Horizontal mortise machine

[Neil Gaskin]

I’m thinking of adding one to our shop. I have a hollow chisel mortise machine but I’d like something for bigger mortises.

I have looked at a few different models and there seems to be a roughly $1000 class and then roughly 4-5000 Class. specifically I’m Looking at grizzly and SCM group.

The price point of a grizzly seems attractive. They also seem like fairly simple machines but I’m wondering what I missing?

[Jeff Duncan]

$5k gets you a really nice new European machine, but used ones are not terribly hard to find and can be had for something in the neighborhood of $1k if you look around a bit. I use an older Bini, (Italian), slot mortiser and it works well for my needs. It does not have all the features the $5k machines have, (like tilting table and whatnot), but it does what I need it to. As far as Grizzly goes you get what you pay for. There seem to be an awful lot of guys who like them just fine, I just don't happen to be one of them:rolleyes:

good luck,
JeffD

[Mark Hennebury]

What are you making? what size mortises? how many mortises per hour/ day / week do you want to make? What are you making the tenons with? Do you have three phase power?

[David Kumm]

The build needs to be heavy for consistent mortises, particularly between long and end grain. Usually a fixed table and moving head are preferable. The mount of the motor to table needs to be stout, as do the bearings and arbor as the stress is located a long distance from the support. A new machine at the low end will be good for small diameter bits but you need the expensive machines for large diameter ( 1/2-3/4" ) mortises. If you are patient, a used oscillating mortiser with pneumatics can be found in the 2K range. I rehabbed a Bacci and find it superior to my Felder mortiser. Dave

[Neil Gaskin]

Tenons will either be cut by hand or with a dado cutter in the table saw.

I do have 3 phase

What I would be making and size will vary but in general I want a machine to be able to make between a 1/2" and 1" mortise.

It's not a high production need, just want an easier way than drilling and hand chopping for larger size mortises.

[Mark Hennebury]

Are you familiar with swing chisel mortisers?



Tenons will either be cut by hand or with a dado cutter in the table saw.

I do have 3 phase

What I would be making and size will vary but in general I want a machine to be able to make between a 1/2" and 1" mortise.

It's not a high production need, just want an easier way than drilling and hand chopping for larger size mortises.

[Darcy Warner]

Are you familiar with swing chisel mortisers?

Anything over a 1/2" wide goes right to the chain mortiser.
I miss my Festo.

[Brian Holcombe]

I like the Maka for most rectangular mortises, given that I have the SM6, that is typically mortises on the smaller side. Of which I make a lot. Fair amount of setup, but beautiful results. Not the least expensive approach by any means but it's comparable to any of the high end machines (slot, osc. HC).

Next would be hollow chisel. Followed by slot mortising. I definitely prefer slot mortising to routers or other hand held approach.

I have access to a Bridgeport, which with two vises and the ability to swivel the head or provide angled work holding really makes a slot mortiser redundant for me. I have mine for hollow chiseling mainly but I'm planning to move to an upright machine for that just to make myself a bit more walking space.

[Wakahisa Shinta]

Does the Maka SM6 able to make one single square through mortise? I have yet to see a video or an account of the Maka making such a mortise and am curious of its capabilities. It seems very fast and makes very nice looking rectangular mortises, but the company is now in the CNC arena and no longer produce the old machines. The other similar swing mortisers that I have looked at are Centauro, Me.Sa, but all of them are European made.

[Mark Hennebury]

I will do a new thread on the Maka SM8 machines in the next day or two, in the meantime;
Swing chisel mortisers are not really for deep square mortises due to the nature of the machine. Hollow chisel mortisers are the best for that.
Having said that you can make square mortises with the Maka, just not very deep.
It will make mortises from 1.5 mm to about 25mm wide. length about to about 100mm and depth up to about 100mm the maximum you would cut in one pass might be around 12mm x 70 x 90 of course it all depends on a few variables.
They are the most versatile of mortsers, in types of mortises that you can cut.; they will cut single square end, angled end, round end. haunched, double, and a whole variety of stacked sets. they cut through or stopped . The Maka SM series where available in several different models, bench top, with hand lever and cam clamp, floor model. and pneumatic feed and clamp. I will post a fe photos of the mortises.

