cheapo mortising machine

[B A R R Y]

Good suggestion, but I enjoy cutting and fitting tenons more than cutting mortises in the end of boards.

Now, if I had a multi-router...

[Pat Barber]

You can make certain mortises on a router table by using the fence and basically plunge cutting the mortise. Not a great method, but certainly will work.

A router lift that can be accurately raised would be a real bonus.

A much better way to is build a fairly simple mortising jig that allows you to use a plunge router.

I found the plans in Woodsmith...

I found the picture here of the jig:

[Brian Henderson]

True, and if you're doing a bunch of loose tenons, it's just as easy to run them through the router table and round them over en masse before cutting to size.

[Brian Henderson]

No, you just drop the wood onto the bit where you want it to start and lift it off where you want it to end. There's nothing that says you have to push the wood completely past the bit.