Dewalt Biscuit joiner modification

[Larry Edgerton]

I was tired of my new Dewalt biscuit jointer plugging up so I took a look at it today.

If you will look in the exhaust port you will see a post in the middle of the port. I am assuming that this is so that you don't start it and stick your finger in there to poke out a plug. Ironically this is what will cause the plug. Undoubtedly an item designed by a crack team of lawyers.

What I did with mine is reach in there with a pair of needlenose pliers and snap it off. This left a little stub so I grabbed a die grinder and ground it off after removing the blade. The rest of the port was a little rough so I chucked a porting wheel in the die grinder and smoothed out the port.

No more plugged port the rest of the day......

I would certianly not recommend that you do this mod to your Dewalt as your finger could go up the port, but it did work for me as I have no index finger on that hand anyway.

My Lamello does not have this feature, they must figure that their customers are smarter than Dewalts.

Larry

[Jamie Buxton]

Y'know what works very well? Throw away the bag that collects the chips, and plug in the hose from a vacuum, just like the thing is a sander. The vacuum sucks all the chips out, and the darn exit port never clogs up.

[mickey cassiba]

Hmmm...My PC came with a vacuum adapter, and no 'guard rails'.

[frank shic]

what happened with your index finger?

[Jerome Stanek]

You must have a newer improved version mine didn't have the pin in it but it is over 20 years old and still works like new

[Larry Edgerton]

Y'know what works very well? Throw away the bag that collects the chips, and plug in the hose from a vacuum, just like the thing is a sander. The vacuum sucks all the chips out, and the darn exit port never clogs up.

You are assuming that we all work in a world where we can always have a vacuum hooked up. You would be wrong. In this case I was on 4-5 sections of schaffold installing extension jambs. Not all of us work in a tidy little shop.

I have another Dewalt that is modified for a specific task that does not have the post and it works much better, so it seems logical to improve the new one, even if I use the vac.

Larry

[Matt Day]

I agree with Jamie on the vac. I got tired of the bag filling so quick and the vac solved that. I'll still probably clip that little post so it can run cleaner, so thanks for the suggestion.

I don't speak for everyone, but I'd say a majority of us do work in tidy little shops - though the tidy part is probably in question!

[Van Huskey]

Good idea Larry. You are also right that many of us forget about site installation! What is easy/safe/clean/etc in the shop can be a whole 'nother story wedged into a corner hanging upside down on a trapeze bar... :eek:

PS your "porting" job brought me back to my youth with a set of V8 heads in front of me, a die grinder in hand, no idea what I was doing in my head but a string sense I was going to make more, a lot more, horsepower...

[Kyle Iwamoto]

My Lamello does not have this feature, they must figure that their customers are smarter than Dewalts.

Larry

Hey, I resemble that remark...... I was wondering why I couldn't stick my finger in there.:eek:

[Larry Edgerton]

PS your "porting" job brought me back to my youth with a set of V8 heads in front of me, a die grinder in hand, no idea what I was doing in my head but a string sense I was going to make more, a lot more, horsepower...

Ha! That is how I come to have the porting tools.;) I am sure I ruined more heads than I improved, especially as I learned more and looked back.

Bigger is better right?

Larry

[scott spencer]

I did the same thing to mine....it sure improved the chip ejection.

[Rick Potter]

It takes more than an idiot with a grinder to port heads. Don't ask how I know...

Rick P.

[Van Huskey]

I am sure I ruined more heads than I improved, especially as I learned more and looked back.

Bigger is better right?

Larry


I could have made the same statement! My first hack job was on a set of small block Ford heads (351 W) for a 302. Fords had notoriously bad exhaust flow so armed with the header gasket as a template I went to town! In hindsight I could probably have done a better job blind, come to think of it the guy that ground my crank WAS blind... but it was perfect! Locating and drilling matching coolant passages was another mis-adventure, but when it was all slapped together it did run pretty well, low 12s and in that day that was pretty good. I did get a wee bit better at engine building (mainly due to spending time in Bud Moore's and Gene Fulton's shops one within walking distance of my home, the other on my way to and from school) and finished with a 9.72 @ 141 '67 Mustang door slammer that had another 1/2 second in it but I never got around to tuning the chassis before I sold it. BTW at that point I had learned to let the pros do the porting work!

[Larry Edgerton]

My last project was a Built Miata. Ran 10.9 at 139 but had traction issues. 674 fwhp out of a 1.8 liter running 36lb. of boost. I built the car for the salt flats but common sense finally took hold. 220 mph in a Miata on salt is pushing a little too far. I had $7k in one head, Roush did the flow work. They welded material in at one spot in the intake port. That has become a science, but still, we had fun doing what we did. More fun than writing a check.

My street car at that time was a twin screw Miata pushing 257 RWHP, and that was the most fun car I ever owned. Corky Bell is a friend of mine and we kept dreaming up stuff like this and I would help him work out the bugs.

Cars/bikes are a bad habit. I have had over 200 cars/trucks, and most of them got modified. I made money on about 6, the rest, well..........

These days I don't have the money, so no toys. And I get by just fine.

Larry