They are mostly for smaller mortises for windows, cabinet doors and furniture.


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Does the Maka SM6 able to make one single square through mortise? I have yet to see a video or an account of the Maka making such a mortise and am curious of its capabilities. It seems very fast and makes very nice looking rectangular mortises, but the company is now in the CNC arena and no longer produce the old machines. The other similar swing mortisers that I have looked at are Centauro, Me.Sa, but all of them are European made.

[Michelle Rich]

Have you seen the pantorouter? will do 1" mortise and tenons easily. Uses templates. very nice way to make both the mortise and tenon on the same template.

[Mark Hennebury]

The first photo shows the range of widths and lengths the thinnest width is 1.5 mm the widest one is 28mm
The shortest length is in the photo is about 25mm and the longest is about 100mm
Mortise width is set by the chisel size.
Mortise length is set by a combination of chisel size and machine adjustment. You can adjust the length of the chisel stroke, making your slot longer or shorter.
The mortise depth is set by depth stop. The chisel overall length limits the maximum depth.
The are a few variable to consider, longer thinner chisel will break easier, so there are chisel proportions that are recommended.

All of the mortises in the phot have been cut with one pass, you can cut a wide variety of mortise sizes by doing two or more passes.
You can set stops and shims to do multiple passes to adjust the length and width of your mortise.


The first photo are all single mortises

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The second photo are made with double mortise sets. Standard double, offset double, offset angled end combo

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This is a match combination set for left and right hand.

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[Albert Lee]

Here is my mortiser cutting 1 inch wide wide mortise. the mortise is 25mm x 100mm x 120mm.

Skip to 5:00 for the end result.

Video was meant for woodworker in Taiwan/HK, I havnt had time to put in English subtitle but the video/machine is pretty much self explanatory.


https://youtu.be/JIyaWJ-Rkfo

[Darcy Warner]

I had the bench top maka. It wasn't the easiest thing to get on the bench though.

[Mark Hennebury]

Here is the Maka SM6P-II cutting a mortise in Mahaogany. Mortise size; 5/16" x 1-9/16" x 2" deep.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhCq1tzbmP8

[Mark Hennebury]

Here is a video of the cutting action;


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-txj-DYv8po

[Wakahisa Shinta]

Mark, thanks for the videos. It's incredible how fast the Maka cuts a mortise compared to my PM bench-top hollow chisel mortiser. Was Maka the one invented the swing mortiser first and others followed? This is the impression I get reading Maka's website. Which companies still currently produce swing mortisers?

[Mark Hennebury]

Hi Wakahisa,

I have the impression that Maka invented the machine, but i am not sure either.

The small SM series machines are fast, the larger machines are a lot slower, but still amazingly fast considering what they do.
There are / were a lot of companies that make the swing chisel mortisers, but i don't know of anyone making the small models and more.
The large machines are still made in the upright and horizontal versions.

Many companies, some no longer making them;
Maka, Lari & Lari, Lari & Broggi, Centauro, Mesa, Manzani, Framar, Masterwood, Muti, Mutifili, Sautereau, Legna, Chambon, Griggio,Steton,Parveau, Elu, Holz-her, Haffner, Wekee, Lyon=Flex

A few that i know that are Still in business;
Lari & Lari, Centauro, Mesa, Framar



Mark, thanks for the videos. It's incredible how fast the Maka cuts a mortise compared to my PM bench-top hollow chisel mortiser. Was Maka the one invented the swing mortiser first and others followed? This is the impression I get reading Maka's website. Which companies still currently produce swing mortisers?