Customer Reviews

Powermatic 1791310 PM701 3/4 Horsepower Bench Mortiser

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I can not rave enough about Amazon's service or the Powermatic 701 Mortising Machine.
I ordered this machine on March 15 and the web site reflected a new product that was on backorder.
Amazon's web site also told me the machine would be shipped and delivered between April 20 and May 8th. It arrived on the 14th of April in excellent condition.
The price with one of Amazon's special sale days, the supersavor shipping, and no sales tax made this machine very very competitive with the $200-$300 priced machines.
Six stars for Amazon.com!!!

This is one massive bench top machine. I use to own a Jet, which was a nice servicable little machine for the price, but it was very basic with a very basic table made of MDF.

I debated between the higher end Delta, the General Tilting Table Mortiser, and the Powermatic 701. I went with the Powermatic as I do not make slat back chairs and therefore did not need to have the tilting feature.

The Powermatic 701, while not made in the USA, is made in Taiwan. The workmanship is very good. The motor runs smoothly and the guides for raising the head and moving the table operate smoothly.

Speaking of the motor, it is 3/4 horsepower compared to the 1/2 horsepower that powers the others.
This machine did not bog down in any wood I have been able to test since receiving it.

The spacer fitting for the chisel and auger is a nice touch as is the round tool rest attached to the back of the machine for your other chisels. It comes with a polishing hone already attached, too!

It does require a metric hex wrench and 10mm metric wrench(and it would be nice if Powermatic would provide them with the machine)but most do-it-your-selfers usually have a set of metric and imperial wrenches, anyway.

If there is a nit to pick, the paint finish was so-so. It does not matter to me as I bought the machine to make mortises, and this machine does that with a vengence!

I also like the ability to open the one piece cowl all the way in order to install the chisel and auger. Much more access area than the General or the Delta. The Powermatic uses a magnet to hold the cowl closed. The cowl opens like the hood on a Corvette; You have lots of room to access the chuck and make your adjustments.

Runout on the chuck was almost non-existent, exceeding anything needed for wordworking.

The machine has a solid feel and does not move due to its almost 90+ pounds of cast Iron and steel.

The handle is reversible to the left side of the machine for southpaws.

The fence hold-down is reversible for larger boards.

The table rollers are a great addition which allows you to keep the board firmly against the fence, but immediately move it right or left to keep cutting your mortise.

(Rockler sells a similar MDF setup for the Jet Mortiser, but it is not as nice nor is it cheap!)

I ordered the PM701 after reading several tool reviews. I was starting a project that requires a lot of mortising and I didn't look forward to digging them out by hand, so I decided to invest in a benchtop mortiser and based on the reviews I decided to spend the extra dollars for the Powermatic. I was not disappointed! The machine arrived on time and setup was easy because the directions were straight forward. I had a set of chisels/bits from a Delta mortising jig (for use on a drill press) and I also had the 3mm and 10mm hex head wrenches that are required for setup. I knew that I needed them from reading other evals on Amazon.com. I set off on my mortising adventure and upon completion of all that drilling I was apprehensive if the tenons were going to fit. I couldn't have been more pleased. Every one of the 12 mortises accepted the tenons with a snug, but not too tight fit. There were single row 1/2 inch wide mortises and double row 1/2 inch wide mortises(used to make 1 inch wide mortises). They all fit perfectly which attests to the accuracy of the machine's setup and ease of use, as this was a first time use by an intermediate skilled woodworker. I made the tenon's using my router and a home made jig that I use for dadoes.
I think I will eventually invest in a set of Powermatic mortising bits as they are larger, but the PM701 directions tell you how to use the smaller chisels/bits and they worked fine. I believe I made the right choice in selecting the PM701 and I actually look forward to another mortising project with the confidence that I have a machine that can do the job.

First, although an occasional Amazon customer, I avoided all potential problems with shipping, backorder, and freight damage by the simple expedient of buying locally. I was able to look at Delta, Jet, Shopfox, and Steel City side by side for comparison. Oddly, I bought the one machine they did not have set up on display - the Powermatic PM701 - based on past experience with Powermatic machines, and the reviews on this site.

