Mortiser on your JP or a Domino?

[ChrisA Edwards]

I have a Hammer A3-31, so have looked at the mortise attachment before, but have never been really excited enough to pull the plug on this device.

I've had the Domino DF500 for about 10 years, bought all the different size bits and a box load of Dominoes, in different sizes and it's taking me a long time to get through them. I find them really useful mostly when making cabinets out of 3/4" stock, but do use them for other projects.

I recently built about 10 window worth of plantation shutters and decided, as the shutters were quite large, I would mortise the rail and stiles. The Domino 500 capacity just wasn't going to be large enough for these shutters.

So I first looked at the MLCS Horizontal Router Table kit ($300) and bought this. It is light and small enough to move around the shop and seemed like it would be the ticket to cut the large mortises and tenons for my shutter frames.

I then became a little concerned about how I would support a 6' long stile while I was cutting a mortise near each end. So the MLCS unit never made it out of the box.

Next up I forgot I had a M-Power CRB7 Router base. So I set this up and did a couple of mortises, using this, with the stile clamped in my bench. This worked well, was a little slow, but was messy as my hand routers don't really have any real good chip/dust collection.

With the need to do about 50+ mortises on this first batch of shutters, after trying out a Powermatic PM719 mortise machine, I bought one. It was such a joy and easy to use, quiet and relatively clean in operation. To compliment this tool, I bought the Powermatic table saw tenoning jig, which was also super easy to cut the tenons on each end of my rails with my SawStop PCS175 (although that just got a motor upgrade).

When I'm not joining plywood, the mortise machine will be my go to tool for face frames and other furniture type projects.

I think all these tools have their place and many times one tool is more suited than another for a particular joint.

I wouldn't give up my Domino machine, but If I didn't have the capability to buy and store the PM719, I'd just stick to the CRB7 jig.

[John TenEyck]

I'm lost. What's a dj?

John

[Dan Friedrichs]

dj = Domino jointer (?)

Worth noting that the Domino has essentially 100% chip collection. Zero mess. I really like that

[Brian Holcombe]

I'm lost. What's a dj?

John

This should help to clear things up

[Simon MacGowen]

I'm lost. What's a dj?

John

My bad...domino joiner. The habit from trying to avoid typing long text messages on the phone.

Simon

[Mike King]

Btw, my mortifying table for the CF741 has a cart that allows me to store the table when not in use. Can’t you get a cart for the table on the Hammer?

[Kevin Jenness]

Mike, can you post a picture of your mortifying table?

[Randy Heinemann]

One of the best tools I ever bought was the Domino. It is possibly the most versatile tool in my shop. It gives me an easy, quick, accurate method to put together anything I've wanted to make since I've bought it. I created standard mortise and tenon joints several different ways, including by hand and with mortising bits. For me, none of those methods compare to the Domino's results and ease of use. . . but, as another poster said, it's what you get used to and feel comfortable with. There are a lot of ways to make mortise and tenon joints (and also loose tenon joints). If it works for you without spending a lot of money on a tool, but it's always fun to buy a tool which turns out to be one of the most useful tools in your shop.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Mike, can you post a picture of your mortifying table?

Hahahaha!

[Rod Sheridan]

Btw, my mortifying table for the CF741 has a cart that allows me to store the table when not in use. Can’t you get a cart for the table on the Hammer?

Hi Mike, short answer, no......Regards, Rod

[John TenEyck]

Dominoes are loose tenons or floating tenons, not dovetails, or anything else. Inventors of the dj never intended a dj to do dowel holes...a dj is not a hole drilling machine.

Mortises of varying sizes, yes, by changing the fence heights and, as I said earlier, overlapping the cuts (in which case, non-Festool dominoes/tenons need to be made. It is faster and more accurate to use double, triple, twin or twin double etc. dominoes, however.

Compound angle mortises? Do you have a link to what they are? As long as a joint can be completed using the traditional M&T or the floating tenons, any angles are doable. http://4dfurniture.blogspot.com/2016/05/

The dj is an under-appreciated machine when people relate to it as a biscuit joiner or doweling jig. It has a deep learning curve, and other users disagree on that statement because they are thinking about the learning curve for the basic functions of a dj only: butt joint, jointing, miters, etc., tasks that can be done equally well with biscuits, pocket hole joinery, or even just plain glue. For instance, we see a lot of pictures showing the dominoes in edge jointing...for many of which dominoes were totally unnecessary, or an extra step with no extra benefits. I seldom use dominoes for jointing unless it is something 1" thick and 3" or 4' long or more.

Simon

Simon, you will get no argument from me about the merits of a Domino. I'd love to have one; just can't justify the cost as a hobbiest. Same thing for the JDS Multirouter. But after I built my horizontal router mortiser I had even less reason to want either. It's a very simple and intuitive machine to use; no deep learning curve. It's also very versatile, more so than I realized when I first built it. It won't cut mortises in the center of a shelf, like a Domino can, but a Domino can't make rabbets, integral tenons, etc. that my machine can. No machine does everything or we all would only own one machine. This thread started by the OP asking about the merits of a slot mortiser vs. a Domino, and cost seemed to be a consideration in the choice. I was trying to point out that there are alternatives to either of those options that do most/all/more (depending upon your point of view) than either of those at lower cost. That is all.

John