I found some past reviews / comparisons and have limited my choices to these two based on those posts...
shopfox: 3/4HP / 3450 rpm, 3/4" chisel max 8-3/4" stroke, 2 included $230
steelcity: 1/2HP / 1725 rpm, 1/2" chisel max, 5" stroke, 4 included $239 after rebate and the 5 year warranty
Woodstock no longer lists the benchtop on their website, so i assume the first is discontinued... (can't find the manual on website either? parts?)
Based on all this and primarily on the slow is better commentary in past posts, i'm leaning towards the steel city with the only three things i keep second guessing myself are:
1) the 1/4 additional HP
2) larger stroke
3) 3/4 capability...
what would you do?
FYI: my first slated project is a copy of Jim's cantilevered miter station - that thing is so cool! Unfortunately my slider is deep, so its' going to protrude a bit, i can't give up 40" of depth on the wall.
thx in advance
-brad
p.s. frankly i'm not how to deal with 1" mortises i need here (or any case where the mortise is wider then the bit). do i just allow one or two sides of the bit to cut into nothing? Or do i slightly oversize and chisel out the slivers in between? i.e. i saw this post where it deals with the length issue, but not the width? Or maybe i apply same theory and for a 1" wide, use 3/8" chisel three times across the width?
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...light=mortiser