More that a gloat this is just a short rundown on what I think might be a good tool for the money. I ordered it about noon on Monday and it was shipped out by 4:30 that afternoon and arrived here Friday with no damage. It is the Yorkcraft YC-10FMT mortiser. I delt with Curt at Wilke and he was more than helpful and very plesant.
I uncrated the base first and my heart sunk. I thought that if this is the indication of the quality of this tool I have been had. As you can see from the first photo below the striping on the base was so crooked that I could not believe it. Slave labor I suppose. Well, I already owned it so off came the stripping and I felt better. The bottom of the base was not flat which would not have been a problem with the enclosed leveling feet but I needed it on rollers so some shimming was in order.
I uncrated the mortiser and things started looking up. Mounted it on the base and started removing all of the grease. Lots of grease but nothing new there from some of the Chinese outfits. For the tables to move freely on the dovetail ways you will have to get all of the thick grease off that you can and relube with something better. I used white lithinum and it worked well. Very smooth now.
Put in a 5/8" chisel and bit and drilled a three inch long three inches deep mortise and man did it work slick. The setup is fast and the mortising even faster. I will not dread doing mortises again. I know that it was only construction grade lumber but I was still impressed. Drilled as fast as I could and could not slow down the motor. The somewhat unorthordox holddowns worked great. So did all of the stops.
The reason that I wanted to get this in now is that Wilke is saying the sales price of $599 is good to the end of last month or until current supplies are exhausted. They are still showing it available at that price. I think that it is normally $800. I also bought a set of eight bits and chisels for $79.95 (Curt at Wilke said that he uses them). I know that they are not industrial quality but they appear to be a good value and I used the 5/8" right out of the box and it cut fine. Will have to sharpen them more often but it will give me all of the sizes that I need and can replace them with better ones as time goes by. One 5/8" bit and chisel comes with the unit, with lots of grease on it of course.
I personally think that for just a small amount more dollarwise you get a whole lot more machine than with the tabletops.
Here is a link to Wilke: http://www.wilkemachinery.com/defaul...kudatarq=21546
Here is a link to the only owner report that I could find: http://www.gatago.com/rec/woodworking/28186674.html
I hope that this report helps someone.
Allen
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