Plate joiners (also called biscuitjoiners) have been availablein the United States for about
25 years now. And lately, more andmore woodworkers I know areadding this tool to their list of“must-haves” for the wood shop.
One look at what these toolscan do for any project, and it’s clearto see why plate joiners arebecoming so popular.
Using a plate joiner and a woodbiscuit creates a joint thatapproaches the strength of a mor-tise and tenon joint, but without allthe precise layout and cutting.Andfew other joinery techniques are asversatile as plate joinery. It’s hard toimagine a joint where you couldn’tuse biscuits for a strong, easy, andinvisible connection.
And let’s not forget alignment.Nothing beats a biscuit for tamingmitered corners that have a ten-dency to slip out of alignment assoon as you clamp them together.The same goes for glued-up pan-els. With a few biscuits glued intothe edges of the boards, you won’thave to worry about the piecesshifting up or down.
Simple, strong, versatile, andinvisible.What’s not to like?
WHAT MAKES A GOOD JOINER?Okay, so you’re sold on the ideathat plate joinery can make strongjoints quickly and easily. Now youjust need to know what makes onejoiner better than another. In aword, the fence. Why is the fenceso important?
Well, all of these plate joinerswill cut a slot in the edge of aboard with absolutely no problem.In fact, based solely on this type ofcut, we couldn’t recommend onetool over another. But, when cut-ting slots in bevels or miters, orjoining face frames, it became clearthat the fences on these joiners arenot created equal.
The difference lies largely inhow the fences register on a work-piece. We also found major differ-ences in the ease of adjustment andaccuracy of the fences.
Of course, there are other impor-tant factors, such as how well ajoiner grips a workpiece while mak-ing the cut. (Imagine trying to cut aslot in the end of a piece of stockonly to have the joiner “slip”and cut
w w w . p l a n s n o w . c o m
®
Plate JointersAW
ARD OF QUALITYEDITOR’S CHOICE
WORKBENCH
® Plate JointersAugust 2002
TOOLS & TECHNIQUES SERIES
Seven plate jointers compete for top honors.Which one is best for you?
{ T-JOINTSThis joint let us try the joiners ina vertical position while using themating workpiece for alignment.
ANATOMY OF A PLATE JOINER
{ MITERED FRAME JOINTSCutting biscuit slots in mitered frame pieces madeout of hard maple revealed which “anti-slip” devicesprovided the best grip.
{ BEVELED END JOINTSThese challenging cuts showed us which tools wereeasiest to set up and had the most versatile fences.
through the edge of the workpiece.)Other aspects that affected ouropinion of these machines werethings like sight lines, registrationmarks, and ergonomics.
On the following two pages,there are comparisons of the typesof fences on these tools, includinghow they are adjusted. There arealso descriptions of the different“anti-slip” devices that we foundon these joiners. Then, in thedescriptions of the individual tools,we’ll cover the other highlightsand lowlights of each one.
Finally, we’ll tell you whichplate joiners received our recom-mendations and why. And there’salso a report card so you can seeexactly how we graded each toolin the categories we considered.
FencesWe discovered quickly during ourtesting that fences were the distin-guishing factor among these tools.The fence of a plate joiner is espe-cially important when cuttingbevels and miters. When makingthese cuts, the fence has to providea secure hold on the workpiece toprevent the tool from moving.Wealso preferred fences that easilyaccommodated different widthsand thicknesses of boards.
The seven tools we compared inthis test have three types of fences.We found strengths and weaknesseswith almost all of the fences.
ONE-PIECE FENCE.This typeof fence, found on the DeWalt,Craftsman, and Ryobi, gives youtwo choices for joining miters.Thefirst is to register off the outside faceof a workpiece, as shown in Figure 1.This generally works fine, but canbe a bit “tippy.”
One other limitation to thisfence type has to do with boardwidth.As you can see in the MarginPhoto, the wide opening in two ofthese fences (the DeWalt andCraftmsan) lets any board narrowerthan 21/2" slip through the fence.
In that case, the second optionis to register off the inside face ofthe board (Fig. 2). The problemhere is that any misalignment willbe visible on the outside of thejoint. (The inside faces are guaran-teed to line up since the tool is reg-istered on them while cutting thebiscuit slots.)
TWO-PIECE FENCES. TheLamello, Freud, and Makita platejoiners are equipped with two-piece fences. One part of the fenceis permanently attached to thejoiner. The second part, called anangle guide, can be removed forsome types of cuts (see the Anatomydrawing on page 2).
