Review of Tianli Handheld Mortiser-Domino Alternative

[Andydiy]

Tianli Mortiser-Google Photo Album link

Make Something YouTube

I rarely post anymore; however, I was sufficiently impressed enough with this product to make a review.

The title is a little bit click bait; however, this is the closest to a domino I have come across, and I have looked for years and tried a few products.

I first came across a video from Make Something on YouTube where he reviewed this product.  His general impression was positive and he is the reason I purchased it.

Pros:
-Cheaper than a Domino (current Domino price is $1100, the Tianli is $240 with shipping)
-Very well made-anodized aluminum and steel construction.  Tight tolerances and no slop
-Fairly easy to use.
-Repeatable mortises

Cons:
-It's not a domino
-Have to make your own tenons, but I make a bunch at one time
-Will only do 1/4" mortise in one pass, but you could do multiple passes to get thicker mortises.  I use a Whiteside 1/4" spiral up cut bit. I believe this is also the case with Domino.
-The fence will not do angles
-You have to supply your own router, this may add to the cost if you don't have a router that will fit.  Even if you do have a router, you will most likely want a dedicated router for this tool as the removal and reinstall will be cumbersome an time consuming. 
-No storage box, I bought a Rubbermaid container to store mine.

If I had to do it all over again, I would buy this again in a heartbeat.  I have a Rikon mortiser that I will be selling because of this tool.  It's easier to use than my rikon, the quality of the mortise is better, and the setup is easier/quicker.

I purchased mine off of Ebay and as far as I know it's the only place to get one.  I don't want to include a link; however, google the brand should get you to the right place.

If you're interested I recommend watching the video...a picture/video is worth a thousand words and he goes into much more detail.

Any questions please ask, I'll try to check back.

[tablesawtom]

It looks like a handy accusation for the shop. I know that to a lot of people dust collection is very important. When my shop was in the basement my wife had a little more dusting to do, but it really wasn't that big a deal to her.  Personally I never found anything that is 100 percent on dust collection and a I still use a broom. I am prone to sinus infections so I tend to wear a mask rather than try to capture 100 per cent of the dust. 

If it works as good as shown I would be willing to use a broom more and save $1000. But the one thing I see that could be a problem is the spring.  I bought a Miles craft drill for drilling vertical holes and the bigest problem is depth.

It will be interesting to hear from other people on the subject.

Tom

[Andydiy]

It looks like a handy accusation for the shop. I know that to a lot of people dust collection is very important. When my shop was in the basement my wife had a little more dusting to do, but it really wasn't that big a deal to her.  Personally I never found anything that is 100 percent on dust collection and a I still use a broom. I am prone to sinus infections so I tend to wear a mask rather than try to capture 100 per cent of the dust. 

If it works as good as shown I would be willing to use a broom more and save $1000. But the one thing I see that could be a problem is the spring.  I bought a Miles craft drill for drilling vertical holes and the bigest problem is depth.

It will be interesting to hear from other people on the subject.

Tom

The spring doesn't really do too much, during operation the spring does none of the work.  I see the springs as more of a feature that keeps the tool in a neutral state for storage.  There are stops for both depth, height, and width of mortise.  The stops do have scales on them, and they seem acurate, however I did not rely on them, but i never rely on any of my tools applied scales.

Clean up is an issue but with a good quality upcut bit, I get shavings and not dust which is a little easier for clean up.  With that said, no one can really compete with Festool when it comes to dust extraction.

[tablesawtom]

I was referring to the spring as making it harder to get to depth. If the spring is to strong the deeper one goes the harder it is to push is all I meant. Personally I would like a spring on both posts to balance it out.  I do not remember how many it had. Dust collection is not possible with the tool being discussed, so if it works, is dust collection worth $1000 more given the amount to times it is used? For those who have Dominos be honest, how many times a month do you actually use them. For the record, if you want a domino and can afford to buy on then by all means buy it. But please be mindful that not everyone can afford 5 HP cabinet saws let alone dominos. This could be an alternative.

This is what I use for morticing, and to be honest I haven't used it to cut a mortice  in the last 5 months. And my shop is closed down for the winter so it will be about the first of April before I even think of opening it. So it will be around 9 months since I cut a mortice with it. I did not say I didn't use it for other operations, it is just that I haven't cut any mortices.

[attachment=49038]

I do not plan on buying a domino or the tool in question so I do not have a horse in the race,  but I can see the possibilities and it may be worth seriously taking a look at.

