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Thread: Benchtop mortiser - anybody have one?

  1. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce Wrenn View Post
    Search Morterly Mortiser, and Woodsmith / ShopNotes Mortiser. I built the Woodsmith / ShopNotes version, and like it. Been on my to do list for some time. Just waiting for a project to use it on. i have one of the first generation Delta's, that I bought to do a set of cabinet doors. Did exactly what I needed. Note the Morterly uses a guide bushing to guide cut, while the Woodsmith version uses the router base. Also check out Phil Thien's mortiser. Phil's name may sound familiar, as he invented the Thien Baffle
    Here's a recent thread on the Morely Mortiser. LINK
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Location
    West Central Illinois
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    I have a grizzly and find myself not using it. If I had it to do over I think I would pass.

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Location
    Vancouver Canada
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    716
    I have a General. It can go months between uses, but like now I’m building a set of window screens and it’s great. If I had to dial in a router then square them off ( or even make floating tenons) I think I’d go buggy. Too much fiddle time.
    Young enough to remember doing it;
    Old enough to wish I could do it again.

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Doylestown, PA
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    7,541
    I have a Jet benchtop and seldom use it. I added an X Y vise which I'd recommend. A router based solution will yield smoother walls for the mortises which should result in a better glue joint.

  5. #20
    I also have the PM701. I used it to make a bed extension. It worked well enough but I bought cheap chisels to start with, and the mortises weren't as perfect as I would have liked. So yes, if you buy one, buy good chisels. I also bought the extension block for larger material. If I were to do it again, I would have bought a floor unit, or just skipped it and used dominos.

  6. #21
    I had a delta benchtop mortiser for years when I had a smaller shop. It was a POS but I didn’t have the space for something better. I learned to live with its slop and flex. When I got a bigger shop, I got a grizzly floor standing mortiser. It is much, much better but not perfect. If you are making mortises on smaller pieces of softer wood, a benchtop may be fine. No matter what, get good chisels and keep them sharp.
    Last edited by Jim Barstow; 04-01-2021 at 6:07 PM.

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    Allentown, PA
    Posts
    188
    I just sold a Jet tabletop, because a Powermatic floor-standing model was selling used nearby and I couldn't resist. I made a blanket chest with the Jet. It takes time to set up; but, it works. The difference between the two is setup time on the Jet, no sliding table, and clamps that aren't quite strong enough. Bolt it to a big board, clamp it to a heavy table and the drilling is about the same. The annoying thing with the Jet was the hold-down clamp is not strong enough to keep the board from lifting up; but, there are ways to fix this with some imagination.

    I think the key to using any mortiser is keeping the chisels sharp and waxed.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Peoria, IL
    Posts
    4,412
    I despise bench top hollow chisel mortisers. So much so that I have a Domino, Pant-o-router, and a Leigh FMT so I never have to use one again!

  9. #24
    I have a Jet but plan to sell it. It works but my Domino XL works a lot better. The main thing I do not like about the Jet is pulling the chisel back out after the first cut. It does not have a clamp so I try to clamp to the fence with quick clamps or C clamps but it is still hard to pull a 1/2 inch chisel back out of hardwood. A second disadvantage that is much more minor is the rough surface it leaves. Maybe sharper chisels would do better. But the domino makes a very smooth mortise very similar to one made with a router and spiral cut bit. But the biggest advantage of the domino is speed. Much quicker setup time and quicker cutting of mortises. No need to be limited to the sizes of premade tenons. Multiple plunges about 1/2 inch apart will give you a wide mortise more like a normal joint. But I get that a domino is a lot more expensive. A hollow chisel mortiser will work fine. But if you can get one with a clamp to hold the wood I defintely would.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Toronto Ontario
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    11,236
    I have a General International machine, I’ve used it for 20 years now, works great....Rod

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
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    Doylestown, PA
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Dwight View Post
    <snip>
    A hollow chisel mortiser will work fine. But if you can get one with a clamp to hold the wood I defintely would.
    An X Y vise fixes that problem. Something like these. I recall there is a modification required, I think moving the screw that tightens the jaws but don't recall details right now.

