Mortiser bed

[jlawrence]

Not sure whether this should be in here or the projects bit.

I was using my cheapo Aldi mortiser yesterday and got thinking it would be a lot quicker/easier with an adjustable bed.
Now am I thinking a bit too simply here, or would it be quite easy to make one. 4 sliding dovetails (2 for each direction) and a couple of screwy adjustable thingies. I'd imagine it'd be more accurate machined out of Al but I reckon a few bits of hardwood would probably suffice.

Anyone any thoughts/comments.

 

[jlawrence]

I've now found out that what I'm looking to make is an XY table. As I'm not looking for masses of adjustment I don't think this'll be too difficult to bodge together.

 

[9fingers]

Like this perhaps?

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp? ... =1&jump=44

Bob

 

[big soft moose]

have you got the steve maskery dvds ( i'm not on commision honest - tho maybe i should be ) - anyway on WE1 he shows how to do a sliding keyway for jigs - which you could use for this - a lot easier than a sliding dovetail

 

[jlawrence]

Yes Bob, something like that. I prefer the idea of it being made out of wood - the accuracy of metal isn't really required for what I'm thinking of and wood is likely to be a lot more forgiving on tool mistakes .

BSM, yes I've got them.

Sliding dovetails ain't that difficult with the littlerat. But the sliding key way may be a better way to go.

I'm thinking it would be a heck of a lot less hassle than having to keep un-clamping work in order to move it along a bit, then re-clamping and checking things are square again etc etc etc.
Initially I'm not sure I'll even bother with adjusters as such, just a couple of locking bolts. It's not as if I need a lot of adjustment really.

 

[big soft moose]

course after the financial year change i'll probably have a multico morticer with both x and y travel built in for sale for a few hundred notes - so if you can wait till then