Tom

[joe1086]

Another cost efficient alternative is John Teneyck's horizontal mortiser. Takes some time to build but his plans are thorough and I think I have about $100-150 in materials invested, not including the router.

[kurt18947]

I think how many mortises you make/year and how much speed you want. The jig is cheaper and slower -- and messier if that matters. For myself I'd probably buy that jig over a domino because if I make a couple dozen loose tenon joints per year it'd be a lot. If I made a couple dozen loose tenon joints/week it might be a different story.

[JDuke]

I think how many mortises you make/year and how much speed you want. The jig is cheaper and slower -- and messier if that matters. For myself I'd probably buy that jig over a domino because if I make a couple dozen loose tenon joints per year it'd be a lot. If I made a couple dozen loose tenon joints/week it might be a different story.

I have tried countless devices to make mortise and tenon joinery, and many of them were bought in an attempt to avoid spending the big bucks on a festool Domino.

over the years, I have probably spent well over $2500 in buying gimmick or gadget after gimmick and gadget.

yes many of them can be made to work, and if your patient and willing to fiddle a bit, you can do great work with pretty much anything from hand tools, to a domino.

I did eventually find a domino used, and if my shop were to burn and need to be rebuilt, it would be the tool I would choose over any of the other options I have tried.

yes, its expensive, but so was buying all the other jigs, and fixtures and tools that do much the same thing, but not as elegantly.

I went through the same thing with table saws.  When I started, I was a poor student so I bought a benchtop direct drive saw and did some work both with it and on it.  even built a table around it that was based on Norms design if I recall correctly.  my Next table saw was a cast iron Craftsman made by Emerson, it was vastly better than the benchtop and again I did some good projects with it.

the Craftsman served well until I found a Unisaw at auction and dropped that into my shop, my next upgrade was to a Sawstop, and yes I think it was an upgrade.

It would have been cheaper in the long run to just buy the unisaw or sawstop at the start, but my budget wouldn't support it and at the time I didn't understand the benefits of the cabinet saw over the benchtop.
Same goes for the tools I have tried for mortise and tenon joinery.

[tablesawtom]

I have tried countless devices to make mortise and tenon joinery, and many of them were bought in an attempt to avoid spending the big bucks on a festool Domino.

over the years, I have probably spent well over $2500 in buying gimmick or gadget after gimmick and gadget.

yes many of them can be made to work, and if your patient and willing to fiddle a bit, you can do great work with pretty much anything from hand tools, to a domino.

I did eventually find a domino used, and if my shop were to burn and need to be rebuilt, it would be the tool I would choose over any of the other options I have tried.

yes, its expensive, but so was buying all the other jigs, and fixtures and tools that do much the same thing, but not as elegantly.

I went through the same thing with table saws.  When I started, I was a poor student so I bought a benchtop direct drive saw and did some work both with it and on it.  even built a table around it that was based on Norms design if I recall correctly.  my Next table saw was a cast iron Craftsman made by Emerson, it was vastly better than the benchtop and again I did some good projects with it.

the Craftsman served well until I found a Unisaw at auction and dropped that into my shop, my next upgrade was to a Sawstop, and yes I think it was an upgrade.

It would have been cheaper in the long run to just buy the unisaw or sawstop at the start, but my budget wouldn't support it and at the time I didn't understand the benefits of the cabinet saw over the benchtop.
Same goes for the tools I have tried for mortise and tenon joinery.

Yes we have all been there. And I think you stated everything quite well. I built my multi router  from JDS's advertisement literature for their multi router in 1988. From what I have seen, I think that the domino is much faster and less complicated than my way to a point. And yes I know what you are saying, I went from a Craftsman RAS to a Shopsmith.( had to sell it because of hard times) to a Craftsman table saw to a Delta contractors saw to a General 350 to a Saw Stop. And I would upgrade to a saw stop any time.  But like you said (I was a poor student and all I could afford was a bench top saw). I think that the Tianli hand held mortiser is just like the bench top saw. I think ever person taking up the hobby will go through the same things as we have done. So the question is will it get me by until I can afford better?

Tom

[RogerD]

Check out the Jessem Pocket Mill Pro https://jessem.com/products/pocket-mill-...0465555526

It does loose tenon joinery at about a third of the cost of a Domino.

[JDuke]

Check out the Jessem Pocket Mill Pro https://jessem.com/products/pocket-mill-...0465555526

It does loose tenon joinery at about a third of the cost of a Domino.

I have the older iteration of that in a box in my shop from my journey as well

I’ve sold lots of my stops like the woodtek joinery system, and the Leigh FMT but the Jessem was small enough it didn’t warrant sale