    https://www.grizzly.com/search?q=sliding+vise

  12. #27
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Griswold Connecticut
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    6,923
    Jon

    I've had the Delta 651 for many years. It has been modified as most usually do. I don't think I know where the base is any longer.
    The key to a benchtop mortiser is very, very,sharp chisels, and an x-y table. You absolutely must be able to sharpen those chisels, or you will fight any mortiser all day long. You will also need to invest in the stones necessary to sharpen the bits. The bit leads the whole tool. That first contact has to be exact and effortless.
    An x-y vise is fine for smaller pieces of material, but an x-y table and vise off a milling machine, or designed for use with a milling machine, will be many times better.
    My Delta 651 is repeatable to within 1/2 the width of a pencil line. The walls are straight, true, and parallel. But it took quite a bit of modification on my part to make it that way. Buy the model that requires the least modification. But it has to have an x-y table, and vise, and a good one, or everything will be painfully slower.
    Routers are fine for cutting mortises, but there are limitations, same with the Domino. The depth of the mortise will be dictated by the diameter of the bit.Smaller diameter bits are generally shorter in length to maintain strength.
    The FMT's are amazing pieces of hardware. Absolutely elegant and beautiful in design and function, but again the router bit itself is the limiting factor.
    Benchtop Mortisers are also limited by the width of the mortise, but a 1/4", or 5/16" chisel set can give you a mortise with a depth of 2"+.
    I remember when Bill Carey was looking at benchtop mortiser. His research was pretty thorough. If Bill is happy with the Bailiegh, I would strongly advise checking it out.
    "The first thing you need to know, will likely be the last thing you learn." (Unknown)

  13. #28
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Central North Carolina
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    1,830
    I've tried about every way there is to make mortise and tenon joints. A router does it better, if rounded end mortises and tenons are OK for what you are making. I bought a Leigh FMT Pro and it has the ability to make very accurate and perfectly fitting M&T joints over and over with enough repeatability to be able to insert any given tenon that I make into the mortise that I make of that size. No final fitting at all is required once I have adjusted the jig for that size mortise and matching tenon. I can make them all day long and if all the same size, all will fit together properly. I ended up buying it when faced with a job that required over 1,600 M&T joints, and the FMT was the only jig that had the ability to do this quality of joint without any final fitting. I might still be working on that job if I hadn't gone with the FMT jig.
    There is a knob adjustment that allows adjustment in the fit by 0.001" increments. The jig makes both the mortise and the matching tenon with the same setup. Once you get the fit of the first tenon and mortise to fit the way that you want, every mortise and tenon made after that will fit perfectly, unless you fail to make the cut properly. Tenon #100 will fit in every mortise from #1-100 the same way, as will every other tenon made that day. It's a very expensive jig, but worth every penny that I paid. Have you ever made a tenon on a wooden matchstick and then the matching mortise in another matchstick? They demonstrated this at a trade show, but I had to make one myself to become a believer.

    Charley

  14. #29
    I have a 20 year old Delta bench top (the Norm Abram style one) and a 10 or so year old Jet bench top. Would I love a floor model morticer, yes, but the bench tops work well enough for me.

    I think the Delta with its dovetailed column works a little better of the two, although the fence I got was bad from day one. I ended up using a mortice fence from a drill press mortice adapter which I can T-nut to the base and that works very well. I use it often enough that I have it mounted to a dedicated rolling stand, so it sort of functions like a floor model. An x-y table would be nice, but I get by without one. I will be using it to make the 40 mortices on the Mission bed I am in process of building.

    I would agree that the main drawback of the Jet is that the hold down does not hold down well enough and the chisel can angle-jam on the way out. I fixed that by c-clamping the fence to the table when I did deeper mortices.
    Last edited by Andrew Seemann; 04-02-2021 at 11:14 PM.

  15. #30
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Cashiers NC
    Posts
    603
    Is the PantaRouter as good as their website proclaimes?
    Charlie Jones

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