General International Mortiser - 75-050 or 75-075?

[scott vroom]

After reading tons of info on mortisers I've settled on General International, and have narrowed it down to either the 75-050T or the 75-075. I plan to make a houseful of A&C furniture initially, possibly more if I can make a market. I'm hoping to get input from folks with hands on experience on either/both machines that will guide my decision. The 75-075 is bigger, heavier, more powerful, and has features you'd expect to find in a production floor mortiser including a cool looking X-Y table, while the 75-050T appears to be a true bench top with less power and features than the 75-075.

I want to buy this once without regrets so am tempted by the pricey 75-075, but have been told by several people including Scott Box, head of GI USA operations, that the 75-050 is well suited to my planned projects.

If I go with the 75-050 will I later regret not spending more to get the 75-075? Any and all inputs appreciated.

Thanks

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Scott...I have the 75-050T. It works well. The main advantage I could see of the 75-075 is the indexing table. But I don't think it's worth an additional $900.

I built a Norm Abram's porch swing with a "stretched" version for my wife. It was made out of white oak. Except for the seat slats which are attached using countersunk and plugged stainless screws, every structural joint in that swing is a mortise and tenon joint. IIRC there are around 50 and it took something like 3 hours to make all the mortises. I laid them all out at once and drilled them. I use the bits that came with the machine. I used this tool from Woodcraft http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/144385/Mortise-Chisel-Sharpening-KIt.aspx to cut a new surface on the inside of the 2 different sized mortising chisels I used. Then I used this tool from Rockler http://www.rockler.com/3-piece-mortise-chisel-sharpening-set to hone the chisels. I used a jewelers file and a small diamond sharpening card to sharpen the cutting edge on the mortising bits. I did stop periodically when it was necessary and rehone the chisels.

IMO, the one of the biggest causes of dissatisfaction with a mortiser is not having sharp chisels and bits. Did I mention "SHARP" is important?

[roger wiegand]

Sorry I can't compare them as I have only one, the 75-075. All I can say is that I'm pretty happy with it. I find the x-y table very helpful when pounding out lots of parts, it's easy to set stops for repeat cuts so marking and measuring is minimized. I've never succeeded in pushing it had enough to slow it down. The vice is OK but the wheel does tend to bind up a little, something's not quite right with it, I often have to back up a sixteenth of a turn before it will move smoothly forward again. The x/y action is quite smooth. I've used it with a 3/4" chisel in very hard wood, but that pretty much required gorilla strength on the arm, which I bent. I've subsequently learned much more about sharpening the chisels, but haven't tried the biggest chisels again since then. I'm sure the poor condition of the chisels was a problem.

I would say that the chisels I got from them with it were pretty rough, requiring a *lot* of work to bring into shape. I'd seriously consider getting the well-regarded chisels from (I think) Lee Valley instead.

[mreza Salav]

I have the 75-050T. I bought it solely for making square holes for the 1/2" square balusters for my stair railing and doing true M/T for the entry door I built. It worked fine but doing 1/2" mortises in hard maple wasn't easy. I'll most likely sell the machine soon (now that I'm done). One thing you may want to consider is bigger machines usually come with bigger distance between the chisel and the table. I forgot the distance for 75-050T but I recall I couldn't get a stile piece under it unless I modified the machine a bit by removing the piston assembly. So if you might want to mortise into something wider than 7" say, consider a machine that is capable of that.
I still think these machines are dinosaurs compared to modern things are out there...

[Frank Drew]

Scott,

You imply that you wouldn't mind going into production if thing worked out that way; in that case, and considering that you're talking about "a houseful of furniture", I'd go with production equipment from the get go, and, of course, there are other choices apart from G.I. that you might consider.

[Peter Quinn]

We have the 75-075 at work, its a nice machine, I like the that the table moves like a floor model, seems to have plenty of power, doesn't get used a lot since we bought a domino XL.....by not a lot I mean almost never. Just not that kind of shop. II talked them into getting a domino for a job I was on and haven't seen anybody use the chisel mortiser since come to think of it...but we are on our 20th box of dominos? guess the larger capacity is good if you plan to get into real large pieces like structural brackets or farm house tables, though I would be more inclined to do double rows of 1/2" or 5/8" mortises than do a single 1" mortise. The articulating table makes production work far more pleasant, not sure what your per incident volume is, hard to gauge if its worth the additional cost. Me, I hate clamping and unclamping to move the work, the chisel mortiser is slow enough without that nuisance, for the commercial shop anyway, at home I use a DP attachment and don't mind it for the occasional small square mortise, I went with slot mortiser for the heavy lifting as i don't generally do through mortises.