Norm do this, and specifically comment that side to side slop was not an issue, I would say putting a square tenon in a rounded mortise would also be a non-issue, but perhaps thought provoking...

[Jack Stein]

Glue joint cutters are a PIA to set up exactly right. I quickly learned they are not needed, nor are splines, biscuits, dowels or anything else when gluing up panels. I've done all those methods except the biscuit joiner. Considering some of the people that love a biscuit joiner, I haven't ruled them out, just that for me, as much as I build these days, doesn't seem worth the trouble or expense. I never had any trouble simply using clamps and cauls. I never had a glue failure in a simple, butted glued up panel or table top so the only use for me would be as an aid in alignment. I can certainly see some value in that aspect, but NOT if I also need to use cauls. I would expect the biscuit joiner to eliminate the need for cauls, otherwise, the cauls eliminate the need for a biscuit joiner:-)

[CW]

Try it on scrap first. You will find that, with the glue on the biscuts, they will swell and lock in place. If the alignment is good, great. If it is not, the cauls won't help.