Shopsmith Forums

Hello-

I'm wondering if anyone has ever made a table that slides on some type of drawer hardware and used it on the Shopsmith to turn it into an X Y Z horizontal mortiser?

Since the Shopsmith already has the quill for Z axis and the table height for Y access, you would just need this table and a system of stops and handle to move it back and forth to have a really nice horizontal mortiser. The Power Pro headstock would make it that much better!

I'm thinking about making one but wanted to see it anyone else had to see it they had any wisdom to share before I started.

-mj

I have used my 510 to do horizontal mortising. It works fairly well and is very handy for just a couple of mortises. I moved the wood, rather than the table. This required a hold down attached to the fence for safety. For the hold down, I used a block of wood clamped to the fence. I could only use one stop block at a time, but that was enough.

Yes, because of speed (RPMs) the PowerPro would work better.

I believe somewhere in the archives I posted and bragged about the abilities of the 510 to do horizontal mortising.

Here's something that might give you some ideas -- http://woodgears.ca/slot_mortiser/index.html

He used some modified keyboard drawer slides to build a horizontal slot mortiser.

I'd guess that linear motion bearing and steel rods would work best for accuracy, but they're pricey. Perhaps pillow blocks with appropriately undersized rods would suffice.

pennview wrote:Here's something that might give you some ideas -- http://woodgears.ca/slot_mortiser/index.html

He used some modified keyboard drawer slides to build a horizontal slot mortiser.

I'd guess that linear motion bearing and steel rods would work best for accuracy, but they're pricey. Perhaps pillow blocks with appropriately undersized rods would suffice.

In another post he talks about using modified keyboard slides, which should be a lot cheaper.

Thanks, everyone. I checked out the woodgears site and yes somethng like that is what I had in mind. Although it would only need to move side to side and not in and out as well. I'll let you know how it goes.

-mj

I built a horizontal mortiser for my ancient SS (built Oct. '57)
I added a 1/2" plywood (pw) top to the table with 2 slides to fit into the table top slots. Added 2 al. hold down tracks to the pw then added 3 pcs of 1/2" pw to fill the voids between the hold down tracks. This gave me a flat surface to clamp my work to.
Added a steel stud into the right side of the ss table to act as forward/backward stop for the new pw table. Added another hold down track to the right side of the new pw table with 2 sliding adjustable stops to contact the new stud to control mortise length.
I use a brad point bit to drill a series of holes for the mortise depth and width with repeated plunges to clear the shavings before I set the bit at its final depth at which time i move the wooden table back and forth between the stops to achieve a smooth wall surface in the mortise for the "slip" tenon.
I am currently making some chairs for the great grand kids. I'm currently using this slip mortise and tenon technique to provide "flaiired" (6 Degree) stringers between the front and rear legs to make the seat wider in the front.