Looking to get a good quality biscuit jointer. Have seen a new De Walt
DW682K for £160 on ebay. Anyone used one of these or got another
recommendation at a similar price?

Cheers.

This is not meant as an insult ... but how many bisquit joints do you
have to do? if it is not something you are going to use every week -
then £160 is a lot of dosh.

I bought a biscuit jointer cutter (Trend) and use that in my Router -
works a treat.

There are a couple of Draper models (i.e. Part No : 75303 ) for around
£40 ..... it may not be an all day every day tool, but at 4 times
cheaper than the DeWalt, worth thinking about.

A good compromise is the Skill Biscuit Jointer - Iused one of these
for a few days, seems a good machine very robust, and these are only
£60

On Wed, 16 Nov 2005 09:59:24 -0000, "flash" wrote:

Looking to get a good quality biscuit jointer. Have seen a new De Walt
DW682K for £160 on ebay.

I paid about that for my AEG. It's nicely designed, but the build
quality isn't as good as I'd hoped for that money. In particular the up
& down movement is a bit stiff, owing to poor surface finish. The
DeWalt's geared rack would be a definite improvement.

You certainly need the "drop front" design, not the removable square
fence (like some older Freuds). Those are very slow to work with,

160 quid seems unimpressive. $160 is the typical US price and
pound-per-dollar seems excessive with the dollar in its current state. A
quick Google shows this
http://diytools.com/store/detail.asp?ProductID=35765

If this is your first biscuit jointer, then I'd suggest trying the Ferm
(Screwfix) one first. It's quite a decent machine and a
bargain-basement price. You have to be making an awful lot of joints
before a top-end biscuiter pays for itself - you can get a lot of good
work out of a cheapie (unlike jigsaws)

flash wrote:
Looking to get a good quality biscuit jointer. Have seen a new De Walt
DW682K for £160 on ebay. Anyone used one of these or got another
recommendation at a similar price?

Cheers.

I have had one of these. Most DeWalt products are pretty good, but
this one is a dud. There is a design fault whereby the fence setting
angle is 2-3 degrees out near 90 degrees. This makes it pretty
useless. I returned mine, had another, same thing, therefore refund.
At least one other person in this NG did the same.

I would suggest one of three options:

- If you are not looking for great accuracy and ease of use then you
may find that a tool in the £60 league acceptable.

- In the range that you are looking, Makita and Bosch have products in
the £190 area

- If you are looking for something that really is good quality, then
Lamello make a better product. However, they start at the £240 range.

"andy hall" wrote in message
oups.com...

flash wrote:
Looking to get a good quality biscuit jointer. Have seen a new De Walt
DW682K for £160 on ebay. Anyone used one of these or got another
recommendation at a similar price?


I have had one of these. Most DeWalt products are pretty good, but
this one is a dud. There is a design fault whereby the fence setting
angle is 2-3 degrees out near 90 degrees. This makes it pretty
useless. I returned mine, had another, same thing, therefore refund.
At least one other person in this NG did the same.

Hmmm. Thanks for the info.

"Rick" wrote in message
oups.com...

This is not meant as an insult ... but how many bisquit joints do you
have to do? if it is not something you are going to use every week -
then £160 is a lot of dosh.

I'm not going to be using it professionally but at the same time I want one
that is going to accurate. I was aiming to get a qaulity tool not just
because it will (hopefully) be extremely robust but will also provide a high
level of accuracy. Using cheap tools over the years has made me wary of
them (and given me a somewhat scarred thumb) but at the same time I have
learnt that expensive doos not always equal good - hence me looking for a
recommendation.

Does anyone know of a website that does tool reviews.

flash wrote:
"Rick" wrote in message
oups.com...

This is not meant as an insult ... but how many bisquit joints do you
have to do? if it is not something you are going to use every
week - then £160 is a lot of dosh.

I'm not going to be using it professionally but at the same time I
want one that is going to accurate. I was aiming to get a qaulity
tool not just because it will (hopefully) be extremely robust but
will also provide a high level of accuracy. Using cheap tools over
the years has made me wary of them (and given me a somewhat scarred
thumb) but at the same time I have learnt that expensive doos not
always equal good - hence me looking for a recommendation.

What about Rick's idea of a router (if you already have one?) with a
biscuit cutter? Works for us....

--
Holly, in France
Holiday Home in Dordogne
http://la-plaine.chez.tiscali.fr/

On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 23:14:57 +0100, "Holly, in France"
wrote:

What about Rick's idea of a router (if you already have one?) with a
biscuit cutter? Works for us....

Two problems:

It won't do T joints, where you need to biscuit into the middle of a
panel.

Biscuits are supposed to be "quick and easy". If I want perfect, I'll
cut dovetails. The router technique doesn't offer the guides or simple
depth stop of a biscuiter.

Andy Dingley wrote:
On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 23:14:57 +0100, "Holly, in France"
wrote:

What about Rick's idea of a router (if you already have one?) with a
biscuit cutter? Works for us....

Two problems:

It won't do T joints, where you need to biscuit into the middle of a
panel.

Good point. We have only used it for a staircase and making boards into
panels so didn't have that issue.

Biscuits are supposed to be "quick and easy". If I want perfect, I'll
cut dovetails. The router technique doesn't offer the guides or simple
depth stop of a biscuiter.

Yes, that's true too. We were using it on it's side, IYSWIM, so the
depth stop on the router got the line and the depth was judged by hand.
It was 'quick and easy' in the way we were using it but I can see that
it wouldn't be in many other circumstances.

--
Holly, in France
Holiday Home in Dordogne
http://la-plaine.chez.tiscali.fr/