Benchtop Mortiser enhancement

[Jim W. White]

Guys,

I recently scored a used benchtop mortiser off of CL. It was in good working order, but I was unhappy with the fence and clamping system on the machine. I stumbled across an old Popular Woodworking article that explained how to retrofit an x-y sliding vise so that the wood was presented properly to the mortiser and decided to give it a go.

This was a really easy (one day) project and it was super cheap ($40 vise on sale from HF, could also be bought from Grizzly.) I'm really pleased with the results. The base was built from scrap peices of 3/4" ply and one scrap peice of 1/8" steel. The steel top plate was overkill but I didn't want to give up anymore reach or depth of plunge than necessary.

I know many have blazed this path before me but I just wanted to encourage any Creekers out there that may never have run across this upgrade before. If you need a copy of the article on how to modify the -xy vise send me a PM.

Jim in Idaho

http://myweb.cableone.net/jimnbeck/mortiser_base.jpg

http://myweb.cableone.net/jimnbeck/x_y_vise.jpg

[Bob Wingard]

I had it in mind to do this many moons ago, and I have the vise modified & ready to go, but I don't have the magazine handy to come up with the rest of the dimensions. Do you have any sketches or working drawings of the base, including approx. dimensions ??


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[Dewey Torres]

That is very clever. I don't remember seeing that article but wow! Thanks for sharing with us!