Axminster AW16BMST Bench top Morticer

[Timmo]

Well I have found myself cutting a lot of mortices recently and have been using my router quite happilyto get nice smooth mortices that I just square the ends with with some nicely sharpened bench chisels....This is just a hobby for me at the moment but I am getting quite a few requests from friends for making this and that...Mainly stuff for outside like Horse mounting blocks and rabbit hutches and stuff like that...Now I know not all of these jobs require M&T's but I like the joint and it can't be beaten for strength...
With my current mounting block design I have to cut 24 mortices so I was seriously considering buying a benchtop morticer..
The Axminster one mentioned above seems like the best bang for the buck, especially with the sliding table so I just wondered whether anyone had any experience of this morticer.
As I am mainly working in 47x75 (2x3 ish) pressure treated wood I will want to be using the biggest chisel it takes which is the 16mm I believe..but will that be too taxing for it?
The model above only comes with the one chisel and whilst I see I can buy a set from axminster for approx £30 are these the best ones to get or should I find a really decent 16mm chisel and just buy that instead..
Would really appreciate some advice with this one...Also..if anyone has one that they hardly use and want to sell on second hand then please get in touch also...
I do not want to spend more than I have to because like another Tim on here we have also applied to emigrate to Canada and hoping that might come through next year sometime and anything electric will have to stay...
Thanks for any advice / suggestions..
Cheers
Timmo

 

[woodbloke]

I had a bench top mortiser a few years ago and got rid of it as I couldn't get it to work accurately enough for me. I now cut all mortices with a router and just square out the ends with a bench chisel which gives a far more accurate hole. The only thing you need to do is to make a much bigger sole plate for the router (from a bit of 6mm acrylic sheet) In use the router is on top of the piece in question but another bit of wood of the same thickness is used as well so that the sole plate is resting on two surfaces...in that way the possible :wink: router wobble is reduced to zero, no need for m/t jigs or a mortiser - Rob

 

[mailee]

I use a Record RPM75 morticer with a modified fence and find it is great for me. I make a lot of M&T's for gates and the like and find this is the quickest way for me. I have my tennoning jig set up for the mortices and can knock them off like a production line now. :wink: If there is anything I could change it would be for a bigger machine as this one is limited. HTH.

 

[Chems]

That looks like a pretty solid machine. I have an SIP version a little similar and I would recommend it. The router method is good but if your doing something small say for instance table legs for a small coffee table that is less than an inch wide you cant beat a bench top morticer. My Morticer is in my top 3 most used tools.

 

[woodbloke]

That looks like a pretty solid machine. I have an SIP version a little similar and I would recommend it. The router method is good but if your doing something small say for instance table legs for a small coffee table that is less than an inch wide you cant beat a bench top morticer. My Morticer is in my top 3 most used tools.

The mortices done on the stand for the Elm Cabinet II are on stuff wich is 28mm wide. The trick using a router is to use two bits of timber to rest the machine on, then there's no wobble and absolute accuracy is pretty much guaranteed. In addition, those mortices are all the way through (have a look at the pics on the Blog) and have to be dead accurate on the show side, with no splintering or tear out or slightly jagged edges, which is what is obtained with a mortiser (assuming that the through mortise is cut from both sides) Using a router in this way it's easy to cut even the smallest mortice of about 3 or 4mm in stock only 12mm wide...try that on a mortiser The only downside is that you're limited to the depth of cut of the router, but for the sort of work that I do that's not an issue - Rob

 

[OPJ]

I bought a Fox 5/8" morticer from Rutlands late last year and I've been very impressed with it. I recently bolted an MDF sub-fence to it and added some masking tape shims behind to get it square to the bed and parallel with the chisel. I've not made any use of the rotating headstock feature but it will take timber over 200mm deep below a the chisel! :shock:

Maximum chisel capacity is 16mm/5/8", but you will need enlarge the inside diameter of the collar/bush (3/4") in order to take better quality Japanese/English pattern chisels (13/16"). Only other reservation I have is with the depth stop. If you get too carried away it can be easily knock out of setting and you may end up cutting too deep... I will try and work on a solution to this at some point - even if it means jamming a block of wood underneath for the time being! :wink:

I'd always advise you to buy the best quality chisels you can afford, if you do decide to go down the morticer route. The choice between Japanese and English pattern seems to be one of personal choice, though the Japanese ones (which I happily use) are considerabley cheaper.

Most important thing is to learn how to setup, use and maintain them correctly though. Never try to force the chisel in to take deep, heavy cuts. Treat it like a router and gradually work your way down in smaller passes.

 

[Timmo]

Thanks for all the replies and the challenge as to router vs morticer..defintely some food for thought there....Seems like I need to order myself some longer sash clamps from axminster so am going to have to decide whether to piggyback on the morticer or not...
Has anyone got any experience of this particular model...looks really good for the money....
Cheers
Timmo

 

[Shultzy]

Timmo, the AW16BMST was highly recommended in the January edition of the Woodworker with the Record RPM75 as "best on test".

