Chain morticer

[dom]

Anyone used one ? pros/cons ? Ta much

[engineerone]

why do you want to mortice chains ;D

paul who hasn't

[dom]

I have kinky girlfriends

[mooretoolsplease]

One of the old joiners at the yard used to have one and swore by it for door locks, but then he was doing huge numbers of them.
From when I saw it in use, it didnt appear to be all that steady

[jfc]

If they do door locks wont they be good for mortice holes

[cadas]

I've got a big Ryobi portable chain morticer.

Originally bought it for green oak work and it is brilliant at that. But lately I've been using it on smaller ans smaller stuff. Almost all newel posts are morticed using it now.

My main limitation is the size of the chain, mine is 16mmx30mm.

Breakout is negligible and they cut quite fast. With a sharp chain it is quite a precise machine.

Only thing to check is the direction of the chain; my Ryobi cuts side to side so what break out there is is only on the right hand end of the mortice and there is no damage/effect on the sides of the mortice which is ideal for doors.

The Makita, I think, has the chain going front to back so the breakout is all the way along the mortice and there is a real danger of ripping the door.

[dom]

Thanks guys, very helpful, I had seen one being used on a barn conversion but wasn't sure.

[Scrit]

Pros:

They cut extremely quickly

They can handle heavy cuts with ease (used to have a Robinson SL/E years ago and it was brilliant for heavy joinery work like gates, etc)

Cons:

The chain sets aren't cheap (and each chain needs its own chain bar, so reckon on £80 to £250 a set)

They need constant lubrication and to run slightly loose otherwise they sieze-up on you - the smaller they are the more important this is. I don't know about anyone else but I found that keeping them fettled was like keeping a motorbike chain in good working order!

They can and do suffer breakout on the exit side of the hole unless the machine is fitted with a chipbreaker

You need to ensure that your mortiser has a chain sharpener - getting chains sharpened is expensive if you need to send them out

Overall:

My feelings are that they are great for heavy joinery, less good for furniture work. I reckopn that for most classes of work an oscillating chisel mortiser is a better bet, although that isn't portable like the Ryobi and Elu machines

Scrit

[jfc]

Scrit do you still have the link you sent me for that crazy fast chain morticer ? ;D

[Scrit]

No, but the link is here. It's an oscillating chisel mortiser - 6 seconds from starting cycle, clamping, cutting mortise, withdrawing chisel then unclamping and stopping. That's a tad quicker than a chain mortiser (about 5 times as fast........ a chain mortiser would need all of 25 to 35 seconds - just compare that with a square chisel mortiser ;D). Alternax-type mortisers are even faster, although with three chisels they are a bit more fiddly to set-up. Just shows how slow and old hat the chain mortiser really is (well, after all, I believe they were first introduced to the UK by Haigh's of Oldham before WWI)

Scrit

[jfc]

;D Thats the one !!!

Still i cant afford one of those right now so my latest ebay buy will have to do .

[jfc]

Cadas ,
I'm thinking of setting it up just to door the mortices on doors . The plan is to fit it to a bench or above a bench and have the depth set for just over half way of a door stile , say 55mm . Then i can do one pass to do the mortice and haunch , flip the timber over and finish the mortice . Do you think it would work with this machine ?

[dom]

Thanks Scrit, as usual utterly comprehensive.

[engineerone]

looks remarkably like your t3 has been recycled jason ;D

paul

[cadas]

jfc

It would, but, you can cut all the way through without having to flip the timber, these cut very deep and providing you use a sacrificial piece underneath you get no breakout.

You would need to build a jig to hold the morticer, they are very top heavy and door styles are just too narrow. They never look very big in the pictures but the Ryobi is about 500mm tall

Don't know if you've tried it yet, but the first time you start one up it is a bit un nerving.

[jfc]

Don't know if you've tried it yet, but the first time you start one up it is a bit un nerving.

Having used the spindle moulder for over a year now i think i know how to handle large machinary
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I run down the garden screaming like a girl and turn the power off from the house ;D

[engineerone]

it's true his fish now have ear defenders ;D

paul

[dom]

I'd pay to see that Jason ;D ;D ;D

[jfc]

Ok it turned up today ;D ;D ;D


It's the nuts !!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D

The people that had it last must have used it to do doors because it was set up to clamp straight onto a 95 x 45 and if i hadnt of twiddled things was probably dead centre .

OOOOO its great fun this ;D

[jfc]

Ok now ive put slots into every spare bit of timber in my workshop ;D Whats the best method of using a chain morticer ?

Lock the morticer on and plunge the mortice then move it along and plunge the next part etc ?

Plunge the morticer part way and then move it along , go back and plunge deeper and move along ?

Plunge all the way and move along cutting the whole mortice in one ?

[cadas]

Depends on the timber and the finish you need.

Plunge all the way then push slowly right, is quick but more brutal on the chain, therefore not as neat a cut.

Bit by bit is neater, but slower

I use the first method and make sure the shoulders cover the mess.

Remember to lub the chain lots.

[pitbull]

I bought the Virutex lock mortiser. For a doorset contract with 645 of them. I think it was the dogs b*ll*cks. No faults at all. A 6" euro lock was 30 seconds. you get different width of cutters which ain't expensive as like a normal router you ain't replacing the shank, just the bottom 1" of cutter. I only used the 1, but I am a scotsman
virutex.com/VideoDownloads.html