| Review by DAN | posted 112 days ago | 644 views | 0 times favorited | 9 comments |  |
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Bought the Steel City Mortiser today on the way home from work. link to tool store Mueller
Assembly, no problems … intuitive design
Came with 4 bits and chisels. Black and white, printed boxes exactlly the same as came with my old Delta.
Pros:
Fence looks real good. Nice design. Fine adjustment knob is a plus. Worked good.
Big table base , easy to fasten to work bench. Very stable.
Pull out, cast iron table extensions go to about 36 inches. Solid fit.
I thought the $289 price was a good deal.
Rubber rollers hold the stock next to the fence very well.
Cons:
Tool tray only 4 places
Will need to buy the Height Attachment. It Raises the height of the mortising head 2 3/8” to accommodate larger work pieces.
Heavy for a 54 year old man, good thing I have a back support belt
Recommend this one.
link to Steel City data sheet for this tool
-- ..... art for lifes sake ... danwalters@lumberjocks.com
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9 comments so far
Karson
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14323 posts in 940 days
posted 112 days ago
Looks great Dan. Good luck. I find that the tools do a great job if you set them up right.
Lee Jesberger mentioned to me the other day that the back fence was not 90 Deg with the table and the holes were cut crooked into the wood. He blamed Bruce his employee until he checked out the fence. He had to use emory paper and grind off some extra metal to get it to 90 deg.
Mine flexes when I clamp a piece of wood up to the fence and I was getting the same condition that Lee had. My rear fence was a seperate piece from the base. I put some coke can shims under the rear of the fence to make it about 87 deg and when I tighten the wood it bends it to 90 deg, I’m looking for some solid steel block that is 90 deg to replace the fence.
-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
Lee A. Jesberger
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2898 posts in 519 days
posted 112 days ago
Hi Dan,
A great brand, I’m glad you like it.
Th unit Karson , mentioned is a Powermatic. Great machine, a bit expensive. But I was disappointed in the fact the cast iron fence was machined out of square.
Once that once fixed,the machine is great.
Good luck with your unit.
Lee
-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com
DAN
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3505 posts in 523 days
posted 112 days ago
The Peggster and I checked the fence with a 3 inch machinest square. No daylight.
Fence appears to have a couple 1/2” dia delrun or uhmw buttons. Some manufacturing engineer thought up a clever method to make a square fence.
Nice finish on the table top too. Blanchard ground. No visable defects. Looks like a nice casting.
-- ..... art for lifes sake ... danwalters@lumberjocks.com
Douglas Bordner
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2741 posts in 604 days
posted 112 days ago
Glad your happy with it, Dan. I’m sure you give a mortiser a run for it’s money with the style of your work.
-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.
motthunter
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1234 posts in 339 days
posted 111 days ago
cool. I know others that say that this is the best one out there for the money
-- making sawdust....
DAN
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3505 posts in 523 days
posted 111 days ago
Thanks guys !
Compared to my ole Delta’s, this one is a big, solid upgrade.
-- ..... art for lifes sake ... danwalters@lumberjocks.com
bayouman
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62 posts in 205 days
posted 108 days ago
Dan, I just recently ( about two months ago) purchased the same Steel City model. My first project went extremely well. I really like the whole set up.
DAN
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3505 posts in 523 days
posted 107 days ago
photo of my first project on the mortiser
-- ..... art for lifes sake ... danwalters@lumberjocks.com
brianinpa
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941 posts in 263 days
posted 107 days ago
Dan, you aren’t messing around. I have been looking at these for quite some time. Right now I can’t get past the price tag. One son is starting college and the other already talking about it. Until they are out of school, it is mallet and chisle for me.
-- Brian, Lebanon PA, If you aren’t having fun doing it, find something else to do.