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I'm considering building a horizontal mortiser using a mortising table attachment for jointer/planers. Any thoughts about this idea? I have a 3450 RPM 2 hp motor, but what would be a good collet? Any suggestions on the brand of attachment? I was thinking of going with MiniMax. I know that the table moves and the head is stationary. Is building a machine like this a good idea at all?
Thanks
I made one using the slot mortiser attachment from my Laguna Jointer/Planer machine. I don't have a picture on hand, so bear with me.
I took an extra cast iron extension wing from my table saw (didn't need it because I removed it for a sliding table). I cut a hole in the center of it big enough for the whole body of the router to fit through. I then made 1" thick shop-made plywood out of some walnut scrap and got it perfectly flat, carefully cut a hole in it equal to the diameter of the router body, and then cut it down the center to make it into two pieces. I then used some long through bolts that bolt the two halves together. Think of it as a big clamp that clamps around the body of the router.
imagine a much bigger version of one of these, made of solid walnut plywood:
http://alabamaindustrialproducts.com...lamp_Body.html
I then bolted the walnut plywood to the face of the nice, flat cast iron table... then bolted the mortising attachment to the cast iron table as well. The advantage of this approach is that the plywood clamp and the cast iron table are both flat. So when you mount the mortising attachment, it should mean that your bit will be parallel to the mortiser's table.
To finish it off, I welded up some flat steel stock to create a stand that holds the cast iron extension wing vertical, which sits on a plywood box, which is bolted to the floor. the thing is as solid as a rock.
My laguna mortising attachment is kind of a piece of junk though. It doesn't move very smoothly. So I would highly recommend buying a higher end unit. If you can get one with a miter slot, it will make life much easier for cutting mortises in the end grain of stretchers/etc.
Also, dust collection is terrible with this thing. I need to figure out how to rig something up.
But it works awesome.
I don't go out to my shop much these days (it's located about 30 minutes from my house, in an out building on my parents' property). But I'll try to remember to snap a picture of my Frankenstein mortiser next time I run out there.
You might consider an alternative approach. Easy to build and very versatile: https://sites.google.com/site/jteneyckwoodworker/current-projects/horizontal-router-mortiser
John
All figured out ... http://woodgears.ca/slot_mortiser/index.html
MLCS has a horizontal router table top with an accessory slot mortiser.
http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shops...al+router#mort
Or you could buy one from Kuldeep Singh: http://woodgears.ca/pantorouter/kuldeep/buy.html
Makes tenons as well as mortises.
Thanks for all the responses. I'd like to stay away from a router powered unit mainly because of the noise. I have considered building a wooden table, but I though an attachment would be the easiest route to an accurate mortiser without spending as much as a complete machine. My biggest question is where to find a good chuck.
If you already have a J/P that accepts a mortising attachment why not use that setup? you can buy the chuck as well as the table for those machines but the price will push it close to the price of a stand alone mortising machine (Asian one though).
You could adapt your motor to the sliding tables of my design. Instead of using the back rest to mount the router, you would build a shelf to mount the motor, and that shelf would move up/down with the same type of mechanism to change the height of the bit. A simple L- shaped bracket would do it, although you would have to make the backrest beefier to handle the weight of the motor.
Ever seen an original Wirth Machine?
John
I don't own a jointer/planer so that option is out. That's a good idea John to adapt your design to a motor driven format. I checked the pricings for attachments and the Laguna is about $400 and the Felder unit is about $1400. I couldn't get through to MiniMax. I do like the design of the Felder better than the Minimax so I'm thinking strongly of going with that one. We will see what happens. I have not seen the original Wirth Machine so I Googled it. It would have been a good candidate, but it's not made any more with the motor, right?
No, the Wirth machine isn't made with the induction motor anymore. But what I meant was for you to look at it and you'd see how it looks like my horizontal router mortiser with a motor; or maybe my horizontal router mortiser looks like it with a router. In either case, you could build a really beefy version of my mortiser with motor plate for a lot less than $1400, and probably well less than $400. Mine cost about $50. Twice as beefy might get me to $150 - $200. All said and done though, I don't see the advantage of a motor over a router. It's quieter, but unless you want to make monster deep mortises I don't see any advantage.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryan Cramer
John
The HarborFreight mortisers are dirt cheap with a coupon and a solid foundation to build on. I made my HF mortiser tiltable and pneumatically activated.
Attachment 317925
Here is one approach, check out post 6' follow the links to photo bucket.
and in this thread there is an interesting approach where the motor gets mounted to the moving table and the wood gets clamped to a stationary auxiliary table.
look for a wescott chuck, not sure every motor is suitable for lateral force on the bearings.
http://www.fervi.com/eng/machinery/m...ck-pr-4407.htm
Thank you Peter for the helpful information. I was thinking about the same think when I was looking at Felder's site. Their horizontal mortiser looks just like their attachment with the motor mounted to it. I do like the chuck, but can I find an American company that is selling it? Also how big of an issue is the sideways pressure on the motor? Could I get a high quality motor with serviceable bearings? I am thinking about running a shaft and pillow blocks so I could use any motor without worry.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Quinn
I really don't know how big of a deal the motor/bearings issue is, I know that my Laguna platinum mortiser has a 3hp Chinese motor with a pretty serious frame, the shaft/pillow blocks seems like a reasonable idea. The mortising applies stress in both the plunging direction and lateral force as you sweep,miso what ever you create has to tolerate these. I like the idea of moving the motor ore than moving the wood, the better machines seem to do that, makes it easier to do slanted mortises such as for louvers if that's ever an issue, assuming you add a pivot to the motor mount. I too ruled out router driven options because I can't stand the noise. I don't have domestic source for that chuck, and I have looked, maybe somebody else has had more success. I posted that one to give a look at what I've seen on most mortisers, thing is they aren't as popular here as in Europe, so they don't seem to stock the chucks here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryan Cramer