Rikon Mortiser

alan lilly

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8
I recently bought the new Rikon mortiser with XY table for $300 at Woodcraft.
Here is my video review of it:

 
Excellent review Alan, second Vaughns comment. Rikon could do with compensating you for this review. A big THANK YOU for doing it and doing such a great job.

Something that never ceases to amaze me is how these manufacturers determine the cut off point for their quality.

For a second just weigh up all the tooling and design effort that has gone into the making of a machine like this. As a percentage of the whole, the few extras that it would take to make this a great machine ( as you say cleaning off the ends of screws, one quick operation to polish the chisels and a more centered chuck) I could live with the motor limitations but i also believe improving the points of friction and accuracy would make the hp go a touch further.

Yeah yeah i get the whole range marketing aspect, but ......they have the opportunity given the significant differentiator they have already created in the clamping and table, to make this machine what i would call a category killer and the subsequent volume result from a single model I believe would easily offset the additional process costs. Its like they get half pregnant.

So many tools and machines get sacrificed in this manner all in lieu of the spread of models and sales mix /margin.

Were i in the business of making this kind of equipment, I would take a very different tack and see where it got me, despite the perceived desire on the part of consumer to want huge choice selection, its my view this is only the result of the creation of crap that forces us to look elsewhere.

Lets consider something like the DW735 plane. I would love to see the sales figures of this model versus the rest of the lunchbox planers in the market or even in the Dewalt stable.

Its a very well thought out machine, performs very well and is an all round good design. Just look at the endorsement this kind of machine very quickly receives from owners from all categories of woodworking skill when someone asks for input on a choice of machine.

To me it proves the point I am making about going that extra bit of distance for something worth buying as a no brainer.

But i guess life would be pretty boring if they did what i desire. :rofl:
 
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