 

[Chems]

Woodbloke, I cut my first mortices with my router, They did not go well, but the router was low quality and I didnt use the extra bits on the side to give me a level footing. I have just got the Big Triton and will have a go doing it with that next time.

 

[Timmo]

Timmo, the AW16BMST was highly recommended in the January edition of the Woodworker with the Record RPM75 as "best on test".

Thanks Shultzy.....There was a review in "Practical Woodworker" a few years ago and I think it was the same reviews as you mentioned..i.e. Record best on test, and the axminster highly recommended but I wondered if that might have changed....I would have thought that the moving tables on the axminster would have made it better..
I know very nice morices can be cut using the router and that is how I currently do them but I did figure that a morticer would be easy to set up and go and also one of the other reasons why I wanted to get a morticer is because at the moment I am working in my garage and the router isn't the quietest piece of kit that I have so if I am routing mortices all day then the neighbours might start getting the hump...A benchtop morticer is a lot cheaper than setting up a workshop somewhere.....
Cheers
Timmo

 

[Shultzy]

Timmo, I think you are right about getting a morticer. It is sometimes best to get the right tool to do the job, especially if you feel more comfortable in using it. Its one of the tools on my list but I'm going to wait to see if I really need it.

 

[NeilO]

Timmo, sorry for the late reply, but you do mean this:

a solid piece of kit (heavy as well at 42kgs) seems to a good little workhorse having handled anything I have thrown its way for mortising beit hardwood or softwood, sliding table is a bit of a bonus because you can clamp your work to the table and move that as oppossed to moving the wood again, just dipping the chisel to make sure you have lined it up correctly....having set your chisel 90 degs to the back fence 9 explained in the manual)
it has a good amount of travel to it, I measured 100mm from the trip of the chisel to the table ( WARNING lock your end stop so your chisel doesnt hit the table, there is NO hole in the table )
wider mortises are easily accomplished by multiple passes with a smaller chisel ( I did buy the axminster set) just keep them sharp, and your on a winner (nothing to judge it by, but who the hell needs two mortisers? :lol: )

HTH

 

[Timmo]

Thanks Neil and Shultzy - That is the baby...certainly looks like a solid bit of kit eh..
I think I am definitely going to get one...It must make cutting the mortices so much quicker and if you are always referencing off of one side then the fence can stay set up and its just a matter of clamping the wood in the right position the once and then nibbling along for the whole mortice right...must be nice to make a nice square ended mortice right away without needing to square it up with a chisel...which is OK for the first 10 or 12 maybe but gets a bit tedious when there are 24 to do....
Thanks again everyone..

Cheers
Timmo

 

[OPJ]

wider mortises are easily accomplished by multiple passes with a smaller chisel ( I did buy the axminster set) just keep them sharp, and your on a winner (nothing to judge it by, but who the hell needs two mortisers? :lol: )

And the benefit of doing it this way (working from both faces) is that you can't accidentally cut from the "wrong" face and your mortice will be dead-central to the piece as well!

The sliding table looks like an excellent feature for a machine of this price. Most other morticers at this level have nothing more than a hold-down guide around the chisel - even the Jet. I've since come up with my own solution to this but I reckon you're on to a winner with the Axminster. :wink:

 

[Timmo]

Hi Olly,

As I am only using rough sawn pressure treated wood that seems to very in size quite a bit I would not want to work from the 2 faces as I would end up with different size mortices...If I need to make bigger motices than the chisel allows I would most likely cut them all referenced against one face and then adjust the fence and cut them all again from the same reference face to ensure they were all the same....Makes cutting the tenons on the band saw a lot easier when they are all the same...If that makes sense..
I don't have a P/T and I am not really sure whether it would actually negate using pressure treated wood if I ended up planing off some of the edges anyway..
One of my other hobbies which I haven't touched for a while is building and flying radio controlled helicopters where everything has to be set up and balanced perfectly and now when I am woodworking I sometime have to tell myself that its not a helicopter i.e. that with items like the mounting block its not the end of the world if I am out by a mm or 2 across a digonal or something...I actually think that is pretty good for rough sawn wood but I do always make sure that my tenons are a nice tight fit in the mortices...
Thanks for the advice though...the sliding table does seem like a godsend on a machine this price and will make cutting the mortices even easier..
Cheers
Timmo

 

[Geoff S]

Timmo I have one of these I bought a couple of months ago - works well if you respect the fact that it's not a huge industrial machine. I also bought the set of three Axminster chisels and they seem to do a good job for the money - well worth the current price. The rear fence was not totally square to the table but that was easily fixed with a false fence of wood.
Geoff S

 

[OPJ]

I don't have a P/T and I am not really sure whether it would actually negate using pressure treated wood if I ended up planing off some of the edges anyway..

You're right, the treatment only penetrates roughly 6mm all-round, so any cut or exposed edges would need re-treating. In an ideal situation, you should do all your machining with un-treated timber before sending it off to be treated after your final dry-assembly.