DeWalt biscuit joiner alignment question ??

On Sun, 11 Apr 2004 12:56:40 GMT, "<<<___ Bob ___>>>"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Does anyone have the link to the site that covered in detail how to
>properly align a DeWalt plate joiner ?? ?? I did mine a few years back
>and it was a GREAT help, but now I can't locate the info for a friend ..
>.. .. thanx !! !! !!


Here's a post from 3/5/2000 titled "DeWalt bisquit joiner off kilter"
and a follow up post


>Mike Farleigh wrote a message on how to tune up your dewalt biscuit
>joiner a couple of years ago. I've copied it below. Fixed my problem.
>Greg
>
>Here were the steps I took:
>
>1. Set the fence to 90 deg. Take the head off your best combination
>square, and make sure the fence is truly 90 deg. to the face of the
>unit.
>If off at all, loosen the screw on the pointer and set the pointer so
>that
>the fence truly is at 90 deg. Re-tighten the screw.
>
>2. Set the fence to 45 deg. use the 45 side of your combo square head
>to
>make sure it's truly at 45 deg. If you did step one right, only a
>defect
>would cause the 45 test to be off.
>
>3. Using a small, very accurate rule, make sure the opening where the
>blade protrudes was machined square. Make sure the bottom of the
>opening
>is exactly the same distance from the bottom of the unit at both ends of
>the opening. Then make sure the height of the opening is exactly the
>same
>all the way across. If anything I've mentioned in this step is off, the
>unit was not machined right and I'd consider it defective.
>
>4. Now, and only now, make the adjustment which was way off on both the
>units I've had: set the fence back to 90 deg. and make sure that the
>top
>of the blade opening is exactly the same distance from the fence at both
>ends of the opening. If it's off (and I'd bet it is), slightly loosen
>the
>screws on the front of the unit, at either side of the blade opening
>(not
>the anti-skid pins, but the screws right next to them). Move the whole
>casting up or down on whichever side is appropriate, until the blade
>opening is exactly the same distance from the fence all the way across.
>Re-tighten the two screws. Be patient, this step was tedious and took a
>few tries until I got it just right. After the screws are tight,
>re-check
>the distance-to-fence to make sure nothing moved during tightening.
>
>5. Now, make sure everything is good and tight. Grab a piece of scrap
>wood, and set the fence height adjustment to, say, 3/8" (it's not
>important
>where you set it, as long as you set it in one place for these
>adjustments,
>lock it down and leave it that way). Now, carefully, make a test cut.
>Mark the top of the wood, so you know which side the fence was against
>when
>you made the cut. Now take your small rule, and check two things:
>
> a. That the edge of the cut is precisely the same distance from
>the top
>corner of the board all the way along the edge of the cut. If not, then
>you need to revisit step 4. Most likely, your blade isn't absolutely
>square with the blade opening (some of you thought I overlooked this,
>didn't you?). However, you should at this point not be off more than
>1/64th or so - now you'll really be splitting hairs as you revisit the
>adjustments in step 4.
>
> b. That the center of the height of the cut is exactly 3/8ths
>(in this
>example) from the top corner of the board. If not, then the height
>adjustment scale on the side of the unit needs to be adjusted. This is
>the
>easiest part of the whole process.
>
>
>I know this is a lot, but remember it's a one-time process if done
>right,
>and yields what I've found to be a remarkably accurate tool. Once it's
>all
>set and tightened, there's nothing as far as I can tell to come back out
>of
>adjustment - unless and until parts start wearing that would need repair
>service anyway, like gibs or the sleeve bearing in the gearhead.
>
>The other adjustment, which I didn't need to make on either of my units,
>but which IS mentioned in the manual, is the depth-of-cut. This is more
>or
>less a no-brainer.
>
>Sorry for the length of this, I just thought it odd when I went through
>it
>that nobody ever talks about it and saw this as an opportunity make a
>contribution.
>
>By the way, DeWalt will send you a manual and parts list free (I think)
>if
>you call them at 1-800-4-dewalt. Good luck!
>
>--
>Mike
>[email protected]

NEXT POST
>A faster way to check if a biscuit slot is parallel is to cut one in
>the end of each of two long sticks (as if it were the first of many
>slots to edge-join the two sticks). Put a tight-fitting biscuit in
>the slots and squish the two pieces together. Any deviation from
>parallel will be doubled by having two slots, and magnified by the
>length of the sticks.

A google Groups search for BISQUIT in 2002 may find more posts.
Cape Cod Bob
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