Thanks, I'll have another look at the Porter-Cable
"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 11 Dec 2006 20:07:06 +0000, marierdj wrote:

I have a Craftsman biscuit joiner and I am not pleased with it.

Sears refused to take it back so I am stuck with it.

After trying and trying, I learned that the adjustment is not precise.

I do not use it anymore for tabletop or frames. I only use it for rough
work.

I am looking around to get something better like Freud or a cut above.

The adjustement on the detail biscuit joiner is very precise--it's
stepped in a manner similar to an Incra jig, the problem is that the
steps are larger than I would expect given the intended use of the tool.

Please understand that this is a different tool from a "regular" biscuit
joiner--I can do things with this that I can't do with my
Porter-Cable--its _smallest_ biscuit, as the photo shows, is larger than
the detail joiner's _largest_.

If you're looking for a general purpose biscuit joiner and can't afford a
Lamello, the Porter Cable works fine.

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
...
After running across the term "R1 biscuit" and googling it and finding
out what they were, I've repeatedly had project in which I said to
myself "gee, one of those detail biscuits would be nice right here".
Well, was down to Sears yesterday and they had one in stock, I bought
it on impulse.

Tried it out today. It does what they say and the biscuits really
_are_ tiny, here's a photo with the Porter Cable FF on the end for
comparison http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=319761020&size=m.

I find one major flaw in the design of the tool so far--the fence has a
bevel adjacent to the cutter that is wide enough for quarter inch stock
to slip into. This is not a problem when slotting an edge or end but
makes accurate slot placement very diffcult when slotting into the side
of a piece of stock. When time permits it doesn't look like it would
be too hard to make up a new fence that addresses this.

A minor flaw is that the fence position is adjustable in fixed
increments and the increments--given the nature of the tool a
micrometer adjustment would be very convenient, but for 70 bucks maybe
I'm expecting too much.

Other than that, well, it's a neat concept. The biscuit are thin, it
really is possible to put them in the edge of a piece of 1/4 inch
stock, which is what I was looking for.

I'm not sure why this tool didn't do better in the market, perhaps it
was a case of the marketers not understanding the niche it fits. Or
maybe with work that size it's just easier to slot it on a router
table.

For picture framing it looks like the bees' knees, for small boxes and
the like out of the box it's not so hot.


-- --John to email, dial "usenet" and validate (was jclarke at eye bee
em dot net)

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)