Popular Woodworking 2007-02 № 160, страница 51

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A New Manual for

DTT3

The 27 time-tested techniques to tame this often-tricky tool.

The biscuit j oiner is one of those tools that promises to make life so much easier. The ability to make relatively strong joints quickly and easily makes this a tool you really must have. Yet many woodworkers find it frustrating; for some reason the joints never quite line up and in the end it doesn't seem to save that much time.

It isn't the fault of the tool. The truth is that most woodworkers don't know the right techniques to make the most of their biscuit joiners, and there are some common attitudes and assumptions that hurt more than help, and don't speed things up.

Some joints in woodworking are for show and some are for utility. Biscuit joints won't make your friends and family ooh and aah over your skills, but they will help you locate and connect parts without much fuss so you can get on to more important things.

Fifty years ago, Swiss woodworker Hermann Steiner had a great idea and formed a company called Lamello to market the oval-shaped joining plates

and the tools to cut the slots. I first saw one in 1981 when the German-born foreman of the cabinetshop I was working in brought out a new toy he called a cookie cutter.

We were all impressed with what it could do, and every one of us wanted one of our own. What stopped us in our tracks was the $600price of the machine. The Lamello model is undoubtedly the best in the field. It's made like, well, a Swiss watch.

The Lamello is still the highest-priced machine in the category, selling for four to five times the price of other machines. In a production environment the investment is worthwhile, but if you're not using it on a daily basis, the lower-priced models will likely meet your needs. But if you drive to the tool

by Robert W. Lang

Bob is the author of "The Complete Kitchen Cabinetmaker" (Cambium) in addition to other books. More information is available at his web site: craftsmanplans.com. Contact him at513-531-2690 ext. 1327 or robertlang@fwpubs.com.

store in a Mercedes or BMW, you won't regret buying the Lamello.

Make the Machine Perform

To make the average biscuit j oiner perform at its peak, there are a few things to check and possibly adjust. First you want to minimize any sloppiness in the tool's plunge mechanism.

Every model is a little different, but generally you want to check that all the screws are tight and the motor slides freely on the base. Spraying a dry lubricant on the tool's ways will help. Check the fence. It too should move freely; the stop may need to be adjusted to 90°.

The last adjustment to make is to set the depth stop. This is done by making a test cut for a #20 biscuit, with the tool on the correct setting. You want the resulting cut to be a bit beyond half the width of the wooden plate. This allows the two parts to join snugly while giving you a bit of room for lateral adjustment during assembly.

Make a cut in some scrap, put a plate in the slot, then draw a pencil line where

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Popular Woodworking February 2007