47 - Build Your Own Mortising Machine , страница 2

Smv)N6tes

Issue 47 September 1999

publisher Donald B. Peschke

editor Tim Robertson

associate editor Tom Begnal

assistant editor Bryan Nelson

editorial intern Wyatt Myers

art director Cary Christensen

sr. graphic designer Kurt SchultZ

senior illustrators Roger Reiland Mark Higdon

creative resources

Creative Dir.: Ted Kralicek • Project Developer. Ken Munkel • Sr. Project Designer. Kevin Boyle • Project Coordinator. Kent Welsh • Shop Mgr.: Steve Curtis • Shop Craftsman: Steve Johnson • Sr. Photographer. Crayola England • Photographer. Roderick Kennedy

special publications

Executive Editor. Douglas L. Hicks • Art Director. Steve Lueder • Sr. Graphic Designers: Chris Glowacki, Cheryl L. Simpson • Asst. Editors: Joe Irwin, Craig Ruegsegger

circulation

Sub. Serv. Dir.: Sandy Baum • New Bus. Dir.: GlendaBattles

• Circ. Marketing Analyst: Kris Schleramer • Creative Mgr.: Melinda Haffner • Renetual Mgr.: Paige Rogers • BilliTig Mgr.: Rebecca Cunningham • Pivm. Mgr.: Rick Junkins • New Bus. Mgr.: Ibdd L. Bierle • Asst. Sub. Mgr.: JoyKrause

corporate services

Controller: Robin Hutchinson • Sr. Accountant: Laura Thomas • Accounts Payable: Mary Schultz • Accounts Receivable: Margo Petrus • Prod. Dir.: George Chmielarz

• Electronic Pub. Dir.: Douglas M. Lidster • Network Admin.: Chris Schwanebeck • Prod. Assistant Susan Rueve

• Pre-Press Image Specialist: Troy Clark, Minniette Bieghler • New Media Mgr.: Gordon C. Gaippe • Multimedia Art Dir.: Eugene Pedersen • E-Commerce Analyst: Carol Schoeppler • Web Site Editor. Holly Kilborn • Web Site Product Specialist: Adam Best • Human Resources Assistant: Kirsten Koele • Office Mgr.: Julia Fish • Receptionist: Jeanne Johnson • Building Maintenance: Ken Griffith • Special Projects Dir.: Saville H. Inman • Mail Room Clerk: Lou Webber

mail order

Operations Dir.: Bob Baker • Oust. Serv. Mgr.: Jennie Enos

• Warehouse Supr.: Nancy Johnson • Buyer. Linda Jones

• Admin. Asst: Nancy Downey • Tech. Rep.: Matthew TeRonde • Cust. Serv. Reps.: Anna Cox, Tammy Truckenbrod, Deborah Rich, April Revell, David Gaumer

• Warehouse: Sylvia Carey, Dan Spidle, Eric Tullis, Sheryl Knox

woodsmith store

Manager. Dave Larson • Assistant Manager: Paul Schneider • Sales Staff: Pat Lowry, Wendell Stone, Jim Barnett, Kathy Smith, Larry Morrison, Harold Cashman

• Office Manager: Vicki Edwards

ShopNotes® (ISSN 1062-9696) is published bimonthly (Jan., March, May, July, Sept., Nov.) by August Home Publishing, 2200 Grand* Des Moines, IA 50312. ShopNotes® is a registered trademark of August Home Publishing ©Copyright 1999 by August Home Publishing. All rights reserved. Subscriptions: Single copy: $4.95. One year subscription (6 issues), $21.94. Canada/International add $10 per year, U.S. funds.

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PRINTED IN U.S.A.

EDITOR'S NOTE

Cutoffs

I'll never forget my first stationary power tool. It was a multi-purpose tool that served as a table saw, drill press, and several other tools all rolled into one. Well I bought the tool second-hand, and to be honest, I was pretty pleased with my new purchase. Especially since several accessories had come with it.

MORTISING ATTACHMENT. One of these accessories was a mortising attachment for the drill press. It was designed to use a special hollow chisel bit to drill a square hole. (This is a drill bit surrounded by a square, thin-walled chisel.) As you lowered the quill, the bit

removed the bulk of _

the waste, and the chisel squared up the sides at the same time. At least that was the theory. In practice, it was a different story.

I had to apply con- -

siderable downward pressure to get the bit to cut. Then, as it dug into the wood, the bit began to smoke, and the chisel turned blue. To make matters worse, when I raised the quill to pull the bit out of the mortise, it lifted the workpiece off the table and tore out a big splinter.

Needless to say, I was pretty frustrated with the whole thing. I went back to making mortises by drilling a series of holes with a Forstner bit then cleaning out the waste with a chisel by hand. As for the mortising attachment, it ended up on a shelf gathering dust.

That's too bad really. A mortising tool that really worked would be a great addition to a shop. In fact, it would be ideal for a project I'd been planning to build just recently. The project was a garden bench that required cutting over a hundred mortises. (That's a lot of drilling and chiseling.)

Using the mortising machine is a smooth, effortless process. And it cuts a crisp, clean mortise that's dead-on accurate.

Now I suppose I could have bought a commercial mortising machine to cut these mortises. They work great. But they're expensive — $300 and up.

SHOP-MADE VERSION. So instead of buying a mortising machine, I took a "back door" approach. I challenged Ken (our project developer) to build a shop-made version of a mortising machine.

Not long after that, he showed up carrying an armful of parts: a long piece of aluminum channel, a couple of metal rods, and a hand crank (the kind used to tighten a pipe clamp, only larger).

At first, this odd assortment of parts

_ had me scratching

my head. But when I walked into the shop a few days later, it all started to make more sense.

The crank was attached to the top

- of a tall, vertical

tower. Turning the crank raised and lowered a carriage that served as a platform for a router. This carriage was suspended over a sliding table that held the workpiece. By moving a handle back and forth, the table (and workpiece) slid from side to side under the router bit

It looked like a great idea, and I couldn't wait to try it out. So I grabbed a chunk of wood, clamped it to the table, and flipped the switch on the router. As I turned the crank to lower the carriage, the tip of the bit plunged into the wood. Then, as I grasped the handle and slid the table to the side, the bit carved a crisp, clean slot in the wood.

The entire process was smooth and effortless. And the mortise was dead-on accurate. In fact, the mortising machine worked so well, we decided to feature it in this issue. In the meantime, I guess it's time to build that garden bench.

Reprinted 2002 2

2 ShopNotes

No. 47