# Horizontal Slot Mortiser



## ELB (May 23, 2016)

Esteemed online colleagues,

Why doesn't anyone make a bench-top horizontal slot mortiser that is durable/repeatable but isn't $3000 (e.g. JDS Multi-router)? I don't want to cut dovetails, boxjoints, copy sign lettering, brew coffee, whatever with it. I just want to make make horizontal slots repeatably, accurately. I don't really need/want to even make tenons with it (the TS does just fine for that). It needs a smooth functioning X-Y table with a decent clamp, and a sturdy, accurate, perpendicular motor mount (for the router motor of my choosing). That's about it.

I see see lots of people have tried the grizzly horizontal boring machine to use as a slot mortiser, with all the associated drawbacks. And I see high end ($4000+) industrial units (e.g. laguna), and I see lots and lots of wooden shop made units. Please convince me otherwise, but at this point I can't believe that over time even the best constructed wooden ones won't get sloppy, worn, and inaccurate.

Or, if someone does make a good one that isn't $3000, then that company needs a better marketing person, because I'm their target audience, and they're not reaching me. If such a thing exists, I'd appreciate you fine folks pointing me to what I'm looking for.

Thoughts?
-E.


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## ste6168 (Mar 12, 2015)

I agree with this entire post.

I would love to see something simple, like this, available for purchase. Problem is, it would probably cost about the same as a domino.


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## jar944 (Jun 19, 2014)

You described a Domino.


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## Unknowncraftsman (Jun 23, 2013)

How about a Rich line machine.Best machine you will ever own,Plus it's made in America.Its expensive to have quality.


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## CharlesA (Jun 24, 2013)

Something like this work? http://www.eagleamerica.com/product/415-9767/horizontal_router_table


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## Kazooman (Jan 20, 2013)

Matthias Wandel built his own.

http://woodgears.ca/slot_mortiser/index.html


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## Cooler (Feb 3, 2016)

Lock the blade out on a biscuit cutter and slide it across a table. Or clamp the biscuit cutter and use the "fence" and feed the material.

I have not tried it. It might work.


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## Kazooman (Jan 20, 2013)

> Lock the blade out on a biscuit cutter and slide it across a table. Or clamp the biscuit cutter and use the "fence" and feed the material.
> 
> I have not tried it. It might work.
> 
> - Cooler


Sounds sort of dangerous to me. With a router bit doing the cutting there is no tendency for the bit to draw the work one way of the other. The rotating blade of the biscuit joiner would tend to grab at the work piece. You actually need to have a good grip on a biscuit joiner when you plunge the blade in the work or the cutter can move the tool off of the intended alignment position.


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## ELB (May 23, 2016)

No. Just no.



> Lock the blade out on a biscuit cutter and slide it across a table. Or clamp the biscuit cutter and use the "fence" and feed the material.
> 
> I have not tried it. It might work.
> 
> - Cooler


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## ELB (May 23, 2016)

Yes. Exactly what I was hoping existed. Thank you very much for pointing me to this link.



> How about a Rich line machine.Best machine you will ever own,Plus it s made in America.Its expensive to have quality.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## ELB (May 23, 2016)

Of course he did. 
He probably also built the video camera he used to record the video on the link.
Is there anything that guy can't do?



> Matthias Wandel built his own.
> 
> http://woodgears.ca/slot_mortiser/index.html
> 
> - Kazooman


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## Cooler (Feb 3, 2016)

I am trying to figure out why I would want a horizontal slotter over my tenoning 
I get tight tenons using the jig. Once set up it is fast to produce identical pieces. The long pieces are easily run on my table saw using a tall fence. I have a Delta jig and it is rock-solid.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiG_8Hs__LMAhUD1h4KHeaNCt8QjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwoodgears.ca%2Ftenon%2Freview.html&psig=AFQjCNHN0gFYtTm5L0iKCf-p0F292Ksmrg&ust=1464189162994712


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## ELB (May 23, 2016)

Cooler- yep, that TS tenon jig is great for tenons, but doesn't make mortises.


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## Cooler (Feb 3, 2016)

> Cooler- yep, that TS tenon jig is great for tenons, but doesn t make mortises.
> 
> - ELB


But mortise machines do. You can get a Delta Mortise machine for about $400.00 and the tenon jig for about $120.00. So less than $550.00 total. How much does that horizontal slotter cost? ( have both)

Addendum: I looked up the Richline 18-8 and in 2009 it cost $2,450.00 or $2,600.00 including the router.

It makes no sense to me.


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## ELB (May 23, 2016)

I have been down the hollow chisel mortiser road - I gave it a legitimate honest effort over several years - tuned, adjusted, sharpened, upgraded, modded, and it didn't give me the results I desired and I didn't enjoy using it. If it works for you, keep at it. I'm looking for something that is, for me, more accurate and repeatable, and less fussy. Hence this thread about available options for horizontal slot mortisers. If there's a different post about the pros and cons of a hollow chisel mortiser somewhere, I can offer some experience based opinions (still, just opinions though, to which everyone is entitled to their own).

I agree with you on the TS tenoning jig. That's the way to make tenons, no doubt about it.


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## PatDay (Nov 2, 2013)

Has anyone tried the new Grizzly G0846 - Horizontal Slot Mortiser? The price seems reasonable, assuming it does what they claim and remains stable over numerous repeated cuts. Past.


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## DrTebi (Jun 16, 2009)

I have been down a similar route when I wanted to build a large frame for a 6×4 foot blackboard.

