Experience with the Jessem Zip Slot Mill

[Phillip Ngan]

I bought a Jessem Zip Slot Mill when they were discounted at Woodcraft a few weeks backs. My experience with it was favourable.

I mounted the mill on a jig which helped to hold the work piece:


I'm making a Mission style bed, and here are the rails and stiles of the bed head



I made my own loose tenons out of maple. they are 1/4" thick and 1" wide. I used a bullnose router bit for the sides, and 90 deg bit for the glue reliefs.


Here are my impressions of this system.

Pros:
The slots were cut efficiently
There was no dust. The dust collection worked very well with my shop vac.
The end results are clean and consistent
Easy to cut slots in the stiles
The stop that controls the length of the slot was rock solid. I was fearing that with constant knocking of the mill against the stop it would travel. It did not.

Cons:
In general it is tricky to position the rail in the correct position under the cutter. The main "cross-hairs" used to register the work piece isn't actual able to be seen when the slot length is short (in my case 1"). Fortunately in my case, the spacing between the stiles is 3", which enabled me to use another set of "cross-hairs" which coincidently happened to be 3" apart from the other set of cross hairs.
The 3/8" mill bit didn't not fit into its sleeve. Woodcraft sent me a replacement bit, but the issues was with the sleeve. A replacement for that is enroute to be now.

Jury is out
The use of specialized bits. In 20 years time, will the system be moth balled because I can't get replacement bits. This is were a system like mortise pal is superiort. However, I've bought a Kreg pocket hole system and never had misgivings about the specialized bit, so perhaps I'm over thinking this.

The 1/2" bit requires a 1/2 chuck. My drill only has a 3/8 chuck. A drill with a 1/2 chuck might be a bit top heavy.

The Jessem sample loose tenons fit nicely into the slots. With the 1/4 bit, the slots are a consistent 0.252"-0.253" range. I made my own tenons, and it required patience to get the tenons to that thickness. A tenon that was 0.250" is clearly undersized and rattles in the slot. I bought a Lee Valley loose tenons just out of interest. These are 0.248" in width and clearly rattles around in the slot. So making your own tenons is the way to go.

Overall I'm pretty pleased with the mill in terms of how it performed and ease of use. It was a lot less expensive than the mortise pal. However, the simplicity of the mortise pal is appealing.

[glenn bradley]

Great review Phillip. Thanks.

[Larry Rasmussen]

When these went down to close out prices I got the complete set up for all three sizes but haven't had a chance to test drive yet. I'll get a move on and check the bit fit on them, especially the 3/8 size, great tip. I got a follow up email ad a week or so ago and prices were just give away on some of the remaining items. I have one back up bit for each size at least, 2 or 3 for some. Also some of the loose tenons went down to a price I couldn't refuse and I ordered a supply of those. May be worth going back for a final check for spare parts, tenons. It is great to read your review confirming that this basically works to expectation.

Regards,
Larry R
Seattle

[Dan Rude]

I too picked it up last week on the woodcraft close out and the 50% off special. I also bought the Pocket Zip, both for $76 and free shipping. They were out of the spare parts, but the Jessem company has the additional kits bit kits and bushings for sale.
No time to test it out yet, I am interested in your rig for doing the Mission Bed.

Dan