Steelex Mortising Machine

[William Hutchinson]

I've been looking for a bench top mortising machines for a couple of months. I decided on this Steelex model from Grizzly http://www.grizzly.com/outlet/Heavy-Duty-Mortising-Machine-with-Stand/T20836 primarily because of the work piece hold downs and table controls. It's priced close to the bench tops that I was interested. It appears the manufacturer of this machine also makes it for Laguna- http://www.lagunatools.com/mortiser.platinumhcws.aspx

So far I'm pleased with the results of a few test pieces. I have an upcomming project that will require many mortises that will give it a thorough workout.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y66/wlhutch/Shop%20Tools/HollowChiselMortiser6-09.jpg http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y66/wlhutch/Shop%20Tools/HollowChiselMortisersidedetail6-09.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y66/wlhutch/Shop%20Tools/HollowChiselMortisertabledetail6-09.jpg

[Curt Harms]

Very nice! It's nice to see manufacturers putting decent stock hold downs and movable tables on their machines without having to go to the PM floor standing class machines. Enjoy it and let us know how it works once you get a few miles on 'er:cool:.

Curt

[Frank Trinkle]

Wasn't it fun cleaning all the protectant off of the machine??!! LOL (Took me about three hours)

Also, I notice that your lower cabinet looks in fine shape. My first one had to be sent back with weld cracks at all four corners of the face... and the second (which I am using) also had two weak welds in the corners, but it was better than the first, so I went ahead and kept it.

Like mine once I had it all together and running...

[William Hutchinson]

Wasn't it fun cleaning all the protectant off of the machine??!! LOL (Took me about three hours)...
Like mine once I had it all together and running...

Clean up was not too bad. My issue was wrangling this beast out of the crate to the cabinet by myself. I did install 3" locking casters directly into the base.

Do you (or anyone else) have recommendations for additional chisels/bits?

[Dave Lehnert]

Wander why it is not branded Grizzly? Is "Steelex" a new Grizzly brand that may be sold by other vendors??????????

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Dave,

I may be wrong but I believe I've seen SteeleX tools sold by other retailers.

[Dave Lehnert]

Wander why it is not branded Grizzly? Is "Steelex" a new Grizzly brand that may be sold by other vendors??????????

Answered my own question. Steelex is a trade name owned by Woodstock International. Woodstock International has the Name SHIRAZ BALOLIA associated with it. Mr. Balolia as most of know is the owner of Grizzly.

[Chuck Saunders]

I bought the broken one they had at the tent sale. Hopefully Grizzly will start carrying the parts soon.

[george wilson]

How difficult is it to pull the lever down when cutting a 3/4" or 1" mortise? We used to have to jump up and down on the foot pedal of one in the millwork shop. I have bad shoulders,and this is a serious question.

So far,I just cut mortises with my milling machine,and square up the corners with a chisel. Made our dining table that way. It had 3/4" X 4" mortises where the legs fit into the apron. The mortises went deep so they met inside the legs. The ends of the tenons were cut to 45 degrees,and came together as they should inside the legs.

[Mike Heidrick]

Welcome to the floor mortiser club. Congrats on your new machine! Looks great!!!!

[Ben Davis]

George,

I've had extensive use with the Woodtek (http://woodworker.com/cgi-bin/fullpres.exe?PARTNUM=141-893&LARGEVIEW=ON) brand 1hp mortise machine. You can make the 1" mortises with effort, but not undo effort. A huge difference after sharpening the auger bit.

doc

[george wilson]

Thanks,Ben. I have shoulder trouble. It is hard to find old foot pedal mortisers.I did get an old Yates American for my former shop. It must have come from a school shop,because it had at least 8 coats of barn brush paint on it.

Last year I found a pristine PM chain mortiser for $500,but turned it down as I didn't like the chain,about 1/4" X 1". Not versatile enough,and I'm sure the chains and bars cost a lot. With work,I could have made it into a chisel mortiser. That meant building a whole new head for it.It wasn't important enough to me to do that. I'll keep looking.

[Jerome Hanby]

On the Steelex Mortiser. It sounds like it's built and works well. Biggest difference I see in it and the Grizzly branded one at about twice the cost is the ability to make angled mortises. How often does that come up? I can imagine projects where you might need an angled mortise, but nothing that I would likely build. Am I missing something obvious?

[Brian Backner]

A not-so-dumb question, if I may. I will be traveling from Boston to Cleveland in the next several days; while I normally take I-90, I was thinking of dropping down to I-80 on the return leg and looking at this baby in Williamsport and maybe buying one of them.

So, does it come with chisels? If so, what sizes? If not, what size shank(s) does it take? The Grizzly website has no information about this machine at all ...... (yeah, I suppose I could CALL them, but after all, this is the internet age!)

Thanx,

Brian

[Chuck Saunders]

I believe it comes with one 5/8" chisel. The chisel has a 3/4" shank

[Jim Foster]

Looks a lot like the Powermatic.

[Brian Backner]

Very strange. Even though it is listed on their website as a "New!" machine, I called before detouring to Muncy on my way back to Boston to pick one up. Found out that it was listed as a closeout an was not available - at least in Muncy.

Oh well,

Brian