Porter-Cable - CUSTOM 18V (Rating: 5)
I know this might be a slightly odd tool review and if you are familiar with the Porter Cable 18 volt line up you are probably scratching your head wondering if you missed something. No you did not, and no you cannot buy this off the shelf at a big box store. But with a little bit of patience and ingenuity this is possible.
This is my first biscuit joiner, and I wanted a cordless one. A while back I bought into the 18 volt porter cable lineup (if I knew then what I know now I might have went with Makita or Milwaukee, but that is another discussion). It may not be perfect, but it works rather well at making biscuit joints. It is a one-trick pony and that is exactly what it is supposed to be. The only little issue is that it seems to work best with the larger LX battery pack than the smaller EX pack. The weakness of this seems to be the tolerances to which the fence is made. I can't blame Porter Cable for that as it is a Harbor Freight part. The fences on DeWalt and Porter Cable biscuit joiners that I have seen in the stores are much better. I tried to find a cheap broken one on eBay but was unsuccessful. I would suspect that if dissected the gearing might be easier to work with than going the route that I took.
Here is a video of how I build it and it in operation:
I know this might be a slightly odd tool review and if you are familiar with the Porter Cable 18 volt line up you are probably scratching your head wondering if you missed something. No you did not, and no you cannot buy this off the shelf at a big box store. But with a little bit of patience and ingenuity this is possible.
This is my first biscuit joiner, and I wanted a cordless one. A while back I bought into the 18 volt porter cable lineup (if I knew then what I know now I might have went with Makita or Milwaukee, but that is another discussion). It may not be perfect, but it works rather well at making biscuit joints. It is a one-trick pony and that is exactly what it is supposed to be. The only little issue is that it seems to work best with the larger LX battery pack than the smaller EX pack. The weakness of this seems to be the tolerances to which the fence is made. I can't blame Porter Cable for that as it is a Harbor Freight part. The fences on DeWalt and Porter Cable biscuit joiners that I have seen in the stores are much better. I tried to find a cheap broken one on eBay but was unsuccessful. I would suspect that if dissected the gearing might be easier to work with than going the route that I took.
Here is a video of how I build it and it in operation:
