Thread: Mortising machines

I have certainly found the result a little "rough" but I always undersize slightly and then clean up with a chisel. Unless you get the chisel bit perfectly square to the fence then you will always get a ever so slightly serrated edge.

On a related matter, some time ago I bought a kit of square morticing chisels for use on a drill press.

The long and the short of it is this was another few wasted bucks as the blerry contraption took longer to set up and then make the mortices than doing them by hand did - and with a far worse quality of finish.

Another piece of junk collecting dust on a shelf somewhere

All of the small morticing machines that I have seen aren't much better IMHO. Better and faster results can be achieved with either a router and/or a set of morticing chisels.

I have a little 1/2hp mortising machine from carba-tec, cheapest one they had lol.

Yeah so it won't last 3 lifetimes.:eek:

Now if this result in kwila ain't good enough for a budget machine, I don't know what will be.

Attachment 23723

I know it's not the best machine, but it does a lot better/faster job in pine/softwoods.

ps I'll defy anyone to do 30 -40 mortices in kwila
faster than this little machine can.


HJ0 Your time starts now lol ... No I don't work for carba-tec,closest ones over 100km away.:mad:

I have an FT-13 from C/t and it performs quite well. It actually cuts a better mortice in jarrah or oak than it does in pine. I give the chisels a light lap on the oilstone and they do a good job. Saves heaps of time and delivers a useable mortise.

Dean has a review here http://www.onlinetoolreviews.com/rev...oodTBM-160.htm

I think that people need to remember that just like hand chisels the mortising chisels need to have the outsides flattened and polished and the drill needs to be sharp.

Cheers

They'll crush the fibres/grain while cutting into softwoods... just like hand mortice chisels. Hardwood doesnt have this problem(not that Ive seen?)

Auld, I doubt if you could hand cut mortices faster than a chisel morticer, yes if you were cutting only 1 but how often is that, most projects need several mortices to be cut in succession... which the machine excels in.

But in saying that if I was to make some fine furniture I would be using my Rocker mortice jig with a router, as it produces way neater than hand or machine cut joints.
Its just the router/jig set up time takes a while compared to the chisel morticer machine.

Hi Sinjin,

I bought one of the Jet bench models and find it great. I can't comment on the results with pine as I haven't cut any mortices in this wood yet. I have done a few in Jarrah and find it very quick and easy to use.

The edges are a little rough but no rougher then if I cut them by hand. I was using a router jig for a while but couldn't get the depth of cut I needed when I made my dining table. I bought the chisel morticers for that job and haven't looked back since.

I didn't build Rockers router jig but the set up time anoyed me which isn't the case with the chisel mortiser I now have.

Happy with mone and use it all the time.

Cheers,

Buz

Thks the for thoughts, have any of you been down the path of all the different brands of chisels that are available for these machines?
Sinjin

I have had the powermatic for a few months now, and have done around 7~800 mortices with the machine. It is a very reasonable machine.

I have many chisels, from three different vendors. They are all of asian origin, but are of different quality. The Jet branded chisels are the best that I have at the moment. There are some European chisels out there that are very Exxy, but are well regarded.

If you are only doing a few mortices then do it by hand. I only bought one, because my brother moved away, taking his chisel/chain unit with him. I do all mortice and tenon joinery these days, so needed a machine. The powermatic almost paid for itself in its first job.

Here is a review that I wrote about the machine, when I first got it.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...lance&n=228013

Originally Posted by Harry72

Auld, I doubt if you could hand cut mortices faster than a chisel morticer, yes if you were cutting only 1 but how often is that, most projects need several mortices to be cut in succession... which the machine excels in.

Harry, yes - I was talking about the time it took to set up the drill press set up.

For several mortices, I used to use a simple clamped fram, but now use Rocker's morticing jig. However, for just a couple, then I just do it by hand - easy as.

Originally Posted by Auld Bassoon

Another piece of junk collecting dust on a shelf somewhere

If that's the case, send em to me.

Dan

I've got a Delta morticing machine, it's the ducks guts as far as I'm concerned.

Ok bought the machine ..so now designing a mobile trolley for it. but i want some fancy side leg attachment for long timbers. I'll post some pics when i finish designing it.

Hi guys, couldn't reply earlier because all of my '1 month trial' pic reducing software expired at the same time. Since I made the mods shown in the pics, and 'dressed' the hollow chisels, I now use my JET for all mortice work.
The 2 axis base mod came from seeing the vice at Gasweld, buying it for $75, getting it home, finding the handles were in the wrong places AND reading the current issue of a US magazine bought the same day which showed how to reverse the vice handles ... ah, serendipity!
When the chiel is parallel to the edge of the workpiece, the chisel is dressed and all of the holes are bored with either 4 or 2 faces supported, then the mortices are smooth and require minimal or no cleanup.
Sinjin, if you're going to make a mobile base it might be an idea to make it a bit bigger to allow for a 2 axis vice.
Sunday arvo ... back to the shed,
Fletty