I recently purchased a Porter Cable 557 biscuit joiner. I have a
slight problem and irritation with it. I am asking is it the design
problem or am I expecting too much? It seems that the dust catching
bag and the exhaust vent leading to the bag are always getting
clogged. At first I thought that I was pushing the cutter in to
quickly, but even when I do it slowly the tube leading to the dust
catching bag clogs up after two cuts and the mouth of the bag is
clogged with saw dust. Any suggestions.
Regards,
Al
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Mar 26, 6:42 am, Frank Boettcher <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> If the shop is due for a major clean up, I just take the bag off and
>> blast it all over the shop.
>
> Well, thank God someone else does that. For a hand full, I just plug
> in and go.
Norm does it too.
Al Holstein wrote:
> I recently purchased a Porter Cable 557 biscuit joiner. I have a
> slight problem and irritation with it. I am asking is it the design
> problem or am I expecting too much? It seems that the dust catching
> bag and the exhaust vent leading to the bag are always getting
> clogged. At first I thought that I was pushing the cutter in to
> quickly, but even when I do it slowly the tube leading to the dust
> catching bag clogs up after two cuts and the mouth of the bag is
> clogged with saw dust. Any suggestions.
Take off the bag.
--
dadiOH
____________________________
dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
On Mar 25, 11:01=A0pm, Al Holstein <[email protected]> wrote:
> I recently purchased a Porter Cable 557 biscuit joiner. =A0I have a
> slight problem and irritation with it. I am asking is it the design
> problem or am I expecting too much? It seems that the dust catching
> bag and the exhaust vent leading to the bag are always getting
> clogged. =A0At first I thought that I was pushing the cutter in to
> quickly, but even when I do it slowly the tube leading to the dust
> catching bag clogs up after two cuts and the mouth of the bag is
> clogged with saw dust. =A0Any suggestions.
>
> Regards,
>
> Al
They all do, Al. I have a Lamello Classic and a 557 and used an Elu
(similar to a DeWalt).. the only thing that works, is a vacuum.
Doesn't have to be much of one either. If I have a lot of biscuits to
install, I use one of those Craftsman Autostart doo-hickies and a
'Stinger' vacuum. Total value of the package was about 60 bucks on
sale. I use the bag adaptor of the 557 as the hose connector.
Al Holstein wrote:
> I recently purchased a Porter Cable 557 biscuit joiner. I have a
> slight problem and irritation with it. I am asking is it the design
> problem or am I expecting too much? It seems that the dust catching
> bag and the exhaust vent leading to the bag are always getting
> clogged. At first I thought that I was pushing the cutter in to
> quickly, but even when I do it slowly the tube leading to the dust
> catching bag clogs up after two cuts and the mouth of the bag is
> clogged with saw dust. Any suggestions.
My DeWalt does the same if not connected to the ShopVac.
I purchased a Craftsman "Auto Switch" for $20 at Sears, and a Porter
Cable vacuum hose. The vacuum starts and stops with the tool. The hose
will also work with sanders, hand planers, etc... with a spot of duct
tape and or paper towel tube.
"Al Holstein" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:57a196db-2141-402f-a4a4-7fa9dcbb49da@h11g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>I recently purchased a Porter Cable 557 biscuit joiner. I have a
> slight problem and irritation with it. I am asking is it the design
> problem or am I expecting too much? It seems that the dust catching
> bag and the exhaust vent leading to the bag are always getting
> clogged. At first I thought that I was pushing the cutter in to
> quickly, but even when I do it slowly the tube leading to the dust
> catching bag clogs up after two cuts and the mouth of the bag is
> clogged with saw dust. Any suggestions.
>
> Regards,
>
> Al
Mine did the same thing. Now I hook up a small shop vac.
Max
On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:01:56 -0700 (PDT), Al Holstein <[email protected]>
wrote:
>I recently purchased a Porter Cable 557 biscuit joiner. I have a
>slight problem and irritation with it. I am asking is it the design
>problem or am I expecting too much? It seems that the dust catching
>bag and the exhaust vent leading to the bag are always getting
>clogged. At first I thought that I was pushing the cutter in to
>quickly, but even when I do it slowly the tube leading to the dust
>catching bag clogs up after two cuts and the mouth of the bag is
>clogged with saw dust. Any suggestions.
