# General Machine - 75-050T M1 - Tilting Bench top Mortiser



## tenontim

Nice review. When I lived in Maine, I seriously considered buying one of these. I like the features, especially the tilt. Kept putting off the trip to Quebec and finally just bought another drill press and dedicated one to mortising.
Now that General has a distributor in the US, I may have to think about this machine again. Thanks for the post.


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## TominTexas

I've had this mortiser for 3 years now and have to agree with your review. It is a nice piece of equipment and I think you would have to move up to a free standing mortiser to gain a more substantial machine (at a higher cost as well).

Before you discard the bits that came with the mortiser, do some polishing of the outside faces of the chisel. You may find them to be better than they first appear. I spent a little time polishing them and found them to be the equal of a few of the Lee Valley bits that I also own.

Regarding the front screw moving the fence, I experienced the same thing but learned that the holding power of the front screw is quite sufficient with a mininmum of pressure - meaning use just a light touch when cranking the front screw - it will still hold the work piece in place and won't disturb your fence setting.

Whenever I cut a through mortise, I always use a backer board. It greatly reduces tear out and helps maintain the accuracy of the through cut. Consequently, the center hole has never been a significant problem for me.

I agree that the vertical travel stop is pretty weak. I guess it's not caused me enough grief to seek a shop made remedy.

Thanks for the review and I think you will come to really like this machine.

Tom


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## Lenny

Hi Gator. Congratulations on your purchase and best of luck with the mortiser. I have to agree you made an excellent choice. I bought mine about 1 1/2 years ago. I am not sure I understand what others are saying about where to get these and distributors, etc. but I bought mine at my local Woodcraft store here in the states. If I remember correctly, they did not have it in stock so they ordered it and called me when it came in. They stand behind their sales and if anything were wrong with it, they would take it back and provide a replacement. For me, it was a toss up between General and Powermatic (PM). I read some negative comments about a specific aspect of the PM mortiser and that's what tipped the scales. I have had great success with mine although, as mentioned, the chisels are not that great out of the box. I haven't encountered a need for the tilting feature yet but it is nice to know it's there if needed. Enjoy yours and again, good luck with it.


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