[Arctos]

Greetings,
I am about to purchase a biscuit joiner to help with the construction of my speaker cabinets and have found that I have some options.

1.  The typical option is the standard biscuit joiner (DeWalt, Porter Cable, etc).

2.  The other option (new to me) is a joiner kit for a router.  I found one from a Canadian company that sells for about $40.  It comes with a blade and additional hardware to connect it to the router and to set the correct depth.  There is another by an Australian company (Triton) but I don't think it can be purchased in the US yet.

Does anyone have expericence with the router version?  My concern is how this system works (do you move the board into the blade, or vise versa?).

Thanks,

RDS

[bubba966]

Go with a dedicated biscuit joiner.

A router attachment will be much more of a pain to set up than a dedicated would be. And you'll probably not have a router that you dedicate to the biscuit job, so you'll have to set it up & tare it down for every use.

The biscuit joiner is setup for depth & height all the time. If you want to change biscuit size or material thickness it's done with a turn of the dial & you're there. Very fast & easy to use.

Not only that, but a biscuit joiner is also much easier to use. And it can be used on larger/akward material easier. I'd be safer as well.

If you had it in the router you could move the router into the material (not the best way), or the material into the router with the router in a table & fence.

I've only used the router setup a time or two, and a biscuit joiner many, many times. The biscuit joiner was much easier and quicker to use.

But the router blade is very good for slot cutting down the length of boards. I'd use it for that & not biscuit joining.

[PeteG]

I agree with Bubba, a joiner would be easier and works better
for different usages specialty setting up different fence angles (45*).
I use a Dewalt with a must have dust bag.

                                -Pete

[Arctos]

Thanks folks,
I was leaning that way already, but wanted some confirmation.  I really think I will need the flexibility of a dedicated unit.  Also, it will make my work faster.  Guess I'll see what's available on Ebay!

Regards,

RDS

[bubba966]

It's been a few years since I'd done any woodworking. But Pete's comment reminded me about cutting biscuits on the face of a piece of material. It can be done very easily with a joiner. But you can't do that with a router.

And the 45 degree angles would be a large pain with a router (not to mention much more dangerous). Take it from someone that's had a finger chewed up by a tablesaw. Safer & easier is the way to go.

I'd used the DeWalt when it was first released. It was pretty good for homeowner use. If you were going to be using it in a cabinet shop I'd go with a much higher quality rig.