Morticers

Reply to
Oldun
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By the time you're done you could just buy a thickness planer and a simple attachment for a drill press. That's basically all the attachment for the planer is.

Reply to
woodworker88

Probably even one of the better benchtop mortisers would be no more expensive.

The picture looks as if the base/attachment is quite solid and the moving bed would be nice but I'd have to see one in action to decide about how well it would actually be to use, I think.

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

Reply to
Oldun

Did I understand there's a right-angle gearing to drive a mortising drill?

Do you know if the depth is tied to the planer head drive as it seems? If so, I think it would be quite awkward...

But, I'm kinda' guessing as I couldn't really tell from the picture I saw.

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

Nope - the Euro-style slot morticers use the end of the driven shaft with a router collet. It's a slot morticer, and they are superior in most respects to vertical machines.

Reply to
George

Ah! Makes sense but the info at the link was somewhat confusing and the picture too small to see what was going on...and while I read it, I didn't register "slot" even though I knew...

Thanks...

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

Have you tried one of those slot mortsers George? Any information you can give would be great. I don't want to buy one and then wish I had kept the bench mortiser.

I would visit a dealer to see for myself, but living in a remote location means the cost of going to see one is much more than the cost of buying it.

Remove oxo from my address if you want to reply personally.

Cheers

Oldun

Reply to
Oldun

Keep the bench. It makes square holes. The slot types are certainly precise at edge slots, and lend themselves well to hold-downs and such for longer pieces, but with a bit of jigging and a good router, everything is possible without them. I think the persistence of the slot morticer may have more to do with the short arbors on tablesaws than absolute utility in the age of good plunge routers. Folks here have dado sets which plow grooves and make square tenons easily.

If you're driving, look at a good all-purpose router. Set it up table-capable, and use it either way. If you have to mortice ends on long stock, make a jig. I've used 'em when I had to stand on a stool to get my eyes above the router. Even slotting, what the machine is best at, can be accomplished fairly well with a tall-fenced tabled router and a couple of featherboards. Larger stock can be handled by a three-point jig.

Reply to
George

Thanks George, I have now decided to forget the slot mortiser. Too many disadvantages and not much space saving it seems.

Also thanks to all those who responded. If nothing else a few more woodworkers over the pond are now aware of slot mortisers.

Cheers

Reply to
Oldun

The Robland X-31 has an opposing V chuck on the end ot the jointer/planer cutter head and an XYZ table that attaches to the side of the unit. The XYZ table has Left/Right stops to set the ends of the mortise and a depth stop as well. The planer/jointer has its own 3 hp TEFC motor that turns the head at 5000 rpms - low enough to do the job but not burn the mortise.

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you want to see a great example of how to build a four panel door using all five functions of the X31 with plenty of loose tenon joints in mortises cut on the horizontal mortising attachment. Click on "continue" at the bottom of each page to get o the next page. This guy is very methodical and there are many ideas shown which will probably come in handy for your future projects.

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here's a great jig to enhance the slot mortiser's capabilities.

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that the mortising bits for these units are much longer than a router bit.

charlie b

Reply to
charlie b

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