Charles Coolidge
02-08-2014, 4:23 PM
I finally got to put my new Shop Fox W1743 mortiser to work milling slots in some wooden radial arm saw fences, here's a report on both the mortiser and the premium Grizzly mortise chisels/bits.
As this was the first use I took some time to check a few settings. I attached a magnet base dial indicator to the vertical column and first checked the fence for square and flatness. I just eyeballed the thing locking it down to '0' on the scale and dang if it was not spot on. I zero'd the dial in the center of the fence. I then cranked the table to full left and full right, it measured -.004 left 0.000 center and -.004 right. So a very slight crown but remember the clamp to clamp the wood to the table is in the center and pushes against the fence so my guess is it clamps dead on or even slightly out the other way. Quite happy with that. Next I measured the table itself, as I worked the cross slide crank handle moving the table forward and back, it measured 'needle flutter' which is to say it wasn't out enough to get even a +- .001 reading, really happy with that. I could have measured a few more things but as these are just fences for the RAS I got to work on them.
282003
FAIL! See the block of wood holding up the mortiser head, see the air cylinder I had to remove half way through this job. I knew that thing was going to be trouble during assembly. Its suppose to help hold up the heavy mortiser head so you pull down on the handle building air pressure and it helps raise the thing back up, poor mans counter weight. FAIL! Basically it does the opposite at times, pull the handle all the way down and it just stays there, try to lift the handle up to raise the head and its building air pressure the other direction trying to keep the head down. Well about half way through cutting these it got stuck at the bottom. I could force the head up compressing the air cylinder but it would not bleed off or release or whatever and the head came right back down. I had to unbolt the thing and remove it. No trouble finishing the job I just used a wood block to hold up the head. I'm probably going to properly counter weight this thing vs getting a replacement cylinder. Its hard to gauge how much force you are putting on the chisel since you are pulling down on that cylinder. Properly countered weighted the whole thing will move up and down quite easily and balanced, there will be much better feel for how its feeding into the stock.
281999
Ahaha they are labeled the 'Finest' well these are Grizzly's 'premium' mortise chisels made in Japan, not cheap this 1/4" bit was $33 and the price goes up from there. I shopped all over the interweb and found most mortise chisels are now made in China even some previously made in Europe, be sure you know the country of origin before buying so you don't pay for European quality that's really made in China. Anyway this bit worked great, its only Sapele but its over 1.5 inches thick and it cut like butter.
281998
Here's a pic of the fences.
282000
Here's a close up.
282001
This RAS table is coming right along, next up dust collection then wire it up and start using it.
282002
As this was the first use I took some time to check a few settings. I attached a magnet base dial indicator to the vertical column and first checked the fence for square and flatness. I just eyeballed the thing locking it down to '0' on the scale and dang if it was not spot on. I zero'd the dial in the center of the fence. I then cranked the table to full left and full right, it measured -.004 left 0.000 center and -.004 right. So a very slight crown but remember the clamp to clamp the wood to the table is in the center and pushes against the fence so my guess is it clamps dead on or even slightly out the other way. Quite happy with that. Next I measured the table itself, as I worked the cross slide crank handle moving the table forward and back, it measured 'needle flutter' which is to say it wasn't out enough to get even a +- .001 reading, really happy with that. I could have measured a few more things but as these are just fences for the RAS I got to work on them.
282003
FAIL! See the block of wood holding up the mortiser head, see the air cylinder I had to remove half way through this job. I knew that thing was going to be trouble during assembly. Its suppose to help hold up the heavy mortiser head so you pull down on the handle building air pressure and it helps raise the thing back up, poor mans counter weight. FAIL! Basically it does the opposite at times, pull the handle all the way down and it just stays there, try to lift the handle up to raise the head and its building air pressure the other direction trying to keep the head down. Well about half way through cutting these it got stuck at the bottom. I could force the head up compressing the air cylinder but it would not bleed off or release or whatever and the head came right back down. I had to unbolt the thing and remove it. No trouble finishing the job I just used a wood block to hold up the head. I'm probably going to properly counter weight this thing vs getting a replacement cylinder. Its hard to gauge how much force you are putting on the chisel since you are pulling down on that cylinder. Properly countered weighted the whole thing will move up and down quite easily and balanced, there will be much better feel for how its feeding into the stock.
281999
Ahaha they are labeled the 'Finest' well these are Grizzly's 'premium' mortise chisels made in Japan, not cheap this 1/4" bit was $33 and the price goes up from there. I shopped all over the interweb and found most mortise chisels are now made in China even some previously made in Europe, be sure you know the country of origin before buying so you don't pay for European quality that's really made in China. Anyway this bit worked great, its only Sapele but its over 1.5 inches thick and it cut like butter.
281998
Here's a pic of the fences.
282000
Here's a close up.
282001
This RAS table is coming right along, next up dust collection then wire it up and start using it.
282002