For joining miters, these fencesalso offer two options. The firstoption is to set the fence to 45°with the angle guide attached, asshown in Figure 3. This “traps” theworkpiece and holds the joinersecurely during the cut.
This design does have one seri-ous limitation, though. Figure 4shows what happens when you tryto use this configuration on aboard that’s thicker than 3/4". The“tip” of the miter holds the joineraway from the board.
For thicker stock, the solution isto remove the angle guide and usethe joiner fence to register off theinside face, just like the one-piecefence, shown in Figure 2.
TWO-STAGE FENCE. Porter-Cable’s fence is best described as atwo-stage design (which is differ-ent than the two-piece fences cov-ered earlier).
The first stage adjusts from 0° to90°. In this stage, it functions just likea typical one-piece fence. However,unlike regular one-piece fences, thisfence provides a positive hold oneven the narrowest boards.
The second stage allows thefence to adjust from 90° to 135°.
Details That Make a Difference
{{ When trying toregister off theoutside face of a board, someone-piece fencesallow narrowstock to passright through.
{{ When working with narrow stock,DeWalt’s fence must register off theinside face of the board.
{ Makita’s fence “traps” the board inthe 135° position. However, this onlyworks in stock that’s 3/4" thick or less.
2
1{{ DeWalt’s one-piece fence can registeroff the outside face of a board as longas it’s at least 21/2"-wide.
3 4{ When working with thick stock, thetip of the miter prevents the face of thejoiner from touching the board.
It’s important that a plate joiner doesn’t “slip” as youplunge the blade into a workpiece. The reason this“slippage” happens is simple. As the joiner plungesforward, the spinning blade makes contact with thewood and drives the tool in the direction opposite ofthe blade rotation causing the tool to slip.
Each of these plate joiners has some device to helpcontrol slipping. Some are better than others.
One such device is a pair of anti-slip pins.These aredesigned to “bite” into the workpiece (Fig. 7).The pinscan be retracted so they don’t scratch a workpiece ona visible surface. These generally work well. Oneweakness of these pins, though, is their placement.Notice how far apart they are? They offer no holdwhen working with narrow stock.
A second type of anti-slip device is the abrasive stripused by Porter-Cable (Fig.8).This doesn’t have the samegripping power as pins, but it does cover the entire faceof the joiner, so it engages even the narrowest stock.
Lamello’s silicone pads (Fig. 9) had one of the bestgrips in the group. Unfortunately, this design has thesame limitation as the pins — they’re spaced too farapart to do any good on narrow workpieces.
Ryobi covered the face of their joiner with a mate-rial similar to a router mat (Fig. 10).This held the joinerquite well. However, one of our testers said the materialmade it difficult for him to know when the tool was setfirmly against the workpiece.
<< Porter-Cable’stwo-stage fenceadjusts from 0°to 135° andworks on boardsof any width orthickness.
Anti-Slip Devices
Using this setup, the two-stage fence “traps” the work-piece, much like a two-piece fence (Figure 5). Butwhat’s better about this fence is that it’s not limited to3/4"-thick stock (Figure 6).
HEIGHT & ANGLE ADJUSTMENTS. One finalconsideration that affected our opinions of all thefences we looked at is how easy it is to set the angleor height of the fence precisely.
The two-stage fence of the Porter-Cable has thebest adjustment qualities overall.The height and anglescales are clearly marked, which makes alignment easy.And a fine-threaded jackscrew allowed for exactheight adjustments (see the photo on page 5).
We also liked the rack-and-pinion height adjustmenton the Makita(see the Anatomy drawing on page 2). Thisfence adjusts quickly, stays square, and locks down solidly.
The fences on the Freud, Lamello, and Ryobi platejoiners are moved up and down by hand, which is aless refined adjustment system.
<< Anti-slip pins,such as on theDeWalt, areeffective only onwide boards.
<< Porter-Cable’sabrasive stripprovides a passable grip onany size workpiece.
<< Lamello’s silicone pads gripboards well, provided theboard is wideenough.
<< Similar to arouter mat,Ryobi’s anti-slipmaterial is effective, thougha bit “squishy.”
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8
9
10
<< Thick stock isno problem forthe two-stagefence, even whenset at 135°.
Virtues: Great fence; Goodergonomics; Unmatched versatility.Vices: Short alignment mark onbase isn’t always visible.Verdict: Miles ahead of competi-tion on nearly all counts.
At a Glance:
PORTER CABLE 557
The Porter-Cable 557 plate joiner seems tohave been designed to avoid every weaknessfound on many of the other tools in this test.
