Looking for a Morticer, advice please

[Mark18PLL]

Morning all, I am looking for a morticer but I only have a small garage workshop. Dont really fancy one of the big Sedgwick ones as it will take up too much room. I have seen various bench top ones that might be ok but some seem underpowered.

Can anyone recommend a make and model and I have a budget of about £400 ish

Cheers
Mark

 

[SLM]

I picked up a lightly used Delta mortiser, for a very keen price. It’s an excellent little machine.

I later found out that Rob Cosman uses the same one; he did a good video on it, which will show you what it’s capable of.

 

[Jacob]

Morning all, I am looking for a morticer but I only have a small garage workshop. Dont really fancy one of the big Sedgwick ones as it will take up too much room. I have seen various bench top ones that might be ok but some seem underpowered.

Can anyone recommend a make and model and I have a budget of about £400 ish

Cheers
Mark

I've got a "big" morticer but its footprint is small. I wouldn't fancy one on a bench except for working on small stuff - they need to be heavy and stable.
Mines unbranded but similar to this, which doesn't actually take up much floor space - less than a bandsaw.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/15561625...yS3UjslfnbSGOTTdTaGamfFdJcXzVLCBoC7CAQAvD_BwE

 

[Yojevol]

Morning all, I am looking for a morticer but I only have a small garage workshop. Dont really fancy one of the big Sedgwick ones as it will take up too much room. I have seen various bench top ones that might be ok but some seem underpowered.

Can anyone recommend a make and model and I have a budget of about £400 ish

Cheers
Mark

Morticers are going out of favour against the trend to Domino type loose tenons. Consequently s/h morticers are now plentiful. You should be able to pick up a good bench m/c for well under £100.
As you can see from Jacob's pic above the footprint for a floor m/c is quite small. A bench m/c takes up a similar area of valuable bench space in a small w/s. Think in terms of £200 or so for a respectable floor mounted jobby. That's what I sold mine for recently.
If you do go for a bench m/c I don't think you'll have any lack of power problem.
Brian

 

[Jameshow]

I have a big one and access to a bench one. Much prefer my big one.
A bench one would be ok for tenons up to 1/2 but for bigger stuff gates etc when a big one with its Cross slide makes it much more versatile machine.

 

[Mark18PLL]

Thanks for the replies, im struggling to find anything tbh. The Sedgwick ones I have seen, the front wheel handle sticks pout too far for my small garage workshop at about 660mm, are the Sip brand any good?

 

[TRITON]

You'd likely be better with one like Jacobs. As said, their footprint is quite small, and ona wheeled base it would tuck away against a wall or in a corner quite neatly.

I recently bought one of the axminster hobby/craft ones, and while I haven't got around to using it yet, its footprint is of similar size to a pro one.

I'd also try to get one exactly like Jacobs, rather than one of the modern types. Those are the best.

 

[Ed Weber]

I have a floor standing mortiser, the benchtop models IMO, might have enough power to drill and chisel but the vise and/or holding mechanism is never very robust, plus no x/y table on most of them.
I think they're more trouble than they're worth.

 

[clogs]

I just knew somebody would mention Festool domino's.......
hahaha........
I had a proper floor mounted machine, but never used enough to take up the space.....ended up using a jig n plunge router or a drill press with a clean up with a chisel......
they were fetching good money at the time so more reason to move it on....
If I had a load of mortices to do I'd just pay someone to do it for me....not worth the hastle.......

 

[Fireburst]

I was thinking of purchasing one for bigger outdoor work (I do have both Festool Dominos) simply for more traditional joinery but I’ve just realised I can get an attachment for my Hammer A3 jointer/planer for morticing. Has anyone had any experience with this type of attachment? It would certainly save space.

 

[Jacob]

Another small workshop option is a slot morticer attached to PT. Cheapest, effective, often easy to take off when not in use.
There's one here but the vid is a bit fussy, they do like to lay it on!



I'm looking at moving and it might be best option for me in a smaller workshop. It only takes a few seconds to square up the corners with a hand mortice chisel.
I had one when I started out with a cheapo Maxi 26 combi

 

[HamsterJam]

I have a Multico PM12 bench top morticer that is pretty sturdy and takes up very little space. For heavier jobs I screw it to the workbench.
They come up on well known auction sites or social media marketplaces occasionally. It weighs a ton (not literally - probably 20kg but you know what I mean )

 

[Mark18PLL]

I have a Multico PM12 bench top morticer that is pretty sturdy and takes up very little space. For heavier jobs I screw it to the workbench.
They come up on well known auction sites or social media marketplaces occasionally. It weighs a ton (not literally - probably 20kg but you know what I mean )

Yes I have seen those but not sure how it would cope making gate frames. I have been offered a Charnwood w340 but can’t find any reviews or much info on the brand or machine.

 

[GWight]

I have a Multico K1 floor standing that I want to sell along with 16 chisels. Small footprint and very sturdy. Mounted on base plate with castors for easy moving. £250. You would need to collect or arrange transport from torquay. Base plate is 400 w x 500 d.

 

[SLM]

My former local tool dealer was a Charnwood stockist, so I’ve had a poke at several of their machines. I doubt I’d even take one free of charge! The Multico offered would be a far better tool than the Charnwood.

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

Flanajb was selling an "Axminster BM78S 1hp morticer, plus box of mortice chisels" a couple of months ago on this forum. I did consider it myself but found an equivalent locally. Possibly worth a look.
Martin

 

[Mark18PLL]

My former local tool dealer was a Charnwood stockist, so I’ve had a poke at several of their machines. I doubt I’d even take one free of charge! The Multico offered would be a far better tool than the Charnwood.

Thanks, thats the kind of info I need. The multico protrudes too far at the front so would not work for me in a small workshop.

 

[SLM]

Thanks, thats the kind of info I need. The multico protrudes too far at the front so would not work for me in a small workshop.

If you’re limited in space, to the extent that bench mounted is your only option, then I would recommend the delta model, they being of better quality than the others that I’ve seen.

One “feature” of the delta is that the turret can be turned 180 degrees on the base, and the machine then clamped to larger work pieces.

 

[Mark18PLL]

I have just come across this one which doesn't look to bad, any thoughts?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/29579615...Zg5S5k7|tkp:Bk9SR6D6hYSkYg&LH_ItemCondition=4

 

[SLM]

It doesn’t look much different in size to this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/18596518...d_CiZDlSE6&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I know where my money would go.