Porter Cable 557 biscuit joiner; Stationary mount or fixture short/small material

[Roger Lueck]

I have spent several hours searching for an example of a "stationary mount" that has been built to safely secure a Porter Cable 557 biscuit joiner or a fixture to hold short small pieces for biscuit joining. There is always an application where it would be much easier to push the material into the biscuit joiner (short pieces) instead of pushing the biscuit joiner into the material. I understand there are alternate methods such as splined joints, doweled joints, half lap joints, domino joints, etc. However, I own a biscuit joiner and there are times I'd like to use a biscuit joint for various reasons (appearance, ease of use, $$$$, etc.).

Collectively, the woodworking community is very creative and biscuit joiners have been around for quite a while. I'd be amazed if someone hasn't created a stationary mount or a fixture to safely hold short/small material for biscuit joining. Does anyone have an example of a safe "stationary mount" and/or a safe "material holding fixture for short/small material" that already have been created?

[Rick Potter]

PC used to sell a biscuit joiner bench model. Don't know if it used the 557 as the basis. If you could find pics, it might help figure something out.

[Rick Lizek]

Actually it was Delta that made the bench mount biscuit joiner. Simpler solution is to use a wing cutter in a router table.

[Mike Henderson]

Simpler solution is to use a wing cutter in a router table.
+1 That's what I do. Also called a slot cutter.

Mike

[Rick Lizek]

http://highlandwoodworking.com/library/stationary_biscuit_joiner_jig.pdf
Less than a minute search...

[Dave Lehnert]

Don't happen to own a Shopsmith do you? They also use to make a model that could be used on any drill press. Maybe keep an eye out for a used one.

http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/catalog/images/biscuit_joiner_l.jpg

[Harvey Miller]

This is Carpentry has a setup in it's mechanized biscuit joinery article. It's complex, but I think it's pretty close to what you wanted.

[Roger Lueck]

Thank you to all who reponded.

Rick, thank you for your search outside of SMC. In my statement regarding the length of time I had been searching, my search had been limited to SMC as I thought I had read an article about building "quick and easy" shop cabinets that included constructing a jig/fixture for the stationary mounting of a biscuit joiner.

Harvey, thank you for the reference to the article in "This is Carpentry" article, I also found many other interesting items on that website.

Happy New Year to All!

[Richard McComas]

I think you are referring to Delta model 32-100. I bought one back in the day they were being manufactured. Its a good tool except the original foot feed pedal arrangement did work very well so I added and air cylinder and and a air valve. It work great now. I use it mostly for putting biscuits slots in the back side of face frames.

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