Cross slide vise with benchtop mortising machine

[Mike]

Greetings,

I have a Jet JBM-5 benchtop mortising machine, and was wondering if anyone has replaced the holddown and fence with a cross slide vise? If you have, does it work as you expected? (which I hope is better then the stock fence and holddown.)

Thanks for any replies.

Mike G. (the other Mike G.)

[Bestest Handsander]

I've done it. It works fine. I had to clamping lever to the other side so it wouldn't crowd the post. That required drilling and tapping two new holes. I also mounted a base under the machine to raise it up some relative to the vice. Then I mounted the whole thing to a 1" ply base so it's still mobile. When I need it I pull it out of a cabinet and clamp it to a countertop. Works fine. Not as well as a big mortiser with its own xy table, but it does the job.

Let me know if you want more details.

HTH

[Mike]

Thanks for the reply..I think I understand what you've done, and will give it a try.

Mike G.

[Bestest Handsander]

I'll post a pic in ABPW. This was a test setup (to get the spacing and height correct). I mounted it on a plywood slab later. You can see the mod in this picture. The top two handles are normally on opposite sides. You have to move one so both are in the front.

HTH

[Mike]

Thanks again.

Mike G.

[Bestest Handsander]

Forgot to mention... you also need to rotate the mortiser's base 180 degrees.

[Bigpole]

Mike G.,

I added one to my Delta mortiser. I really like it. Go for it.

Ted