I’m looking into the first purchase of a bench top mortiser. Anyone out there have an opinion as to Steel Cit’s model?
Discussion Forum
Get It All!
UNLIMITED Membership is like taking a master class in woodworking for less than $10 a month.
Start Your Free TrialCategories
Discussion Forum
Digital Plans Library
Member exclusive! – Plans for everyone – from beginners to experts – right at your fingertips.
Highlights
-
Shape Your Skills
when you sign up for our emails
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. -
Shop Talk Live Podcast -
Our favorite articles and videos -
E-Learning Courses from Fine Woodworking
-
-
Replies
Jake, the Steel City is really nice, especially compared with the other mortisers in its price range. Although I haven't really used mine, I sent another machine down to a friend who's used it extensively, really heavy work, and it's done fine.
The Powermatic PM701 has some of the same features as the SC, is tooless, and has a 3/4HP motor. However, it costs more than 2x as much, and doesn't come with chisels. No stock-support extensions.
I love mine. Very well made. Good hold fasts and fence hold down. Great warranty and service too. Easy to set up, adjust and use. For the price, there's not a better bench top mortiser, IMHO. Tom
Thanks for the response. I did wind up ordering one
Hope you like it -- but I'm curious to know why you are going with a dedicated mortiser rather than a mortise chisel setup for a drill press at a fraction of the cost. I will be facing this decision down the road.
If you search the archives Penob.. there has been quite a bit of discussion on the subject.. I'll be brief as I just came up from the shop and tired....
PITA to set up and take down.. Not very accurate.. and a Drill Press is a finesse machine designed to start a tiny bit into a usually small hole and the drill twist does the work. Not much effort required for that.
But.. you are talking about a drill bit in center and literally driving a square chisel outside of it into hardwood. The gears and handle mechanism on the DP is just not really designed to take on that kind of heavy load.
If you start a thread usully two or three people will offer you their DP mortise for free if you pay the shipping. And their is an exception as to everyone not caring for them. Ray Pine (joinerswork) is a professional.. has used one for years and he loves it. If he see's this post, he will reply to that comment. :>) .. hey Ray.. ha.. ha...
Good luck and do your home-work...
Sarge..
I would be interested in how you like it. I am also considering this machine- on the fence between the SC and the Powermatic 701 ( which costs around $100 + chisels extra).
thanks
Jeff
Good morning Jeff... first I will say that I have found all the bench-tops will work if tinkered with. All (including the PM) come up short of an industrial type hold-down. The Steel City has the best table hold-downs of the group IMO.. with the General (another excellent one but also more $$) the best front face hold down.
Some bench-tops have too short a handle (even though that has been addressed somewhat in the last 5 years, but even then you slip a metal pipe over one too short and you are eliminate that. No bench-top I am aware of has X-Y tables that give you ultra quick positioning from one cut to the other.
I had a Shop-fox for years that I cut a ton of mortises on. I used a quick-clamp to hold the stock to the fence and built a front face vise from a veneer press screw to exert pressure to the fence. That worked well and I got pretty quick un-locking the clamp and a couple of quick turns to release the front vise. Not industrial strength.. but efficient with a little patience.
So.. what do I think of the Steel City mortiser? Enough that I helped sell them for a local distributor two years ago at the Atlanta WW Show and was not paid to do so. And they went like "hot-coffee" on a cold morning as the folks just had to look at it and compare.
And I won't endorse anything that I truly don't believe in. But.. I believe in every piece of machinery I have from SC and also the one's I have gone over. I have not looked at their shaper and drum sander close.. not yet anyway but capable of doing so by making a short trip from my home.
So.. with a 5 year Warranty along with an excellent design short of industrial hold-down.. I think it is up there with the PM and General (which are excellent for a bench-top) factoring the vast difference of price. You're not getting that much more that you can add.
I always wanted a PM Floor model, but couldn't find one used for years. I could not justify the full price. But now I am in the shop 6-12 hours a day and that made my situation a little more justifiable. I ran across a "little" floor model being closed out and was offered to me for $800. I jumped as it is the same model Grizzly sells for $2100 if you want one.
I finally got the hold downs and rapid X-Y movement and the good news is I could sell it today at a substantial profit.. so it also became an investment of a small sort. She was new.. she ain't necessarily pretty.. but I finally got that "industrial strength" I was looking for in a mortiser and frankly, there is no doubt in that statement.
Good luck...
Sarge..
Hey Sarge -I have the PM floor model and could not like it any better. I am sure that green beast you have is just as, if not more powerful. I think that the most overlooked aspect of the floor mortisers, and a few of the bigger benchtop models is the x-y tables. I knew I wanted this feature, along with the tilting table, but the speed with which you can chop mortises is night and day. Especially those mortises that are more than one chisel in thickness. That is why I stepped it up one level, and am glad ever time I use it. For those wondering whether this feature is useful...it is.
First.. I always drooled to have a PM floor model as stated. I looked used for 3 years in about every source available. Once one has acquired one, they seem to not want to un-acquire. I did find one that was purchased from a school closings it's WW program once.. but I believe it had been already purchased and the owner wanted $800 for a used after a million kids had probably used and abused. No thanks...
The green thing cost me just that new.. $800. More powerful than the PM.. more table travel both directions and the gears for the movement are between 3 and 4 times larger in comparison. And the table will not only tilt.. but move up and down to get a door under-neath. That's what that lower chrome wheel is used for. The front clamp could crush a piece of coal into a diamond. I had to add a 1/2" thiick rubber pad to the face to keep it from bruising or crushing softer speciees. So....
The PM is plenty in our home shops and I love it... this is just something I literally stumbled across that is for industry and I jumped on the price under the circumstances. Grizzly has the same machine on there web for $2195 I believe. They originally had it priced for around $3 K before bringing it down to closer what it's true worth is. The Griz parts will inter-change with the only difference being the Griz is 3 phase and mine is one phase 220 V. These puppies weight over 600 lbs.
Enjoy the PM as I would have if I could have found one reasonable. And you're correct about the speed factor that accompanies the movement, I just did front and rear face frames on a chest with M & T's as it was just as quick as biscuits or floating tenons. Got that joint down to a science at this point and the machine is my top hired hand. :>)
Regards...
Sarge..
Edited 3/7/2008 1:00 pm ET by SARGEgrinder47
That's very helpful -- thanks. I don't have to do my homework -- you've done it for me!
Pretty much the jest of it, Penob.. And you're quite welcome, sir.
Sarge.. john thompson
Part of the reason for the purchase was the price. Steel city has the mortiser on sale for 279.00 with an additional 40 rebate until the end of march. This end price is comparable to other similar mortising machines. The steel city mortiser also comes with standard outriggers and a 5 year warranty, 4 years better than anyone else out there.
I had origianally ordered a Delta bench top mortiser and sent it back even before I opend the box. When I ordered it, it was between the Delta and the Steel City. What won me over was being able to lock down the Delta fence. Steel city has just the center lock on it and I read a couple stories about people disliking it. I always intended to mount the mortiser so the extensions from the base are no big help in my case. So I ordered the Delta. Then I read someone elses reply that talked about a Powermatic bench top mortiser. I immediately looked it up. It basically has the good from Delta, some of the convience of the Steel City, and a larger motor. I knew right then the Powermatic is what I wanted. So I cancelled the Delta and ordered the Powermatic. It is now on the way. Yes its $150 more and no chisels. But from what I have read the chisel are nothing but starter sets and most buy better ones later on. For me the extra $150 seems worth it.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled