02-23-2016, 05:23 PM
You may remember a thread Dave Diaman started a few weeks back asking about horizontal router mortisers. Dave was looking for a commercial unit because he didn't want to take the time to design and build something himself. After thinking about it for awhile I decided to contact Dave about my horizontal router mortiser, and over the course of a few e-mails we put together a plan. In the end I made 3 of the units you will see in the following pictures, one for Dave, one for one of his students, and one for myself. I gave my old mortiser to a friend.
I know Dave will give the mortiser a lot of use, so I decided to upgrade a lot of the components. I changed from MDF to Baltic birch plywood. I changed from maple to HDPE for the runners, which Dave was kind enough to send to me. I used phenolic for the router mounting plate. I redesigned the work rest so that one rest and clamp can be used to hold any part. I upgraded to a large Bessey auto adjust clamp, too. And I designed and incorporated a clear plastic router bit guard, not because I thought the machine was unsafe but to make sure I provided every protection possible.
Here's the machine with all it's parts:
Looking at the various parts in greater detail, here is the base assembly:
The Y-table looks like this:
It contains the stops that limit the length of the mortise. It sits on the base assembly runners:
The X-table sits on top of the Y-table runners and has T slots milled in it for the work rest.
Here's the completely assembled mortiser with a rail clamped against the work rest.
Turn it 90 degrees and the work rest clamps a stile for milling.
Of adjust it to 45 deg, or nearly any angle, as the case may be:
The bit can be adjusted vertically from less than zero to about 2 inches above the table. It can be moved even higher, if needed, by make a spacer to put between the removable bridge and back rest. Mortises are limited only by the size of the router bit you can chuck into your router. Unlike some commercial mortisers, you don't need any templates with my machine; you to cut any size mortise you want.
I'll be making a few more of the mortisers, and am willing to make more upon request. If you have an interest, please send me a PM or email.
John
I know Dave will give the mortiser a lot of use, so I decided to upgrade a lot of the components. I changed from MDF to Baltic birch plywood. I changed from maple to HDPE for the runners, which Dave was kind enough to send to me. I used phenolic for the router mounting plate. I redesigned the work rest so that one rest and clamp can be used to hold any part. I upgraded to a large Bessey auto adjust clamp, too. And I designed and incorporated a clear plastic router bit guard, not because I thought the machine was unsafe but to make sure I provided every protection possible.
Here's the machine with all it's parts:
Looking at the various parts in greater detail, here is the base assembly:
The Y-table looks like this:
It contains the stops that limit the length of the mortise. It sits on the base assembly runners:
The X-table sits on top of the Y-table runners and has T slots milled in it for the work rest.
Here's the completely assembled mortiser with a rail clamped against the work rest.
Turn it 90 degrees and the work rest clamps a stile for milling.
Of adjust it to 45 deg, or nearly any angle, as the case may be:
The bit can be adjusted vertically from less than zero to about 2 inches above the table. It can be moved even higher, if needed, by make a spacer to put between the removable bridge and back rest. Mortises are limited only by the size of the router bit you can chuck into your router. Unlike some commercial mortisers, you don't need any templates with my machine; you to cut any size mortise you want.
I'll be making a few more of the mortisers, and am willing to make more upon request. If you have an interest, please send me a PM or email.
John
