Biscuit joiner - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A biscuit joiner or sometimes plate joiner is a woodworking

Woodworking

Woodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using wood.-History:Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood...

tool used to join two pieces of wood together. A biscuit joiner uses a small tungsten carbide tipped, circular saw blade

Circular saw

The circular saw is a machine using a toothed metal cutting disc or blade. The term is also loosely used for the blade itself. The blade is a tool for cutting wood or other materials and may be hand-held or table-mounted. It can also be used to make narrow slots...

(100mm (4") diameter) to cut a crescent shaped hole (called the mouth) in the opposite edges of two pieces of wood or wood composite panels

Engineered wood

Engineered wood, also called composite wood, man-made wood, or manufactured board; includes a range of derivative wood products which are manufactured by binding the strands, particles, fibers, or veneers of wood, together with adhesives, to form composite materials...

. An oval-shaped, highly-dried and compressed wooden biscuit (usually beech

Beech

Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...

) is covered with glue, or glue is applied in the slot. The biscuit is immediately placed in the slot, and the two boards are clamped together. The wet glue expands the biscuit, further improving the bond.

History

The biscuit joining system is a recent development, having been invented in 1956 in Liestal

Liestal

Liestal is the capital of the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland, south of Basel.It is an industrial town with a cobbled-street Old Town.-History:...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

by Hermann Steiner

Hermann Steiner

Hermann Steiner was a Swiss inventor and businessman.In 1944, Steiner opened his carpenters shop in Liestal, Switzerland. He invented a system in 1956 that he called the Lamello Joining System which is now known as the biscuit joiner or plate joiner. He also produced the first portable plate...

. Steiner opened his carpenters shop in 1944 and in the middle of the 50’s, while looking for a simple means of joining the recently introduced chipboard, invented almost by accident the now world-famous Lamello Joining System. In the succeeding years there followed further developments such as the circular saw and the first stationary biscuit (plate) joining machine in 1956 followed by the first portable biscuit joiner for Lamello grooves in 1968. In 1969 the family operation was incorporated by the name of Lamello AG. Lamello continues to manufacture very high-end biscuit joiners such as the Lamello Top 20.

Several other companies such as Porter Cable, Dewalt

DeWALT

DeWalt is a worldwide brand of power tools for the construction, manufacturing and woodworking industries. It is a subsidiary of Stanley Black & Decker.- History :...

, and Makita

Makita

Makita Corporation is a Japanese power tool company founded in 1915, and based in Anjō, Japan. Makita is a manufacturer of professional and consumer power tools, and operates factories in Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Mexico, Romania, UK and USA. Annual turnover is equivalent to US$1.8 billion.-...

also manufacture compatible biscuit joiners, including some models with interchangeable blades, enabling the user to cut both 4" and 2" biscuit slots.

Festool

Festool

Festool is one of the world's leading producers of high end power tools especially for cabinetry. It is located in Wendlingen, Germany, where all its power tools are produced...

manufactures a similar tool, called the Domino

Domino jointer

The Domino is a loose mortise and tenon joining tool manufactured by the German company Festool.-History and description:This tool, first on sale in 2006, cuts mortises in the manner of a biscuit joiner. Each plunge creates a mortise that is sized to accept a Domino loose tenon, creating joints in...

, which uses a rotary blade. The blade cuts a domino shaped mortise

Mortise and tenon

The mortise and tenon joint has been used for thousands of years by woodworkers around the world to join pieces of wood, mainly when the adjoining pieces connect at an angle of 90°. In its basic form it is both simple and strong. Although there are many joint variations, the basic mortise and tenon...

which provides a surface area larger than typical biscuit slots for greater bond strength. The cutter is capable of accommodating a variety of domino sizes. This system essentially creates loose mortise and tenon

Mortise and tenon

joints.

Production

Biscuits are predominantly used in joining sheet goods such as plywood

Plywood

Plywood is a type of manufactured timber made from thin sheets of wood veneer. It is one of the most widely used wood products. It is flexible, inexpensive, workable, re-usable, and can usually be locally manufactured...