The Powermatic was $100 more than the others, give or take. This got me a solid cast iron table and fence, adjustible roller guides for holding the stock against the fence, right or left hand operation, a large access door for the chuck, a 3/4 hp motor, an included diamond hone, and (a serious consideration) a brand that would be easy to resell if I decided I didn't like or need it.

Surprises:
1. Virturally no assembly. You take it out of the box, install the handle, adjust the three jib bolts (and yes,as noted by others, an included 3mm hex key would have been welcome), install the bit and it is ready.
2. The stock hold down will adjust from flush on the table to the maximum stock height, so even narrow pieces can be clamped down.
3. Both the hold down clamp and the rollers have two separate locking devices that let you choose to clamp firmly against the stock, for maximum precision, or with a bit of play, for easier movement of stock through the machine.
4. The tool holder is quite useful, not just a flimsy little attachment like those on some others.
5. The diamond hone is attached to the top of the frame so I don't lose it.
6. The machine is surprisingly quiet. I get the occasional squeal from the bit when a chip gets caught, of course, but not much even of that.
7. Perhaps most importantly, it easily cut square mortises for me in white oak with little effort - right out of the box!

No Surprise, typical of Powermatic machines:
1. All machined surfaces and all gears are clean and smooth in operation.
2. The finish work on the machine is typical of all Powermatic tools produced these last 30 years or so - poor. There may have been a time when Powermatic made nicely finished machines, but it must have been before my time. The castings are left pretty rough except for the table and fence faces, which are excellent. The paint appears to have been done with a spray can outdoors on a windy day. The piece which holds the handle in place had a casting burr sharp enough to cut someone. It took but 15 seconds with a file to clean it, but even so....
3. All fittings and hardware appear to be designed for long term use. Although there are plenty of plastic pieces, nothing seems to be fragile.

Mortises in white oak, with little effort? Yes, but let me explain. I do not even try the bit without sharpening first. When I have a mirror polish on the flat faces, I give it a few turns on the diamond hone. After the first plunge, I take only about half the width of the bit at a time. And I bore down only a 1/4 to 1/2 inch at a time. This method requires relatively little force on the handle, keeps the bit cool, and makes it easy for the waste to clear the chisel.

About that handle: It is stout and long enough for plenty of leverage. Powermatic lets you choose which side you want it on. I could be wrong, but I don't think anyone else does.

The machine is very stiff. I can detect no play in the column during operation. Although common sense and the manual both suggest bolting it down for use, I find it plenty stable just sitting on top of my workbench. It is possible to reverse the column to work off the edge of the base, but in that case you would have no choice but to secure it to a fairly large, stout benchtop.

I would certainly make the same choice again.

I bought this machine after trying out a full floor standing model and was a little apprehensive.

But this benchtop machine has been fantastic. Alot of machine just to drill square holes...............

It came well packaged. I did note one side of the plastic tool rest was chipped off. Not a big deal for me.

Takes about 5 minutes to get set up out of the box. I bought the Lee Valley chisel and bit set (which I highly recommend). Squaring the chisel to the fence takes about 5 seconds. The fence was machined nearly perfect.

Next, this is the part that potential buyers will need to note. The hold down on this machine (as opposed to the Jet, Delta, Fisch, Griz etc) has the horizontal wheeled support. This support holds the workpiece securely against the fence and allows you to easily push the wood to the right or left without worrying about getting "out of square". For me, that's worth the extra cost. Of course, if you were planning on buying a mortiser and getting an after-market X-Y vise, the horizontal supports will not matter. I submit, you don't need an aftermarket device as the hold-downs on this machine work great.

My machine (with the Lee Valley Chisels) worked perfect right out of the box. The mortises were clean and easy to cut.

I gave it 5 stars. It easily drills square holes, like it's designed to.

