Slot mortiser / poor man’s Festool domino

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jb94

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11 May 2024
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Location
Rotherham
Thought I’d share my finished machine, to give others ideas and to receive feedback / improvements etc.

I’m making a lot of bars for a crib and needed a good way to attach them strongly to the stringers but don’t want to spend hours and hours manually drilling dowels or cutting M&T:

Video 1
Video 2

Just made from scrap materials around my workshop.


In an ideal world I’d have a better raise / lower mechanism, it’s a sliding joint stopped by a bolt at the back, but it does the job.
 
Looks very nice. Quick question: does using full extension drawers slides generate much play which could impact the accuracy?
 
Looks very nice. Quick question: does using full extension drawers slides generate much play which could impact the accuracy?
there was a bit of play in the topmost sliders (left-right action) causing the bit to have up-down play.

I added some wooden blocks with machine screws over the sliders to act as a tensioner which minimised it.

I also found that adding a handle as low as possible reduced play, as originally I was holding right at the top which acted as a lever.
 
Hi, jb94. Welcome to the forum
Nice and simple contraption. Your accuracy could be improved by using some linear bearings bars to reduce the play.
 
Hi, jb94. Welcome to the forum
Nice and simple contraption. Your accuracy could be improved by using some linear bearings bars to reduce the play.
Absolutely for a mk2 I’d go for higher quality components, but hopefully this setup will do what I need it for and the only cost was the ¼ inch bit.
 
I always liked slot morticers tbh. Accurate and simple to use. My axi planer was a prototype having features not present on production machines. Bolts for a slot mirticer was one. Table extension tapped holes another. Are those fancy drills still available as clico are defunct.
 
Matthias Wandel has a nice, rigid build of one of these.
I cheated and used a second hand mortising table off an Inca saw. The hardest thing was getting a router mounted precisely. I felt a palm router was underpowered for the cuts needed and all the beefier ones were in odd shaped housings (I needed to remove the base for depth of cut)
 
Yeah it’s Mathias who I have stole the idea from! His is an excellent bit of kit with a screw adjusted height, something I’d like to replicate for MK2.

The makita router seemed fine cutting into hardwood with 40mm tenons (20-25mm cut depth), maybe if I used beefier tenons and had a bigger cut depth it may struggle more but I think it’s fine for what I need it for.
 
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