The options I considered:
- Hammer mortising attachment for their jointer/planer. That might work great, but of course only if you have the Hammer jointer/planer (I think the MiniMax jointer/planer also has a mortising attachment). I thought it was too pricey, and finding the right bits seemed a bit difficult, too.
- Mathias Wandel's jig. A bit complicated, but appears to work great.
- Leigh FMT. Probably a great jig, at least it looks great from the videos. You will make your tenons with it, too. Problematic if you need tenons in pieces longer than 36" or so.

In the end I threw all these ideas out the window and made a simple router sled with a fence on it. Controlling the length of the mortise is easy, I just put stops on each side of the sled. My router lift can be brought up and down from a side-winding wheel, which is very convenient in this case. I use loose tenons instead of going through the trouble to buy or build a separate tenon jig.

The black thingy behind the fence is a "linear positioner", I use it for fine-adjustment of the fence. That's a bit overkill, but I already had it, and it works great if you want to make mortises wider than your router bit's diameter. Very precise.

I made the loose tenons from oak, just cut to size on the table saw. It's easy to fit them to the mortises (the edges need to be rounded over). One thing I like a lot about loose tenons is, that you can simply glue the tenon into one piece before assembling everything.

This is probably all best explained with a few pictures. As you can see, there is even a solution for cutting a mortise into the end of a very long piece… just move the router outside  This jig works very well, and I will be using it more often.


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## therealSteveN (Oct 29, 2016)

> Has anyone tried the new Grizzly G0846 - Horizontal Slot Mortiser? The price seems reasonable, assuming it does what they claim and remains stable over numerous repeated cuts. Past.
> 
> - Pat Day


825 looks like a steal, but darned if the 119 to ship it isn't a deal breaker. Papa really needs to talk to places like WoodCraft, and Rockler about getting Grizz in stores.

For the Mortiser advocates try standing a 7' long piece under your mortiser. Or are you going to lay the mortiser on it's side? Or do you see a way a mortise on one half is workable?

I do want to point out that a DomiNO is a bring the tool to the work device, which if it's on the end of a 20' long piece of work is a win win. The slot mortiser and I want to add *HORIZONTAL ROUTER* are both bring the work to the tool devices, so on your smaller parts you can do what I have done, and used a Horizontal Router to get it done. The lowest cost denominator was only mentioned before, by CharlesA. I can say on small work it's a no brainer, on the end of long work it is doable if you have some same height support for the work distal to the machine. On long work I will even give the DomiNO the nod. I just can't wait until the HF version is released, I suspect MEGA Millions will be sold, and not just to lotto players. Then Festool won't be so fussy about price, and will sell closer to cost. I remember some company named Fein, with some sort of multi tool?


> ?? Does any of that sound familiar


?

I keep a PC 690 in mine most of the time, and a dust collection deal like the blue thing shown here. I've had mine a while, and when I bought it I got it from someone different from MilesCraft. I think they bought the idea from the folks I bought from.

It works great, and the PC 690 is awesome on straight bits, which is what I use on mine. A bigger diameter bit like some they show at MLCS get's a centrifugal force thing going. like an outward rotation starts to overlay the normal spinning action. Anyhow it isn't good, and makes for some really bizarre looks. Hit and miss if you will of the bit, to the wood surface. I believe some is because the router is too small to throw the big bits, but mostly because of being on it's side the bits don't have a balance of weight as they spin. In a router table they just spin flat, because the weight is uniformly same across the bit. On it's side it varies as to which side is up, so always alternating, and decidedly out of balance. For a compression bit, upcut, or downcut this thing is rock solid, and can do loose tenons pretty quick, once you know what to do.


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## therealSteveN (Oct 29, 2016)

Dr Tebi, is that a Ready2Rout? If not please post a link about the linear positioner.


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## DrTebi (Jun 16, 2009)

> Dr Tebi, is that a Ready2Rout? If not please post a link about the linear positioner.
> 
> - therealSteveN


No. As a matter of fact, my positioner existed before the ready2rout. Maybe they copied my idea  

It is a used Parker/Deadal linear positioner, often used in laser optics etc. With a bit of luck, you can find them for a good price used on eBay. Got mine for $100, and have built three jigs around it already… I find these very useful for jigs where you need micro fine adjustments.

This one is quite similar:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/STARRETT-Parker-Daedal-Crossed-Roller-Bearing-Positioner-bed-5-x-5-Linear-Stage/293009053060


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## Verhulst (May 2, 2018)

How do I acquire a set of plans for slot mortiser
\


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## unclearthur (Jul 4, 2013)

> I agree with this entire post.
> 
> I would love to see something simple, like this, available for purchase. Problem is, it would probably cost about the same as a domino.
> 
> ...


I tried to make this particular one; but without much success. Basically too much play in the drawer slides led to poor mortices. Probably OK with the right slides or doctoring them in the right way ….. but the basic challenge is trying to be pretty precise while having movement in 2 dimensions.

Ended up finding a used Leigh SuperFMT which works well.


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## RDan (Jan 14, 2012)

Woodsmith built a router table a bit back https://www.woodsmithplans.com/plan/combination-router-table/ they have it all on 5 part Video series as well or in Vol 37/222. They also included a jig for a horizontal Mortiser with it. Dan


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## Joel_B (Aug 14, 2014)

I have had a Leigh SuperFMT and Festool Domino.
I sold the SuperFMT, while it has its place it is super finicky to use and does not work on long pieces.
While people think the Domino is expensive / overpriced it is some of the best money I have spent on a power tool and is a joy to use.


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