Thanks to all of you ! Here's some answers to your questions and where I'm
at:

1. I don't have a dial indicator available so it's going to be difficult to
check runout, or if the blade
tips might be offset from one another.

2. I do have dial calipers - the biscuits and the tips of the blades all
measure in the vicinity of .155
+- .005 with the blade tips being pretty consistently on the low end of that
spread.

3. I tried a couple of different woods just for completeness. Same results.
I was also very careful that
the unit didn't move around while I was cutting.

4. I called PC and they transfered my call to a local (90 miles away)
service center. They said that if I couldn't bring it in to them, to mail
it to them and they'd look at it.

5. The biscuits came in a PC box - I going to assume they're PC. They're
marked USA20. They we'er a prt of the Amazon package - 1000 free biscuits
with 557 purchase.

So - I guess it's mail it to them at this point. I'm a bit dissapointed.

jim

"Jim Bailey" wrote in message
...
I need somone to set my expectations biscuit joinery.

I just got my dandy new PC557 (and 1000 free biscuits) last night and was
anxious to fire it up today. After giving the directions a good thorough
going over, I grabbed some 3/4" x about 15 or 16" and was gong to biscuit
join their edges - 2 #20's about 12" apart. The tool is really smooth -
no
jerking or moving but still, you want to hold eveything flat and stable,
or
I can see where it could try to move around a bit.

Well, dry biscuits in the slots have about a 32nd clearance, which of
course
translates to the same vertical movement when the joint is together. I'd
hoped for a much more snug fit than that. You can also slide the 2 joined
edges laterally about an inch either way - but that's not a problem -
you're
lining up on your original biscuit marks anyway - but the vertical movemen
t
bugs me a bit.

After reading all the stuff here about how those biscuits swell, I thought
maybe with gluing them up, the swelling would stabilize the joint a bit.
No
such luck - I even got aggravated and soaked a biscuit in a glass of water
for about 15 minutes - still loose in the slot. I just went back out to
the
shop (about two hours later) and you can still slide the biscuit in and
out
without problem.

Have I set my expectations too high about how snug the joint would be with
this method ?

jim