Plate Joiner Dewalt or Porter Cable?

[Greg Pierce]

My plate joiner blade bit the dust today. $70.00 for a new blade for old model 555. I think I will just get a new one. Dewalt $149.00 and Porter Cable $199.00 at Lowe's. Has anyone used Both? Curious about advantages one over the other.

[Peter Pedisich]

Greg,

After cutting hundreds (probably about 400) of slots with my DeWalt and having cut about 12 slots with my friends PC, I say...

Porter Cable makes a better machine, get the PC, the $50 is well spent.

PC has handle on fence, parallel slots, and quieter.

DeWalt is a bit smaller, noisier but with good chip collection if you use a vac, lousy with bag attached.

Pete

[Hoa Dinh]

I can't tell you which one to buy. I at one point had both. I sold the DW and kept the PC because the difference was only $20. I don't know which one I'd keep if the difference were $50.

Both of them are about compatable in terms of quality.

DW has a better fence adjustment mechanism (dual rack and pinion fence). But PC has more features:

- Fence goes from 0 to 135 degrees (DW from 0 to 90).
- Front handle attached to the fence, thus remains stationary during plunging operation (DW handle moves with the motor).
- Comes with small blade for face-frame biscuits (I've heard that you can buy a small blade - extra cost of course - for the DW, but personally have not seen it).

Amazon throws in a bag of 1000 biscuits with the PC. But DW currently has $20 mail-in rebate.

Life is full of trade-offs.....

[Jerry Olexa]

I love my PC. Better features and very accurate IMHO..

[Jay Knepper]

I have the PC, and it works fine. But I rarely use it now. In retrospect I should have bought a Dowelmax instead of the plate joiner, even though it costs about $20 more than the PC. Why? Plate joiners lack precision and the biscuits are too wide for many applications.

[Chris Damato]

IMO, go with the PC hands down!

-Chris

[David Miller (Indy)]

Hi, you might check Amazon. I believe they had a deal on the PC for about $169.

[Joe Meazle]

I guess I will be the descent here. I have the PC 557. I have been a little disapointed. I just replaced the plastic bracket that acts as the piviot to the fence. I broke this peice when the 557 fell from my TS to my shop floor (33" fall) which is covered with the interlocking foam pad squares from Sam's. I would not call that abuse. My new plastic part cost $3.50 an $6.00 to ship as my local PC/Delta/DeWalt/BD service center had none. I looked at the display at Lowe's the last time I was in and the same part was broken on it too. I think for $200 you should get somthing a bit more durable. I do use the FF biscuits now and then but that is one of the few advantages to this model IMHO. If I has t buy another BJ I would look hard at the Makita. The Dewalt seems ok too.
Good Luck
Joe