Woodworker's Journal 1993-17-6, страница 16

Laguna Tools

in. thick steel angle feet boiled to it. Leveling screws arc mounted in the feet so ihai the 160-pound unit will sit solidly on the floor.

An 8 in. by 8 in. by '/-t in. steel angle plate is used to mount your router. The plate is drilled for the bit hole, but you will have to transfer the mounting screw pattern from your router to the plate and drill and countersink the mounting holes.

Assembly

Assembly instructions are sparse but the set up is straightforward. It look about an hour and a half to bolt the stand together, mount the tabic, lay out and drill the router mounting holes, and align, pin and boll the router mount to the stand. While the set up instructions made no mention of it. I pinned the router mount plate to the stand column to eliminate any possibility of router misalignment should the mount holt loosen. Simply drill two holes in diagonal corners and drive mil pins (available ai most hardware stores! into the holes.

Mortising Table

The Laguna Tools mortiser is a horizontal boring machine that uses your router in conjunction with a moving table to hold ihe work. It consists of a router mount, table assembly and optional stand. The heart of the machine is the same well made translating table and clamp assembly used on Laguna's Robland combination machine. The cast iron table slides on Vt in. diameter steel rods in both the depth direction and along the mortise length. Sturdy hand levers control the table motion maximum capacity is 8 in. along the length of the mortise and 5 in. of depth. Adjustable stops limit ihe length and the depth of the mortise.

The table and translating parts are supported on a stout easi iron column that is splined to prevent rotation and adjustable lor clearance and wear. The table height is adjusted through 3Vn in. of travel by a hand wheel and a gear and jackscrew drive.

All of this is mounted on a rugged stand consisting of a 6 in. by 6 in. structural steel column w ith ihree 2'/: in. by 3 in. by '/4

Cutting Mortises

For my tests I used a '/: in. collet straight router anil spiral bits. To cut a mortise, simply set the slops to the desired length and depth, clamp the slock lo the table and use the hand levers to manipulate the lable. The first step is a plunge cut at both ends of the mortise, followed bv a series of back and forth cuts of increasing depth to remove the waste until the depth stop is reached.

I aguna cautions that, when using spiral bits, (he stock must be well clamped so that the bit di>es not pull the stock and possibly affect ihe mortise dimensions. This did not happen in my tests. The cam clamp securely held the work for ail my cuts. A word of advise though: because ihe w hole unit is very rigid there's a tendenancy to try lo drive the stock through the router faster than it can cut. This is not the fault of the mortiser hut the limitation of Ihe bit and the rouler power. So remember to not force the cut.

Summary

I sing the mortiser was very easy. The table moved smoothly and has enough rigidity to give predictable consistent results, finally, a small point: for all its mass and quality, the plastic handwheel. while adequate, feels inconsistent with the rest of this well-made machine.

In summary, the Laguna Tools Mortiser is a robust machine thai will serve the small professional shop well for a long time. Price: $695 (with s(and). $485 (without stand).

For more information write to Laguna Tools. 2265 Laguna Canyon Road. Laguna Beach, CA 92651: tel. (714) 444-71X16.

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7f> Tin.' Woodworker's Journal