Draper Biscuit Jointer

are they worth £29.99? as this is one tool I don't have I'm tempted, a local shed is selling them at the above price.

Thanks

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

Reply to
The3rd Earl Of Derby
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It really depends on what type and quality of work you want to do.

If it's to put together the occasional cabinet or something of that nature and you are not concerned about the odd 1-2mm or so of inaccuracy, there are a number of generic biscuit jointers in the £30-50 range that will do a reasonable job.

I was just reading a review of entry level biscuit jointers in one of the woodworking magazines. The SIP product came out best as value for money (£24.95), but the Clarke was the best on test at £58.69

The Draper was around middle of the group, but it was pointed out that it is noisy and doesn't have anti-slip pads. Since it doesn't have a soft start motor either, it will be prone to a slight sideways jerk each time it is switched on and plunged. Biscuit jointing is mainly about vertical alignment between the pieces and some horizontal movement is allowed. Nevertheless, if it's more than so much, then the pieces may not fit properly.

Other limitations of a machine in this category are that the fence adjustments and scales may not be very accurate. This is an issue on some machines in the next category up such as the DeWalt 682 which is about 2 degrees out of square. On a small item or one that is not needed to be precision made, then this type of error may not matter.

To get to the professional grade of tool with full adjustability, soft start, perfect alignment etc., you have to go to the type of product made by Lamello. However, these cost 8-10 times the amount you describe here.

I think it's a trade off. If you are happy to dabble and accept the limitations, then a tool like this will give reasonable results. You could do quite a bit better with something in the £50-60 range. After that it's law of diminishing returns and how much of a perfectionist you are.

Reply to
Andy Hall

Thanks for that Andy. Will give it a miss then if it has a tantrum when powered up.

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

Reply to
The3rd Earl Of Derby

One of the woodworker mags this month rated the SIP one at c. £25 much higher than the Draper.

HTH,

Alex.

Reply to
AlexW

I think you have to put this into perspective. Andy is obviously a perfectionist with a huge budget for buying tools. I don't know the man, maybe he is a professional bespoke cabinet maker. Good luck to him.

Returns to real world.

For most of us a £30 bisquit joiner is an absolute blessing. It will make jobs 100% easier with accuracy hard to achieve with other methods. I have a cheapo Ferm machine and wouldn't be without it.

Yes it will jerk a bit when started, but nothing dangerous and if you know it's going to jerk you can live with it. Yes it might be a few degrees out - it's still more accurate than most other methods.

If its a shed selling them, buy it & try it. Take it back if you don't like it.

Dave

Reply to
david lang

Well worth it! I'm very happy with mine. I looked at all the budget ones, and the Draper was the best. The alloy ones all had protractors that were inaccurate, and those with rack and pinion adjusters were not parallel to the blade. The Draper front end is steel, so if it gets dropped it will survive. However, I took mine apart and lightly filed the roughness off the sliding depth setting bits.

Reply to
Mr Fuxit

I did put it into perspective.

I'm not a perfectionist, because when you achieve that, there's nowhere else to go. However, I do like to do things well.

Your real world, perhaps, but don't assume that it is everybody else's......

I don't disagree. This is an easier method than alternatives like dowel jointing.

That really depends on the effect. I have used a jointer in this category, which, despite being pushed hard against the work, would jump vigorously and often with a part vertical motion. This made it useless. I am not suggesting that all are like this, but as a minimum, the front plate should have some means to avoid slipping. This could be as simple as some abrasive paper stuck to the plate, but it's easier to get a jointer that has it in the first place.

Reply to
Andy Hall

It rated it as better value for money, not better as a product.....

Reply to
Andy Hall

FWIW, I also have a Ferm one. In fact I am on my second. The first I sent back to SF on the grounds that the left right alignment was too far out. The second one is better but not perfect (note that a variation in biscuit height left to right is a critical problem - by the time you are

10" from a joint the misalignment that was only 0.5mm will be multiplied into several mm)

So with 20/20 hindsight if I were buying again I would look at a better catagory of tool.

Softstart is nice, although the affects of not having it can be mittigated by starting the tool when not in contact with the work.

Probably a good move at that price point - be prepared to swap a few until you get a good enough one.

Reply to
John Rumm

This is actually reasonable. It may result in the cut being wider than it should be, but that is not so important. The critical aspects are the vertical position and the angle of dangle.

Reply to
Andy Hall

You should not start the tool when it's in contact with the work *in any case*.

Reply to
Chris Bacon

With most biscuit jointers I have seen, you can safely start the tool when in contact with the work since the actual cutting blade at that point is fully enclosed, and not in contact with the work. The blade only ever leaves its housing when the tool is plunged.

Reply to
John Rumm

Talk about splitting hairs. I'll do what others in an earlier thread did, and claim the words above don't mean what they say. It's quite obvious that they mean when the cutting part of the tool is in contact with the work. OK? This also means that the effects of not having soft start don't matter, as long as you can hang on to the damn thing.

Reply to
Chris Bacon

Was not intending to be pedantic at all - it sounds like good advice. I am just not sure why you posted a biscuit jointer where it would almost never apply. ;-)

Reply to
John Rumm

The "as long as" is the point and there are several aspects.

- The tool is unlikely to jump out of the user's hand, but it will tend to jerk if it doesn't have soft start.

- The blade is retracted until the tool is pushed against the work, so there isn't a huge safety issue.

- Correct alignment before plunging with the tool already running can be tricky.

- It is therefore better to have a tool, or arrangement on the tool to prevent it from moving on the face of the work, then to switch on, and finally to plunge it.

Reply to
andy hall

Actually, it rated it a better product, as I said.

For build quality both got 3.5/5. For performance the Draper got 4/5 and the SIP got 4.5/5. Subjectively, the review comments had no negatives for the SIP and several for the Draper, which were admittedly fairly minor annoyances.

Combine all that with the SIP being less than 1/2 the list price of the Draper I think the SIP came out much better overall.

Alex.

Reply to
AlexW

No. It rated it better value, not a better product.

The only reason for that is that the price is less. Whether the annoyances are minor, depends on the user. If saving of =A320 is the most critical point, then fine. OTOH, if this results in a crap result, then it becomes a pointless saving.

Reply to
andy hall

Hi Andy, having read this thread, I have a question to ask.

Can a router, mounted on a table with all the right stops, be used to make biscuit joints?

Dave

Reply to
Dave

Yes it can, I've made a few wide Picture frames using this method it's buying the 'single router bit thats the problem', it bloody dear to buy one router bit.

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

Reply to
The3rd Earl Of Derby

Yes I suppose you could. There are special router cutters suitable for biscuit slots - Trend and CMT make them. It would be important to have a fence behind the cutter to control the depth and then another to control the lateral positioning. That one would have to be movable for each pair of slots and so the operation would be quite time consuming.

Joints into the end of a piece of material would be OK, but I am not sure about the mating one because you would have to hold the piece vertically and then move it into the cutter.

You should be able to get vertical alignment, but there wouldn't be an easy way on a basic router table to cut slots at an angle.

Reply to
andy hall

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