On Tuesday, September 2, 2014 3:09:19 AM UTC+1, RJH wrote:
On 01/09/2014 15:00, newshound wrote:

On 01/09/2014 12:42, John Rumm wrote:



Seconded;



I only have a cheap one and while it feels slightly cheap, e.g.

movements not quite as smooth as I might like, I find it perfectly

adequate. I've mainly used it for making box-like structures out of 18

mm ply (after cutting with sawboard). Also works with MDF. Very quick

process (obviously you need to glue and clamp while glue sets, but you

can assemble quite a complicated structure in one go and then clamp the

lot together).



Probably worth practicing on scrap before tackling something larger or

where finish is important.





Aldi do them from time to time. Picked one up in the reduced bin - seems

fine to my untrained eye.



--

Cheers, Rob

+1 - possibly worth a punt. It does depend on how much the OP foresees using it and perhaps the quality of the work he is doing. I find mine perfectly adequate.

I've such a machine, and do just wonder a little at some of the comments above about parallelism - am I reading that to mean that the slot cut is accurately parallel with the top surface of the work? If so I question that as the accuracy of the two joining faces is far more critical - totally square and totally flat along the length; the biscuits are a snug fit in the slots but there's enough flex there while the glue is wet to give a flat top surface as long as the joining faces are really true.

The real problem I find with a biscuit jointer, and I think this is my irregular use rather than the machine, is operating it such that each cut is accurately spaced from the working surface - now I can't see how that can vary from a cheap machine to an expensive one as that does seem to be operator controlled.

Rob