Multico hollow-chisel mortisers cut square mortises in hard and soft woods. We keep them working, with parts, chisels, bits and bushes listed by model and by Multico part number.
Inca Machines is run by Multico SARL in Saint-Rémy, Burgundy. Questions about your machine? Write to us or call +33 3 85 48 09 01.
Buy: Multico morticer parts, by model · morticer chisels and bits · all Multico parts and accessories
Bushes, gas struts, chuck key, side stop and hold-down.
Chisel sets, collets, clamps, gas struts and handles.
Bushes for ⅝″, ¾″ and 13/16″ chisel collars.
An auger bit turns inside a hollow square chisel. The bit runs slightly ahead, bores a round hole and lifts the chips; the chisel follows, and its four bevelled edges cut the corners square. What is left is a square mortise with straight sides.
Mortising puts considerable force through the machine, and a Multico mortiser is built to take it: a dovetail slideway instead of a quill, a high-leverage rack and pinion, and separate fixings for the chisel and the bit. A drill press has none of these, which is why a chisel and bit will not work well in one.
The machines mortise hardwood, softwood, MDF and chipboard. Hardwood tends to give the cleaner cut and softwood takes less effort; in the hardest woods, a 16 mm chisel cuts more easily than a 25 mm one. Some plastics can be mortised as well, although the machines were not designed for it: ask us first.
Multico introduced the PM12 bench mortiser in 1989 and followed it with the PM16 and the PM20. With a conversion kit, all three also work as a slot mortiser and as a drill.
PM12. A rigid machine with a rack and pinion for leverage and a ½ hp motor. Its column reverses, and a horizontal mode lets it bore into the end of a piece.
PM16. A development of the PM12 with a ¾ hp motor, a no-volt release starter with plug, built-in overload protection and an isolator. It also has a reversible column and an independently adjustable hold-down, which keeps the work on the table as the chisel comes back out.
PM20. The head moves in three directions while the work stays clamped. A fixed workpiece keeps its datum, so you can set stops for the position, length and width of each mortise: the way to work when the same joint is cut again and again. The PM20 takes chisels from 6 to 20 mm, converts to a drill or a slot mortiser, and its table sets at three heights.
Buy: Multico PM10, PM12 and PM16 parts · Multico PM20 and PM21 parts
The MCD weighs 180 kg, takes chisels from 6 to 25 mm, and has a 1.5 hp motor and a table that tilts to 45° either way. It also mortises for door locks. Its options included a repeat stop, a drill attachment, 3- and 7-spindle heads and a chisel setting tool.
Buy: Multico PM22 and PM22T parts · Multico MCD, MCT and MX parts. For a PM25, send us the Multico part number or a photo and we’ll check.
| PM12 | PM16 | PM20 | MCD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Timber height, max. | 120 mm | 120 mm | 200 mm | 200 mm |
| Timber width, max. | – | – | 225 mm | 150 mm |
| Chisel sizes | 6–12 mm | 6–16 mm | 6–20 mm | 6–25 mm |
| Vertical stroke | 120 mm | 120 mm | 120 mm | 175 mm |
| Horizontal stroke | – | – | 196 mm | 240 mm |
| Lateral stroke | – | – | 60 mm | 92 mm |
| Table tilt | – | – | – | up to 45° either way |
| Door size, max. | – | – | – | 1,030 mm |
| Motor | ½ hp | ¾ hp | ¾ hp | 1.5 hp |
| Speed | 2,850 rpm | 2,850 rpm | 2,850 rpm | 2,850 rpm |
| Weight | 20 kg | 23 kg | 50 kg | 180 kg |
A dash means no figure is available.
We also list parts for the Multico Model M, the Model K and the HM series. To tell a Model M from a Model K, measure across the outside of the auger collet: ¾″ (19 mm) is a Model M, ⅝″ (16 mm) a Model K.
Buy: Multico Model M parts · Multico Model K, K1 and K3 parts · Multico HM, HML and HMT parts
Every mortise is cut by a pair: a hollow chisel and the auger bit that turns inside it. Multico supplied them in ten sizes, metric and imperial, from 6 to 25 mm square.
PM machines hold the chisel in a bush. Choose the bush by the diameter of the chisel’s collar, not by its cutting width: ⅝″ (15.9 mm) takes the PM4146, ¾″ (19 mm) the PM3875 and 13/16″ (20.6 mm) the PM3921. Chisels made for British machines have the 13/16″ collar, those made for imported machines the ¾″.
Leave the auger about 0.8 mm (1/32″) clear of the chisel’s points on chisels up to ¾″, and 1.6 mm (1/16″) on larger ones; a thin coin makes a handy spacer. Set the chisel parallel to the fence (a CSJ setting jig gives you a 250 mm straight bar to sight along), then lock it firmly: it must not move or vibrate.
How long they last depends on the wood and on how often you cut. The bit lasts about as long as an ordinary drill bit, the chisel two or three times as long.
Both are sharpened in the workshop: the bit with a file, the chisel with a cone sharpener that looks like a countersink bit, turned at low speed in a drill or a hand brace. Work the cone inside the chisel until a fine burr forms, then take the burr off the outside faces on a flat stone.
Buy: morticer chisels and bits · MCL cone sharpener, 3–25 mm · CSJ setting jig, 6–16 mm · CSJ-1 setting jig, 16–25 mm · chisel bushes PM4146 (⅝″), PM3875 (¾″) and PM3921 (13/16″)
In Britain, Multico machines were made by Kiné Engineering of Redhill, Surrey. Multico’s export director, H. G. W. Bucknell, was honoured for services to export in 1977.
We also keep parts for Multico planers and thicknessers and for the Supershop 5-in-1, and we sell Multico vacuum press kits.
Buy: Multico planer-thicknesser parts · Multico Supershop 5-in-1 parts · Multico vacuum presses
Send us the model number from your machine’s plate and its serial number, with a photo of the part, and we’ll confirm the part number before you order. Or call us on +33 3 85 48 09 01.