>
>Regards,
>
>Al
I get about twenty cuts with size twenty biscuits before it clogs.
Stop, clean it, and go on.
If the shop is due for a major clean up, I just take the bag off and
blast it all over the shop.
Frank
On Mar 26, 6:42 am, Frank Boettcher <[email protected]> wrote:
> If the shop is due for a major clean up, I just take the bag off and
> blast it all over the shop.
Well, thank God someone else does that. For a hand full, I just plug
in and go.
Robert
On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:01:56 -0700 (PDT), Al Holstein <[email protected]>
wrote:
>I recently purchased a Porter Cable 557 biscuit joiner. I have a
>slight problem and irritation with it. I am asking is it the design
>problem or am I expecting too much? It seems that the dust catching
>bag and the exhaust vent leading to the bag are always getting
>clogged. At first I thought that I was pushing the cutter in to
>quickly, but even when I do it slowly the tube leading to the dust
>catching bag clogs up after two cuts and the mouth of the bag is
>clogged with saw dust. Any suggestions.
On my miter saw when I was using the bag this would happen. The air
coming in would eventually inflate the bag and the mouth would open,
but by this time the cut was already over. What I did was stick a
cardboard tube inside the bag taped to the end. This kept the mouth
open. I don't know if this is possible on the biscuit joiner.
Of course hooking up the vac is always better than the bag.
-Leuf
On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:07:47 -0600, "Max" <[email protected]>
wrote:
>"Al Holstein" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:57a196db-2141-402f-a4a4-7fa9dcbb49da@h11g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>>I recently purchased a Porter Cable 557 biscuit joiner. I have a
>> slight problem and irritation with it. I am asking is it the design
>> problem or am I expecting too much? It seems that the dust catching
>> bag and the exhaust vent leading to the bag are always getting
>> clogged. At first I thought that I was pushing the cutter in to
>> quickly, but even when I do it slowly the tube leading to the dust
>> catching bag clogs up after two cuts and the mouth of the bag is
>> clogged with saw dust. Any suggestions.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Al
>
>
>Mine did the same thing. Now I hook up a small shop vac.
>
>Max
I was going to say the same thing. A vacuum cleaner seems to eliminate
those clogs.
On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:01:56 -0700, Al Holstein wrote:
> I recently purchased a Porter Cable 557 biscuit joiner. I have a slight
> problem and irritation with it. I am asking is it the design problem or
> am I expecting too much? It seems that the dust catching bag and the
> exhaust vent leading to the bag are always getting clogged. At first I
> thought that I was pushing the cutter in to quickly, but even when I do
> it slowly the tube leading to the dust catching bag clogs up after two
> cuts and the mouth of the bag is clogged with saw dust. Any
> suggestions.
This is the one commonly reported weakness across the web of what is
otherwise the industry leading biscuit joiner. Just bought one myself--
the solution is to remove the bag and connect a vacuum.
--
Steve Hall [ digitect dancingpaper com ]
"Al Holstein" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:57a196db-2141-402f-a4a4-7fa9dcbb49da@h11g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>I recently purchased a Porter Cable 557 biscuit joiner. I have a
> slight problem and irritation with it. I am asking is it the design
> problem or am I expecting too much? It seems that the dust catching
> bag and the exhaust vent leading to the bag are always getting
> clogged. At first I thought that I was pushing the cutter in to
> quickly, but even when I do it slowly the tube leading to the dust
> catching bag clogs up after two cuts and the mouth of the bag is
> clogged with saw dust. Any suggestions.
>
> Regards,
>
> Al
The vac works but if you plunge too quickly you get larger debris. Cut more
slowly and you get smaller particles of dust. I have never had a problem
with clogging after 2 plunge cuts. I only had a problem after the bag got
full.
Be sure that the path is totally cleared out.