The two-stage fence on this plate joineris clearly the best fence in the group. Theangle of the fence adjusts across a 135°range, making it easily adaptable to any joint.
Adjusting the fence height by using a fine-threaded jackscrew is also an excellent design.Because of the fine threads, the fence movesslowly, but allows for accurate adjustments.
The Porter-Cable also has the bestergonomics of the test group.While it is a bitlarger than the other tools in the test, thetapered design of the barrel is extremely com-fortable. A trigger located underneath thehandgrip area of the barrel allows you to turnthe machine on and off without changingyour grip on the tool.And speaking of grips,the top handle is tilted back into a much more
natural position thanthe upright positionon the other tools.
It was the only tool in the group to overcomeour tendency to ignore those handles alto-gether and hold the joiner by the fence.
Adding even more versatility to thisexcellent tool is a 2"-dia. blade that, wheninstalled in place of the standard 4" blade,makes this tool perfect for cutting the smallslots for “FF” (face frame) biscuits.
If there’s one knock against this joiner, it’sthe short alignment mark on the base of thetool. It’s impossible to see the mark when thejoiner is vertical and aligned on a scrap fenceno thicker than 3/4" (such as when cutting at-joint in a plywood face). In this case, you’releft to guess at the proper alignment.
Other than that, the Porter-Cable 557plate joiner is virtually flawless, and an easypick for the Workbench Editor’s Choice award.
LAMELLO CLASSIC C2
The exceptional quality of Lamello’s C2plate joiner is evident in everything from itssuper-smooth plunge, a depth-setting knobthat operates silky smooth, and an overall fitand finish that is unrivaled in this group.
The fence on this joiner is the two-piecevariety. The angle gauge is locked with atensioning lever and height adjustments aremade by sliding the angle gauge up anddown the fence. While this fence workedwell in all our tests, it does require the extrastep of ensuring the gauge is parallel to theblade before locking it into position.
Surprisingly, the fence on this joiner hasno marks for setting the angle, though itdoes have detents at 221/2°, 45°, and 671/2°.
In the end, the outstanding quality ofconstruction overcame the few missingrefinements to put the Lamello solidlyin second place in our test.
At a Glance:Price: $349Motor: 6.4 ampsFence type: Two-pieceBiscuit Sizes: 0, 10, 20,
Simplex,Duplex, MaxWarranty: 1 year
Virtues: Superior fit & finish;Smooth operation.Vices: No markings on anglegauge; Less refined fence adjustment system; High price.Verdict: If money is no object,this plate joiner is worth the price.
{ A fine-threaded jackscrew for makingfence height adjustments allows forextrememely accurate settings.
{ Porter-Cable’s 557 plate joinerincludes a 2"-dia. blade for cutting“FF” (face frame) biscuits.
Although the DeWalt DW 682 didn’twin one of the top three spots, we stillconsider it an excellent tool.
The one-piece fence of this tool iswell marked with graduations of 1/16" onheight scale and 1° increments on theangle scale. Adjusting the height of thefence is accurate and quick thanks to therack-and-pinion mechanism.
The contoured barrel and well-placed trigger switch make the joinercomfortable to operate.
Where this joiner lost a few points was inits angle gauge, which could be improvedwith detents. It also has an “open” fence that
limits its ability to handle narrow stock(see Details That Make A Difference, page3). Despite a few weaknesses, thismoderately priced joiner is a solidperformer and a sensible buy.
This tool is essentially a clone of the DeWaltwith a few key differences, related mostly toergonomics and comfort.
First, Craftsman opted for a knob ratherthan a handle on top of the joiner.The knobdoesn’t offer the control that the handle does.
Secondly,we noticed it was easy to inadver-tently turn this joiner on when we picked it upbecause of the large trigger on the underside ofthe barrel.
Finally is the barrel itself.The lack of con-touring and the thick barrel make it hard to geta comfortable grip on the tool.
The Craftsman’s fence uses rack-and-pinion height adjustment, which is accurate
and allows quick adjustments. However,the fence lacks detents for angle set-ting. And like most one-piecefences, it won’t support stocknarrower thanabout 21/2".
At a Glance:Price: $165Motor: 6.5 ampsFence type: One-pieceBiscuit Sizes: 0, 10, 20, MaxWarranty: 1 year
Virtues: Good fit & finish; Rack-and-pinion height adjustment;Very reasonably priced.Vices: No detents on angle gauge;One-piece fence lacks versatility.Verdict: A solid tool at acompetive price. You can’t go wrongwith this one.
