bench morticing

ennisa

Does anybody have any thoughts on getting a morticing machine? I will be making a garden bench this summer ( what's left of it ) and I would like to not have to do all the mortices by hand. I will if I have to as I'm not inclined to use fastners and I do like using 'proper' joints but 20 or 30 M&T's in the back splats of a bench is a lot by hand. Even with using a drillpress to waste away most of the material.

Has anybody tried one of these from axminster?

Axminster morticer attachment

I noticed croppyboy that you had a morticer in the background in one of your pics of your workshop and that it was the aldi one. I would imagine that they will show up again at some point, is it any good?

Thank you all.

kev91

they seem to be alri never used on before but had planed to get one but my tutor (sp) had told me just to get one from mc quillans a full mortice machine

if your only goin to use it once or twice id say it would be grand but iff your going to be using it alot get a mortice machine

kadman

If you have a decent router, a long shank lock morticing bit would do the job as well. I used to use one , and they were a great bit for deep mortices. I used it in a Makita 3600B 1/2" router. If its a one off thing, it might suit you.

kadman

JoeB-

If you're getting a morticer machine (about 250 to 400 from Axminster) then it's worth getting one with a cross table.. i.e one in which the workpiece can be moved left and right, and back and forward using hand wheels... it is more expensive but if you don't have that feature then you have to spend ages re-positioning the workpiece all the time.

And if you're doing through mortises then you'll need a backing piece to prevent massive breakout on the back side.. this is much harder if you don't have the moveable cross table, as you have to keep repositioning the workpiece and the backing piece.


For something like a bench, where you don't want to buy a machine, then I'd second Kadmans idea, to make a simple jig and use a router for the majority, and just square off the corners by hand. You could also wedge the tenons if they come right through the piece, by knocking in a tapered piece of wood into a slit cut into the tenon, this will force the tenon very tight and should insure a long lasting joint. This is commonly done on Sash windows as far as I know.

By the way, I do have a small mortise machine.. if you have any questions about just ask.. I find that you need good chisels for it, and it must be set up quite well for good results.

Cheers so,

ennisa

Thanks for the replies.
I have done a fair few M&Ts by hand over the last few years - wedged, fox wedged and draw bore tennons. I don't think I have ever had one fail yet except where it was obviously flawed. The router thing never appealed to me, it always looked awkward perching the router on the thin side of a work piece but with some decently thought out jigs it might be the best way to go with just the squaring up to do by hand, Or maybe even get some loose tennons and not need to bother with the squaring up. Any of the tests I have seen in the magazines have the strength of the loose tennons about the some as the traditional ones. A decent bit would be less than a morticer that still needs the extra expense of better chisels and the bit would probably serve me better in the long run. I only have a 1/4 " router though.
I have used the ones with the crossfeed table and it does take the hassle out of it alright and make the over all experience much more pleasurable. However that is probably 50% the table and 50% the fact that the machines that have the crossfeed table are usually better in the first place.

Thanks again all.

SpitfireIV

My ears are burning!

Hi ennisa, yeah I do have one of those aldi bench morticers. Like most aldi stuff they're pretty basic, crude and dont do that professional a job. A cutter comes with it, but like must freebie blades/cutters you can chuck it and get some decent bits! I added a larger table to mine as the table that comes with it is far too small for doing anything large, and, in most cases you're going to be doing table/chair components. and you just dont have any support on a small table. I'll put a few pics up later.

I havent used mine all that much to be honest, in fact its one of the tools I plan on updating and using a lot more, was looking at a few in Axminster with, like Joe said, a movable table, it'd make like so much easier!

ennisa

Croppy, thanks for that some pics would be good if it's on your way to the shops anyway:D Budget is the all encompassing restraint at this point as it is at all points. Would you be selling it if you're getting another one?

SpitfireIV

I shalt be parting with it for another while me thinks, its not high on the priority list which is as follows: a half decent extractor/ducting set up, a water stone grinder, a decent band saw and finally the morticer. I think I have the first two sorted!

ennisa

I understand croppy. I think we all have our lists of things that we need next. My problem is usually deciding what should be number 1!

bdoo

I know a fella who's tryin to shift a mortice machine if anyone's interested in it i'll find out how much it is etc.

Thats if i'm not banned for selling stuff!