JET Benchtop Mortiser, 1/2" Chisel, 4-3/4" Stroke, 115V 1Ph (Model JBM-5)

Based upon the build quality of my other Jet shop tools and on Amazon reviews, I selected this machine. I needed a mortising machine for a project of building 12 chairs. There are lots of rave reviews already out there, so I won't repeat all the good stuff. Just believe it! What I will do is to defend this little machine's only few weak spots, or at least the criticisms in the reviews. The main one is about the table being too small, and because it is made of MDF, "cheap." Well, the table is actually the cast iron base, and it has a piece of MDF bolted down to it to protect your chisels should you drill clear through a piece of wood. Others complain the table is too small. Not exactly sure why you would need it to be any bigger, but I had no issues with that doing 144 mortises in some pretty strange shapes of wood. The hold-down is, in fact, poorly designed, but it's such and easy fix that it is laughable. I just cut two small wedges of wood and installed them on the bottoms of the two hold-down arms (with a wrap of masking tape) so that now they press down evenly on the workpiece instead of only on the side toward the machine. End of difficulty extracting the chisel from the workpiece. For some of my pieces, to get them placed in the same spot each time, I used a drill-press vise bolted to the cast-iron table. I clamped a stop onto my work table to locate the end of the workpiece and the little vise did the rest. The three chisels that ship with this machine are incredibly sharp and worked perfectly. (I only used two of them.) The motor's power is more than ample, the machine is designed so that the pull-handle can be locked into whatever position that is the most advantageous for the situation. It does take a hefty pull, so that's important. For its low price, this is a terrific machine. I highly recommend it. BTW, it arrived from Amazon well-packaged and in perfect condition. And no, I didn't get paid to write this review; I just like to give praise when it's due! I'm giving 5 stars in spite of my only criticism, the hold-down, because it was such an easy fix, and also because had I wanted a more "perfect" mortiser, I could have paid $1000 for a professional machine. This is a tool I will not use every day, and for the price, it is perfect. I thought it was actually fun to use! Imagine drilling square holes!

Exceptional Machine - Just what I expected from Jet. Well built and worth every cent.

It's a mortiser and it works. It's nice and heavy, feels solid. It's accurate and easy to use. My only complaint is that it burns harder woods like walnut and oak. It really feels like you have to muscle it to get it to go in, but it still works fine. But hey, I'm a hobbyist, and it works beautifully on softer woods.

Being new to woodworking, I've had to trust the reviews of others in trying to sort out which brand of tools to buy so I hope this helps other newbes. Having been in the construction industry for over 35 years, I had pretty much done it all with the exception of cabinet/furniture making. With that in mind, I decided to take on an ambitious remodel for home including building the cabinetry/vanities for the bathroom and a new bedroom set. After reading more reviews than I can count and taking a trip out to the local HF to look at the Central Machinery Mortiser, I decided to spend the extra money on this one. Within a half hour of receiving it, I had it set up and was drilling my first mortis joint. Assembly literally took minutes to complete since the instructions are clear, concise and easy to understand. The lightweight oil they shipped everything in was easy to wipe off with some mineral spirits and part seemed well fit and finished. The exception to this is the hold down clamp. As others have said, this is pretty much useless. I don't know what modifications the others have made but I pretty much set the clamp aside and used the quick-grip squeeze clamps on each end of the fence to hold the wood in place. These allowed me quick and easy adjustments to the wood as well as being an inexpensive, less time consuming alternative to modifying a piece of metal. The fence itself seemed fine although I can see myself extending it at sometime in the future and the chisel bits that came with the unit were extremely sharp and worked well.

As received, the compressed gas cylinder kept popping off its connection at the top. The manufacturer replaced both the cylinder and the connection. This resolved the problem. One of the reasons I picked this unit was the promised ability to rotate the unit to handle long boards needing a mortise on the end of the board. The unit design actually makes this difficult because the rotation has to be 180 degrees. The impact is that either the unit has to be installed on a pedestal or skidded on a board that can also be rotated 180 degrees. With creation of a home made jig I have made this work but not without a lot of effort. The adjustment provided for positioning the board is coarse and tightening the lock screw actually moves the board so you have to keep adjusting to get it to be aligned where you want it. Bottom line, the unit works and gives clean square holes. It also weighs less than some competitive units. The price is reasonable for an entry device. I have successfully used it to build a table. But...it might be better to spend a little more to get better functionality.

I typically don’t write a review on the first day but…. From the first sight of the arriving package to the results of the first test, I have been extremely impressed. The instructions were easy to follow and in American English. All parts were heavily oiled and well packaged. Once assembled I admired the features; the doubled clamps on the main tub and double alignment screws both of which could have been accomplished with one clamp and screw each. The first test was inspiring. I’ll be looking to JET for future equipment acquisitions.

The Jet JBM-5 Mortising machine is easy to assemble and set up. Its easy to use and pretty darn accurate once its set up. Initially there was some movement as I lowered the chisel. There's a small track that the upper assembly sides up and down on, and once I tightened the allen screws it helped. You need to mount the base onto a larger piece of MDF or plywood for stability. I do wish there was a bracket attached to the machine that could hold the chisels in place while not in use. Other than that, Its a good mortising machine

Morty and I are getting along fine. Right off the rip I used a Fisch Hollow 5/8" bit instead of the three gimme-bits cause you tend to get better results when you use better steel. I read all the people complaining about the hold down, and I kind of get it, but not really. It was a simple thing to add extensions by drilling/tapping some feet on the hold downs and putting some rubber bicycle handlebar end stops on them, so if that is the worst problem this machine has, it is gonna be fun living with Morty. My thought is to not use this for building furniture, but do some puzzle boxes and make a nice gun rack using square ebony pegs on a semi-rough tulip poplar board, things like that. This machine makes my ham fists into virtuosos when making a square hole as I am not gifted with a chisel in making it do what I want it to do. The bit makes noise when not cutting since the chisel and the bit are not really aligned in a super precision manner, and even if they were it would still make noise. I spray on some dry lube like moly-mist and it is good for a while. Once the bit breaks in a little, it will probably be fine. The machine is quiet-ish and the MDF base is awesome for those of us who like to make through-mortises. Yeah, this is a major splurge, but the ability to cut square holes is awesome. It was either this or a small lathe, and this doesn't take much space. I am really pumped on this tool.