I bought this machine after looking at several other bench top mortisers. I bought it for a specific propose but I have concluded it has a fatal flaw which makes it useless to me. First I'll start with the good stuff. It has a lot better clamps and adjustments then other machines you can get in its class. It also has decent horsepower. It did not bog at all even with very hard wood. It would probably be fine for softer wood applications however for what I was using it for it just didn't hack it. I was working with Ipe which is a pretty hard wood. The problem is the gear that is that controls the up and down motion is attached to it's grooved shank with a very small tooth. The rest of the machine is built like a rock but it really doesn't matter since this tooth will easily shear if you try to use the machine with moderate force. I have done this twice already in just a few minutes of use. If you have a lighter application than I do it might work OK for you. However I still feel this is a design flaw so I must rate the machine accordingly. In my view wood working tools should be rock solid and it fact most are. This is first shop tool I have had this much trouble with. My saws, drill press, planer and other equipment all work fine even with exotic hardwoods.

I've never owned a mortiser, so consider that as you read this review... Typical of PowerMatic tools, the unit is heavy and solid! And there is no shortage of power with its hefty motor. The fence is excellent. It needed no adjustment out of the box, and the cam clamps are nice. The hold-down is ok, but could be better. One might improve it by adding some styrene strips on the underside. That being said, someone needs to come up with a better hold-down design. But the overall fence/hold-down system keeps the workpiece in place very well. The unit is easy to operate. I would suggest a stiffer arm. I can feel the flex as I make a plunge, especially on hardwoods. Now perhaps this is because I'm a novice, but I had to do quite a bit of clean-up with my chisels. In fact, I found myself wondering if I was saving any time at all over the old-fashioned chisel method. This could be my bit&chisel sets. They are PowerMatic as well, so I'd expect cleaner mortises. I'll be trying a couple other chisel&bit set brands soon. Overall a good tool, but by no means a 5-star rating.

I received my Powermatic 701 Bench Mortiser on Friday from Amazon (WMH Tool). No damages. Over the weekend I set it up and made 12 mortises in red oak table legs. Wow!

Powermatic makes the heaviest, most powerful power tools in the professional woodworking market - period. First, this thing weighs about 80 pounds. It's iron castings are massive. The arm and column on which the motor and quill are mounted are like bridge supports. I looked at the competitor's machines and they're like toys compared to this one. The cast iron table is huge, thick and perfectly flat.

The fence system is great - lots of ways to secure the workpiece with a heavy cast fence that moves back and forth on slots in the table keeping it perfectly 90 degrees to the head. The fence locks down and won't move or flex. And the hold down is the best one I've seen. The rolling front locking wheels are great.

The motor (3/4 HP) is the largest in the class. And it hums like a kitten. Love that PM power. Once my chisels were sharp, this machine allowed me to make easy mortises in the hard oak. Chop, chop.

The arm mechanism can be mounted on the left or right and feels solid once you set it in place. It takes a lot of punishment as does the excellent rack and pinion gear set it moves on. The depth stop is also solid.

I was going to put this unit on my workbench and move it around when I needed to use it - wrong! It's just too darn heavy. So I mounted it to a piece of 3/4 inch plywood and now it's permanently mounted to the top of my rolling tool chest.

At nearly $475.00 it's by far the most expensive bench mortiser. This is true of all Powermatic tools - they are the high end. I have a PM2000 table saw and 54A 6-inch jointer in addition to this beauty. They were all more expensive then the competition. But if you're a serious woodworker or a professional furniture maker, this is your machine.

OK, one minor gripe - there should be a way to immobilize the arbor shaft so you can more easily tighten and loosen the chuck. Not a huge deal but would be an improvement.

Powermatic tools are bought once and last forever (and then you give them to your son or grandson and so on). Spend the money now and you'll be a happy mortiser for a long, long time.

[...]

I bought a 701 mortiser and immediately re-rewired it for 230-V operation exactly per the schematic on the back of the manual. I am an Electrical Engineer and have done it on my Model 66 and my Model 89 Jointer. When I plugged it in and ran it, the motor and controls smoked. Upon investigation, there is a small decal on the back of the inside of the control head cover, and the diagram on the decal is different from the schematic on the manual!! I have called Amazon.com and they are replacing the unit, but if you're going to re-wire for 230V, call PM for confirmation from them that the decal on the unit is correct, because obviously the schematic in the manual is wrong!

