The right Mortiser for building doors
darius
| Posted in Power Tools and Machinery on
I’m thinking of making 8’x3′ full glass doors out of 1 3/4″x 4″ lumber.
My question is will I be able to make joints using Delta or Jet Benchtop Mortiser that Amazon sells for $199.00? Those are not very big units, so I wonder whether it is possible to make a good doors using 1/2″ bit. I would use a tablesaw with a tenoning jig to make tenons.
I would save a lot of money by doing it myself ( I will need 12 doors for this project) even though I would have to buy a mortiser and a tenonig jig. And I’m eager to learn to do it myself.
Thanks
Replies
You could do them with a router jig. Another option is to increase the capacity the mortiser. This is simple to do. Some long bolts and a spacer inseted between the base and the main post will work like a champ. I did this to my delta mortiser an it worked very well.
Tom
Douglasville, GA
Edited 1/28/2004 11:49:26 AM ET by Tom
I was looking at router jigs and seemed like they all made for making cabinet doors (they don't take 1 3/4" stock?
Am I wrong?
I think you are referring to the door making bits for the router. What I was referring to is along the lines of the previos poster. Make a jig for the router to cut your mortises with a straight bit and plunge to the depth you need.Tom
Douglasville, GA
Build a new, two pronged, center finding template for your plunge router. Marc Adams video will show you how. Get a straight cutting / rabeting bit in the depth you are looking for. Then plunge taking increasing amounts of material in each pass until you have the mortise of the desired depth.
Again, see Marc Adams website and his Joinery video to get a really good idea how to accomplish this.
Wouldn't it be simpler and stronger to use two or three 3/4" dowels at each corner?
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
I made a half dozen exterior doors last year. I used a Powermatic mortiser to cut the mortises but that probably won't work with a bench-top mortiser. If your stiles are say 4 1/2" and you want a 3" deep mortise I doubt that you'll have enough room below the head of a typical bench-top mortiser. You may be better off using a plunge router and floating tenons. On the other hand, if you decide to do the tenons on a table saw you really don't need a tenoning jig. Cross-cutting the stock with a dado blade to create the tenons will work fine.
Chip
Info on Amazon.com says that Delta MM300 Bench top mortiser "Handles work up to 4 inches under hold down for a variety of applications". I asume that means that I can use up to 4 inch stock??
The clearance under the chisel is important .But don't forget that the bits are limited in their depth of cut.My 1/2 in chisel will only cut 2 3/4 in deep.
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