considering buying a small milling machine to use for a mortiser

[Jim Andrew]

I have a neighbor who is a pretty good woodworker, and mechanic. Was discussing a slot mortiser with him, and he suggested I look at a milling machine. He has a fairly new Grizzly machine, and noticed the Christmas catalog has some models on sale. Called Grizzly tech support, and the fellow suggested the small G0758 for use on wood. It is only 3/4hp, with a top speed of 2000 rpm. They also have a G0705, a 2hp machine also on sale. Either are much cheaper than any slot mortiser I found while searching a couple weeks ago. The plus would be that I could also use it to drill holes in about any material I want to. Discussion would be appreciated.

[Larry Edgerton]

I have wondered the same thing. The speed is slow so I would assume the cut would be a little rough, but on the inside of a mortice who cares anyway. Is that a manually fed table?

That would get old in a hurry as the process is slow by hand, a lot of cranks to go an inch. I have used one with out feed, and it is slow which is fine for metal, but its a thought.

I see old Bridgeports going for about that money with tooling, that would be another option. Since CNC the market is flooded with them for now.

[Jim Andrew]

Saw an old Rockwell on craigslist a week ago, it lasted a day. A Bridgeport would be so heavy, moving it would not be practical. Was thinking of a machine that I could put casters on and push it out to use it, like I do the shaper. The catalog gives the weight of the G0705 as about 750 lbs, and the G0758 as 176 lbs. The feed is manual on either, of course you can add a power feed.

[Peter Quinn]

Ive done it on a bridgeport, work well, but thats a 3HP gear head machine that is well over 3000#. Only real problem would be end grain, we used it for slots and made traditional tenons on the rails. I'm sure you could set up some milling machines to do end grain if you wanted loose tenons, but it would not be a joy going back and forth. On the bridge port you could articulate the head and perhaps go sideways? Never did it. A power feed table with DRO and stops that can be set is handy...you just keep dropping the cutter 1/8" and toggling the handle back and forth. Its not that bad manually. I'd love to have a small milling machine in the shop for a variety of tasks, and mortising could certainly be one of them. I have a slot mortiser, and its pretty effective at what it does, it is a one trick pony though.

[Rick Lizek]

https://www.grizzly.com/products/Sin...-Machine/G0540
The G0540 can be used as a horizontal slot mortiser with loose tenons or doweling and is the right rpm. HSS end mills are the cutter of choice and are inexpensive and yield a nice finish. $529 with shipping.
A far better choice than a mill/drill. I have a link with a review but it's on another forum. I'be been advocating this machine ever since I first saw it years ago. One of Grizzly's best kept secrets.

[Mike Cutler]

A milling machine works just fine for cutting mortises. Speed shouldn't be an issue, you're using a different type of cutter altogether.

The drawback to a milling machine is just that most folks don't own one, or know how to use one. They will also be a little $$$,initially, to get all of the tooling you need to make that first mortise.
I've always thought the biggest advantage to having one would be the ability to fabricate the myriad of jigs and fixtures used in woodworking in addition to making mortises.

[Larry Edgerton]

https://www.grizzly.com/products/Sin...-Machine/G0540
The G0540 can be used as a horizontal slot mortiser with loose tenons or doweling and is the right rpm. HSS end mills are the cutter of choice and are inexpensive and yield a nice finish. $529 with shipping.
A far better choice than a mill/drill. I have a link with a review but it's on another forum. I'be been advocating this machine ever since I first saw it years ago. One of Grizzly's best kept secrets.

That IS an interesting machine.

[Robert Parent]

I would go with the G0758 or G0704 milling machine over the slotter. The reason is that it that the mill can be used for many more things in wood, plastic, and metal. I bought a small manual mill before adding a cnc mill, and a cnc router to the collection and have used them all in the materials mentioned with great success. Once you have a mill your drill press will also become very lonely from the lack of use.

Robert

[David Scheckman]

I converted a small Barker horizontal production mill to a slot mortiser. It worked fine. Used spiral router bits. The slow RPM's is not a problem at all. A horizontal mill works well as it is configured much like a slot mortiser and can do end grain slots. As well a production style mill will be faster as it isn't limited to the slow handwheel feed. I used it for several years, cut many mortises of all sizes for loose tenon style construction. I have upgraded to a true slot mortiser (Felder). The big advantages are ergonomics, dust collection and in the case of the Felder a moving head instead of table making it easier to deal with large (exterior door size) pieces. Don't know where you are located but I still have the Barker mill although its not fully setup at the moment, if you want a look. I'm in Vermont. I've been thinking to set it back up for some dedicated metal application.I have also cut mortises with my Clausing style small vertical mill. This also works fine (not for end grain) but is very slow to feed.
David

[Rick Lizek]

I would go with the G0758 or G0704 milling machine over the slotter. The reason is that it that the mill can be used for many more things in wood, plastic, and metal. I bought a small manual mill before adding a cnc mill, and a cnc router to the collection and have used them all in the materials mentioned with great success. Once you have a mill your drill press will also become very lonely from the lack of use.

Robert

You are missing the point of the horizontal slot mortiser. Being horizontal means you can cut mortises on the rails and stiles for loose tenons. Using a vertical mill drill means you can only cut mortises on the rails leaving need to make mortises on the stiles in a more traditional way which is very time-consuming and far less accurate than using the loose tenon method. Being able to do dowels is not a bad thing either. I've years converted horizontal handmills and horizontal slot mortisers for over 40 years now. Folks think the Festool Domino is the newest thing in mortising. It's only the first portable version. The horizontal slot mortiser goes back to the 50s in Europe with stand-alone versions and combo planer jointer slot mortisers.

[Jim Andrew]

David, I'm in Kansas, so not practical to see your machine. But great idea.

[Larry Copas]

I use my Bridgeport for all kinds of high precision woodworking. I've cut a lot of mortises with the machine. My machine is 3 phase 1 hp with a top speed of 2,270 rpm. After finding out just how versatile the machine is for that sort of thing I added dust collection. Than I took it off my rotary phase converter and put it on a VFD so I could increase the top speed. It cuts just as good as a router with straight bits at 2,270 rpm.

I've thought several times about finding a junk Bridgeport and replacing the head with a router. Another option would be finding a overarm router and putting an good X,Y table on it.

[David Kumm]

DSCN2805.jpgDSCN2803.jpgDSCN2804.jpg I use both a Millrite and the FD 250 for slot mortises but the used Bacci I rehabbed is by far the go to machine for larger loose tenon work. Cleaner cut, and doesn't beat you to death if you get greedy as a hand operated machine does. Cheapest of the three machines, even with the table and dust collection mods. Dave