My PM 701 arrived on Monday of Thanksgiving week. The machine is heavy and solid, but I was astonished to find that mine was missing a significant number of parts (almost a dozen). How could something this obvious be overlooked in final assembly and packaging? What a disappointment; I wanted to use it the day it arrived, but could not. I called customer service and they promptly shipped out the missing parts. However, it was Thanksgiving week, so the needed parts did not arrive until after the holidays.

The cast metal parts are big heavy and well built, but I was a little surprised at the use plastic in some places. The motor makes a loud "clink" sound when the it spins down - I am used to it now.

If I worked at Powermatic and I were in charge of this machine I would completely redesign the work piece hold down mechanism. It is difficult to use - somebody MUST have a better design than this. Also, I'd fire a few people in quality control.

To be fair, this machine makes decent mortises, but given my experience with this Powermatic product (condition on arrival, useability), I bought my new drill press from another manufacturer - same with my new band saw.

I have had a Powermatic model 66 table saw for nearly ten years, and it has been rock solid. Based on that experience and the reviews of others, when it came time to buy a mortising machine I assumed the tool would be built like a tank and last for generations. I can't speak to the last, but it is solidly constructed. This is the first mortising machine I have owned, and I have only used one other which was an industrial floor model machine at a school. The order arrived earlier than promised, and the packaging was in excellent condition. The tool and all its parts were in great condition, and it was very easy to set up. I checked the backstop and it was square to the table. I bolted it down to a rolling table so I could bring it out when I needed to.

When I ordered the 701, the description of the item included "free open stand", so I was kind of expecting to receive a stand with it. I did not, and when I called Amazon they told me it was not included. I had printed out the page just in case I needed it, and while I was on hold as they checked with the manufacturer and I was transferred to another agent the web page was edited and the "free open stand" listed was removed. Guess what- the second customer service agent says "I don't see anything about a free stand". I told them I had printed it out and offered to fax it to them, at first they were hanging tough, then they said I could get a discount on a stand if I wanted to order one, then they just gave me a credit for the regular cost of a stand! Thank you Amazon! That was more than I expected them to do, and it makes me feel like telling others how good they were.

Back to the mortiser- the motor is 3/4 horsepower, and it is heavy. As beefy as the column is, I was surprised to see it flex every time I turned on the power, but it didn't seem to affect the normal use of the tool. I got my chisel and bit sets the day after this arrived, so I wasted no time in sharpening them further so I could test it out (these chisels need to be very sharp for them to work well). I had trouble getting it set up right, because I thought the bit and chisel sets were either 8" or 9", mine was 8-3/8" so I added the chuck extension and things didn't fit right- the chisel to bit clearance was too great. The manual is not much help here, I went online and found that the normal range is 1/8" to 3/16" (I had nearly 1/2"), so I figured out that I did't need the chuck extension after all. Once that was back off, setup was a snap and I was cutting mortises. Again, the manual didn't spare much energy on describing normal operation, so back online I went to learn that I wasn't supposed to overlap cuts, but space them apart leaving bridges of wood, and coming back and removing them, in order to avoid the chisel being pushed to one side by an unbalanced cut. I have read that the hold down on this tool is not as bad as the competition, but still not as good as more expensive models. I found that in order to be able to shift the wood after the first cut, there had to be a little play between the hold down and the wood, and the front roller blocks and the wood- I ended up having to use pressure from my hands to keep the work aligned as I plunged into and removed the mortising chisel. Maybe with practice this will become easier, but after my first job entailing about 30 mortises I was still experiencing the same.

I love owning and using quality tools, and this is a quality tool. It does what it is designed to do and it does it well. It has the lower RPM that many new design mortisers have in order to keep the drill and chisel sets from burning, and it has a bigger motor to keep it from bogging down at those speeds. If you need to make angled mortise and tenon joints, go for one of the bigger models at five times the price, but don't waste your time going cheaper than this, you'll only be disappointed.

P.S.: I bought the Grizzly tenon jig to go with this, I wrote a review already on it- basically, it works but there must be an easier way to make consistent tenons that hopefully is less time consuming (and the instruction manual for that is awful). I didn't have time to make my own tenoning jig, but I'm not completely happy with that one.