Shop built horizontal slot mortiser

Alan Bienlein

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Well I spent the weekend in the shop and got the majority of the slot mortiser built. I got these plans off of Woodgears.ca http://woodgears.ca/slot_mortiser/index.html. I still need to finish the table you clamp your stock onto and the crank and counter mechanism.

It's kind of a neat thing to build as it incorporates mortise and tenon, finger joints and even some cove cutting on the table saw. I used the tenon jig I just built to do the tenons and they were the best tenons I ever did. I didn't even lay them out on the wood. I just measured the width of the tenon and how mich it was from the edge and set the jig accordingly.

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Well Billy got a little more done tonight. I know it's not exciting to most members someone building there own machines that can be bought but I feel some times you get a better machine/jig by building your own. Plus it makes you think twice if you really need it or not.

Anyways here are a few more snapshots of where I'm at in this build. I got the counter mechanism done. One full revolution equates to 2" of vertical travel. It takes 16 turns for one inch. I still need to label it with the numbers.
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I then got the guide cut and attached on the back.
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I also got the locking knob made and installed. You don't really need to use it but it's nice to have. Sort of like the brake on the PRL-V2.
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I then cut a couple of mortises just to see how it does. Man talk about a hot knife thru butter!:score: This thing moves like it's floating on air. They are 1/2" mortises spaced 1/2" apart. The other little notches you see is from me testing out what happens when I just turn the crank the needed amount of turns to get 1/4" from the edge and the thin one is 1/32" off the table.
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I still need to do the lever mechanism for moving the router in and out and left and right. Might get to that tomorrow night.
 
It's looking great, Alan. :thumb: I think you're the first person I've seen actually build stuff from Woodgears plans. Looks like Matthias pays as much attention to his plans as he does his projects. :clap:
 
It looks like you are coming along nicely, Alan. I haven't needed to do alot of M&T joinery as yet, but it is in plenty of my "to do" plans. Kinda makes me wish I'd kept my old router that the base broke on! But nooooo! I had to go and throw it away! Whic is totally unlike me, by the way. LOL!
 
I'm jealous! I have those plans and the ones for the tenon jig. I have never had time to make them, but its on the list. I also got the plans for the box joint jig, but then the iBox jig came out and I buckled to envy and got one. Still in the box. Maybe later this fall. I hope.

Good job, Alan. Looks great!
 
Well Vaughn all I can say is I wish I would have done this sooner. His plans are exceptional!

Larry if it was my design I would have done that but I don't feel its right for me copy and sell it.

Carol his box joint jig is also on my list but I'm torn between that and the one the i-box is based off of that I found on the internet. Right now it's easier to invest time than to spend the money and in this instance with these two sets of plans I got I feel I got something better than I could have bought.

Billy just use another router. It's very simple to remove. Just loosen the two hose clamps holding the router in place.

Bob it was fun to build. There are quite a few woodworking techniques involved in the building of the slot mortiser.

Allen all I can say is I wish I had built this before I started the bed.

Well I finally got it finished yesterday and played around making some mortises with the slot mortiser and cut some tenons with the tenon jig I also built. I can cut a mortise that's about 5-3/4" long with this setup.
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The oak I used for the test cuts was left over from this build. It just happened to be thick enough for two 1/2" thick mortises spaced 1/4" apart and 1/4" from the edges. The only layout I did was on the first one to give me the ends of the mortises so I could set my stops. Other than that I just counted turns of the crank to set the distance between them.
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Here they are test fit with a couple of loose tenons.
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And a picture of a double tenon I cut on the tenon jig. I didn't do any layout on these. All I did was a little math to set the stops once the dial indicator had been zeroed and made the cuts. I did turn the piece around since it is a double tenon. It fit perfect in the mortises! I just did a quick hack job on the band saw to finish cutting the cheeks on the tenons if your wondering why it looks a little rough.
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This is my next project on my bucket list. It's the pantorouter he designed. I just printed out all the full size templates he supplies with the plans and will get started within the next week or so.
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Robert, did you use his plans, or work off your own based on his? Reason I ask, is that he modified his slides to eliminate the rock. I like building jigs and have done many based on someone else's idea, and dreamed up more than a few myself. These plans are worth every penny to buy and they are relatively inexpensive. His detail, drawings, and building advise is superb! And I certainly agree it is not fair to him to copy them and give them to someone else. He put a lot into them. He has an amazing mind! Love his stuff.
 
Well done Alan, i been late catching up here, you been busy bee and looks good for a guy like you this is a huge time saver and hey you saved lots of $$ diy. Been overloaded with all sorts including moving.

I agree with Carol he is one special engineer. Guys like him dont come around all that often in my view he is one of a kind. Would love to meet the guy someday.
 
Alan, what did you use for the table slides? I tiried making one of these and used drawer slides, ball bearing type, and found they rocked what I thought would be too much. Interested in what you did (any pics?) to see if mine can be salvaged.

Robert have you looked at his website? In the section for the horizontal slot mortiser he devotes a sectionhttp://woodgears.ca/slot_mortiser/slider.html on how to modify a specific type of slide. Regular full extension drawer slides won't work for the reasons he states. I didn't take any pictures as I figured the ones on his website in the link I provided above would suffice. The slides I used are the ones that are silver in the 6th photo down from the top of the link above. I had about 4 pairs of them I got for free.
 
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