, particle board

Particle board

Particle board, or particleboard , is an engineered wood product manufactured from wood particles, such as wood chips, sawmill shavings, or even saw dust, and a synthetic resin or other suitable binder, which is pressed and extruded...

and medium-density fibreboard

Medium-density fibreboard

Medium-density fiberboard is an engineered wood product formed by breaking down hardwood or softwood residuals into wood fibres, often in a defibrator, combining it with wax and a resin binder, and forming panels by applying high temperature and pressure...

. They are sometimes used with solid wood, replacing mortise and tenon

Mortise and tenon

joints as they are easier to make and almost as strong. They are also used to align pieces of wood when joined edge-to-edge in making wider panels. It is important to use the same face when cutting the slots, so the boards are perfectly flush.

Biscuits are also used to align edges of workpieces, such as when forming a 90 degree angle with your materials. The biscuit provides a quick means of getting a perfectly flush joint, while at the same time reinforcing the joint.

Typically, the machine will have an adjustable fence, so it can be set on an angle for joining mitered pieces.

Also, there are other types of specialty biscuits available, from metal connectors, used for removable panels, to hinges, making these portable machines even more flexible.

Usage

The workpieces are brought together and the user marks the location for the biscuits. Precise measurement is not required, as the biscuits are hidden when the pieces are assembled, so a quick pencil stroke that marks both pieces where they align is all that is required. The parts are separated and the machine is used to cut the slots in each piece. The machine has reference marks on the center line of the blade for easy alignment to the marks on the materials being joined.

The body of the machine with the blade is spring-loaded and in the normal position the blade is retracted. The operator aligns the machine and uses a firm pressure to push the body forward against the base plate to make the cut. The waste material is blown out of the slot on the right of the base plate.

Because the slots are slightly longer than the biscuits, it is still possible to slide the panels sideways after the joint is assembled (before the glue sets). This fact makes the biscuit joiner easy to use, because it does not require extreme accuracy or jigs to achieve perfect joints.

The depth of the cut can be altered by an adjustable stop, the smaller base can be rotated through 90 deg. and accessories are provided for altering the offset of the base to the blade (for use with thicker or thinner materials as required). Some models allow slots to be cut at angles other than 90 deg. to the joining face, for example 45 deg., which greatly speeds up the assembly of things like cabinets.

The sizes of standard biscuits

Size	Metric Biscuits † in mm (L x W x T)	Inch Biscuits † in inches (L x W x T)	Notes
#H9	38 x 12 x 3 mm‡		Uses a smaller cutter wheel 3 mm wide.
#0	47 x 15 x 4 mm‡	1-27/32" x 5/8" x 19/128"	Standard cutter width is 4 mm or 5/32".
#10	53 x 19 x 4 mm‡	2-1/8" x 3/4" x 19/128"
#20	56 x 23 x 4 mm‡	2-3/8" x 1" x 19/128"	One source uses 2-1/4" for length.
S6	85 x 30 x 4 mm‡

† Biscuits may also be referred to as plates (as per the Lamello website).

‡ These data require clarification because the standard cutter width is 4 mm thus requiring the biscuit to be thinner. It is more likely that the thickness is 3.75 mm which would correspond well to the typical inch thickness (19/128" = 3.77 mm).

Note: The mm sizes were taken verbatim from the Lamello website. The inch sizes were taken verbatim from an article on plate joinery published in The Woodworker's Gazette several years ago. In general, the sizes appear to be consistent with each other given the typical tolerances used in woodworking. The usual caveats in dealing with tools and materials destined for US or European use are to be observed, of course. The most commonly used inch sizes used are #0, #10 and #20 hence their exclusive listing.

The sizes of Porter Cable biscuits

Size	Metric Biscuits in mm (W x L)	Inch Biscuits in inches (W x L)	Notes
#FF	13 x 30 mm	1/2" x 1-13/64"	FF = Face Frame for 1-1/2" width, and up.
#0	16 x 47 mm	5/8" x 1-21/32"
#10	20 x 52 mm	25/32" x 2-3/64"
#20	24 x 54 mm	15/16" x 2-9/32"

Note: The sizes were taken verbatim from the Porter-Cable website.

History

Production

Usage

The sizes of standard biscuits

The sizes of Porter Cable biscuits

See also