At a Glance:Price: $170Motor: 6.5 ampsFence type: One-pieceBiscuit Sizes: 0, 10, 20, MaxWarranty: 1 year
Virtues: Rack-and-pinion heightadjustment; Easy-to-read scalesand alignment marks.Vices: Poor trigger design; Nodetents on angle gauge; Top knobdoesn’t feel as natural as a handle.Verdict: Costs more than theDeWalt with more shortcomings.
MAKITA 3901
At a Glance:Price: $170Motor: 5.6 ampsFence type: Two-pieceBiscuit Sizes: 0, 10, 20,
Simplex, Duplex, MaxWarranty: 1 year
Virtues: Rack-and-pinion heightadjustment; Easy-to-use controls;Compact size; Mid-range price.Vices: Unpainted alignmentmarks; Below average anti-slip.Verdict: The best tool in thisprice range.
AW
ARD OF QUALITY
WORKBENCH®
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TOP VALUE
The Makita 3901 takes third placeand Top Value honors in this test,thanks largely to some thoughtfulfeatures built into this tool.
First are the large tensioninglevers and knobs on the fence.These are handy when makingfrequent setup changes. Also, thetwo-piece fence on the Makitauses a rack-and-pinion heightadjustment, which holds thefence parallel to the blade andmakes fine-tuning the fence asnap.
On the downside, the align-ment marks on this joiner are
difficult to see.We also noticedthat the anti-slip pad on this tooldid allow the joiner to move justa bit if we didn’t hold the toolfirmly against the board.
Nonetheless,the Makita 3901plate joiner isour choice forWorkbench TopValue for itsoverall bal-ance ofq u a l i t yand price.
Despite finishing last, we do have a few pos-itive things to say about the Ryobi JM81.
The shape of this joinermakes it surprisinglycomfortable to grip.
Also, this joineraccommodatesour tendency to
hold the toolby the fence
with a plastic grip rail on the front of thefence. Other features we liked were theclosed fence design that supports narrowstock, and marks that show how wide anddeep a slot will be cut for each biscuit size.
Still, this fence has a few weaknesses. Forinstance, a single knob locks the height and theangle adjustments. So they can’t be adjustedindependently. Secondly, the alignment markson the angle scale are difficult to read.
Priced at under $100, this would be a goodtool for a budget-conscious, occasional user.
At a Glance:Price: $98Motor: 6 ampsFence type: One-pieceBiscuit Sizes: 0, 10, 20Warranty: 2 years
Virtues: Affordable; User friendly.Vices: Crude fit and finish; Fenceadjustments are cumbersome.Verdict: An inexpensive tool for theoccasional woodworker.
A A A B A AC+ C+ A A A B B+B+ A B+ B+ B- A B+B B B+ B+ B D+ B-B B B B+ B D+ B-D+ B+ B B B D B-C C B+ C A C+ C+
At a Glance:Price: $125Motor: 5 ampsFence type: Two-pieceBiscuit Sizes: 0, 10, 20,
Simplex,Duplex, MaxWarranty: 1 year
Virtues: Good fit & finish; Easyto read scales; Affordable price. Vices: Fence racked easily duringadjustment; Awkward power switch.Verdict: A few oddities, but still acapable, affordable joiner.
The Freud JS102 is a solidly-built, affordableplate joiner that performs well once you getused to a few of its idiosyncrasies.
First off, the two-piece fence displayed
a tendency to rackwhen thetensioninglever wasre l ea sed .
Correcting the rack was easy enough bycomparing the two scales on the front of thefence, but we’d prefer a fence that doesn’track in the first place. We also noticed thatthe fence came loose and moved slightlyduring a couple cuts.
It also bothered us that there is no align-ment mark on the side of the base to centerthe blade in the thickness of a board.
In spite of that, this joiner is quite capableof cutting accurate biscuit slots, as long asyou’re diligent about checking and recheck-ing the setup as you work. At this price, itmay be worth the effort.
EDITOR’S CHOICEFor sheer versatility and top-notch performance, thePorter-Cable has no equal in this group of tools. Theelaborate fence, comfortable barrel design, and fine heightadjustment mean this plate joiner has almost no weak-nesses.The Porter-Cable 557 is a bit higher priced thanmost of its competitors, but it’s worth every penny.
TOP VALUEMakita’s 3901 offers the perfectcombination of performanceand price to take Top Value hon-ors in our plate joiner test.
While basic in design, this is acapable tool with excellent setupand performance characteristics.
