I am building a freemo module in order to promote the new club we are starting. I understand the importance of keeping everything properly alligned. will biscut joiners work in 3/4 plywood? has anyone used them with success or failure? they seem that they will be the right way to ensure everything ends up square, but I have never used one so I am unsure. I have no other use for one but if it will work, I would be willing to purchase one. does anyone know of a better way to ensure everything lines up square and level? any help would be appreiciated.
Are you talking about using them for construction of the module or for alignment of the modules? The biscuits are thin, and should work to permanently join pieces of 3/4 inch plywood, but they are designed to work with glue. They are made of a material that absorbs the glue and expands into the slot cut by the jointer. They wouldn’t be suitable for aligning modules for assembly at shows.
Dowel Rods would probably work here though. Used with some metal closures (like heavy duty suitcase clasps) would work. That is how my dining room table accepts the extra leaf.
Wes
Biscuits are used to increase the glue surface for a strong joint. They are too thin and flimsy to leave exposed, like you would for alignment purposes.
For alignment, you’d be better off using dowels or pins, metal being better than wood. Unless both the pin and hole it fits into are metal, then the limiting circumstance will be the wood, which will wear over time and allow slop into your joint.
An inexpensive and long term precision alignment system would be the use of standard door hinges, one half of each hinge on each side of the joint. Then you can use the hinge pins to make the attachment and just pop them out for disassembly.
Be aware that unless you place the hinges vertically, gravity is no longer working to keep the hinge pin in place. I wouldn’t worry about this over the course of a weekend at a show, but if the layout were set up at home for a couple months, you could loose a pin suddenly unless you make regular inspections.
For this reason, I recommend placing multiple hinges per joint, with the pins in opposition to each other, or else set them so the hinge pins are oriented vertically.
I use them all the time for building cabinets, but I agree with Tom that they may not be suitible for allignment purpuses. Dowels will be better, but not perfect. They make a nut/bolt attachment for that kind of allignment that works real well. I bought mine at Rocklers. You can line drill the holes and then insert the bolt from one side and the nut from the other and tighten. They allow small alignment variation as you tighten. I use them for modular cabinets.
I think I may have misled people as to what I was trying to ask. I wanted to use the biscuts to keep the module lined up and square, not to align different modules together. I wanted a joint that was strong and would not be likely to shift after everything is in place. from what I have read I want to use 3/4 inch cabinet grade plywood to build a rectangle. the short sides of the rectangle would be verticle peice 24 inches wide. on top of that I want to put a horizontal peice that will ensure the first six inches will be lined up both vertically and horizontally. My question is aimed at these joints. I wanted to use the biscuts to install the short horizontal peice as well as the flat peice at the ends of the module, and a center brace to keep everything in place. Are biscuts the best material for these joints or is there a better way? If I understand correctly what the biscut joiners are used for, then I should have the best way to keep the modules together so that I do not have a frame work come apart after a few shows. the only other way I can think of would be to use dovetail joints or some other complicated woodworking method.
I agree that the biscuit joiners are far too thin and fragile to use in the manner you are suggesting. Dowel rods or even better, metal pins, would do a far better job. I work in a wood shop, building everything from boxes to desks, so I know what I’m talking about on this.
Biscuits will work fine for permanent cabinetry joints. The high end crew used dadoed or routed grooves, but a previous crew that did even higher end work used biscuits. Home Depot had a nice deal on a Porter Cable biscuit joiner, but I haven’t priced them recently.
Bisquits will work for this. Be sure and get them the right size. Larger is better, but not if they reach the end of the piece or stick through.
Lining up the cutter can be tricky but practice gets it done. The biggest problem is when the slots are 1/32 off.
Just make sure when using a biscuit joiner, you do not push the blade against the wood before turning on the tool. It throws the work piece across the room, pulling whatever’s holding it toward the blade; I have a ring finger that’s 1/16" shorter to show for it.[:O] So secure your work piece with something other than your hand…
that sounds like a painful but good lesson to learn, thanks for sharing