Travel Bench Part 2

Mortising the legs on my Jet benchtop mortiser requires some slight modifications to get the 5-1/8" wide legs under the chisel. The maximum capacity with the head raised to it's limit is somewhere around 4-3/4" with a 1/2" chisel installed. The first thing I did was remove the mdf table that's screwed to the mortiser's base. I've already removed it in this picture--the bench leg is resting directly on the casting.



I also removed the roll pin at the top of the column. This allows the head to raise up enough to get the workpiece under the chisel. I also disengaged the hydraulic shock which keeps the head in a raised position. It was also limiting the upward movement of the head. I did have to be aware of the weight of the head while doing this operation, since the head would not stay in the raised position after finishing a mortise, but rather bottom out at the depth rod setting.



Finally, the leg was too thick to allow the hold-down to engage its rod. Flipping the hold down over solved the problem.