Replies

1. 
   john_c2 | May 20, 2020 07:58pm | #1

   I have the Powermatic 719, with thge x-y table, but no tilt. I don't miss the tilt st all. If I need an angled mortise, I put a wedge on the table.

   It's a fantastic machine. I had a Delta tabletop years ago, and it was rubbish. Pieces were falling off and breaking, left and right. Just utter crap. The Powermatic is wonderful. I have a Domino, but still end up doing regular mortise and tenons the cast majority of the time.

   I have no experience with the horizontal slot mortise or pantorouter.

2. 
   geedubbee | May 20, 2020 08:05pm | #2

   An HCM is certainly a 'nice to have'. Mortise and through-tenons will need hand fitting regardless of the tool doing the lion's share of the work. M&T that do not show need to be mechanically sound but, not beautiful. This speaks to your concern about spending hours 'squaring up mortises'.

   A router (or other round bit machine) cut mortise that does not show simply required that you round the tenon or use floating tenon stock that is already shaped. True, there would be a bit more to squaring a round ended mortise than one that is nearly what you want but, has square ends.

   You will have to balance the idea of a router based jig leaving a router which can do many other tasks versus the space and specificity of a HCM. If you are hard set on the HCM, that is by no means the wrong decision.

   You may get suggestions of folks who are true to certain colors of paint but, I would look to owners of each machine on your short list and take their experiences and add them into your data gathering. Good luck.

3. 
   DRBWWing | May 21, 2020 10:51am | #3

   A lot of guys are going to the horizontal mortisers. Floating tenons bypasses the round tenon issue, but, if requires a precise setup, especially with offset tenons.

   I currently own a floor model mortiser. Even perfectly lined up, the a chisel mortiser is never going to give you the quality a router bit will. But that has never been an issue for me.

   That said, had to do over, a horizontal mortiser would definitely be in the running.

4. 
   wilsonketinc | May 21, 2020 05:31pm | #4

   I appreciate the input! I have about $1500 to spend. Would you rather something like the the grizzly g0846 horizontal mortiser or the pantorouter. Seems like the panto could do everything that a horizontal mortiser could and then much more, but set up seems pretty complicated and I won’t be batching out a lot of parts. I have limited shop time and I do not want to spend it all on machine setup.

   There is another option. I could stick with the drill press and chisels, and buy a helical cutterhead for my planer which I use on nearly every project.

5. 
   user-142505 | May 21, 2020 07:46pm | #5

   I bought a Laguna LBM 200 horizontal mortiser years ago it is the biggest piece of junk. I have worked and worked on tuning it never have got it to work. Plus the worst customer service ever.

6. 
   mdorsam | May 23, 2020 05:17pm | #6

   The Domino is my go-to machine for both mortise and tenons (the Domino biscuits), and many routing operations - it is one of the most used tools in my shop. That said, it has significant limitations - depth of cut, and its hand-held nature.
   If I was looking for a different (non-Domino) solution, I'd build a Router-based mortising jig... make it robust, repeatable, and accurate.
   I've never been a fan of chisel-based mortising machines, as the chisels always seem to need sharpening, and the effort to plow through a mortise seemed disproportionate to common sense - there is a self-fulfilling angst here...
   Regarding Laguna, there must be a cult following somewhere, as I've read few good reviews and a consistent bashing of their customer service. My condolences.