Delta Hollow chisel Mortising machine

I got the new model about a week ago and I'm satisfied. I had the
drill press attachment and its just a pain in the butt when you want
to use your press for any other work.

Daniel








On Fri, 21 Nov 2003 23:22:03 GMT, Paul Franklin
<[email protected]> wrote:

>On Fri, 21 Nov 2003 12:11:25 -0500, "Charles Callaghan"
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Have any of you had experience with the Delta hollow chisel mortising
>>machine? Our Lowes is having a sale right now and was wondering if it is
>>worth the investment. Thanks in advance.
>>
>>Chuck Callaghan
>>[email protected]
>>
>Thought I'd mention that Delta redesigned their mortiser, oh, 6 months
>or a year ago. General impression is that they improved it enough
>that you don't want the old model, so it's worth checking to see which
>one lowes is peddling. Sorry I don't have the model numbers handy,
>but last time I looked, tool crib still had both models in their
>catalog.
>
>Paul Franklin

I own one and it is probably worth it if you do a fair amount of m&t
joinery. Get good chisels and the sharpening gizmo.

It is interesting that with the recent development of new whiz-bang jigs
and tools, that mortisers still look pretty much the same as when they
were invented.
mahalo,
jo4hn

Charles Callaghan wrote:
> Have any of you had experience with the Delta hollow chisel mortising
> machine? Our Lowes is having a sale right now and was wondering if it is
> worth the investment. Thanks in advance.
>
> Chuck Callaghan
> [email protected]
>
>

On Fri, 21 Nov 2003 12:11:25 -0500, "Charles Callaghan"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Have any of you had experience with the Delta hollow chisel mortising
>machine? Our Lowes is having a sale right now and was wondering if it is
>worth the investment. Thanks in advance.
>
>Chuck Callaghan
>[email protected]
>
Thought I'd mention that Delta redesigned their mortiser, oh, 6 months
or a year ago. General impression is that they improved it enough
that you don't want the old model, so it's worth checking to see which
one lowes is peddling. Sorry I don't have the model numbers handy,
but last time I looked, tool crib still had both models in their
catalog.

Paul Franklin

"Charles Callaghan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Have any of you had experience with the Delta hollow chisel mortising
> machine? Our Lowes is having a sale right now and was wondering if it is
> worth the investment. Thanks in advance.
>
> Chuck Callaghan
> [email protected]
>
>

Like my things in life the answer depends on your expected use and your
expectations on speed & precision. I purchased the Delta model about 10
years ago and was not happy with the results I was getting in maple and
cherry. I found that it took a lot of pressure to make the mortise and
there was noticeable deflection at the mortise ends.

I read articles about tune-ups and positioning of the drill/chisel but was
still not happy. Next step was to purchase the better chisels and
sharpening system. I had a little better performance but still not great in
hard woods so I called Delta to see if it was a problem with my unit. They
told me to bring it to their service center.

When I went to pickup the unit I was told that they could not find anything
wrong. They even did a few test cuts for me in some fir and showed me the
correct technique. I had some maple in the car so I asked to test on maple.
The results were horrible on the maple...even with the "correct technique."
The technicians told me that my expectations were too high and not to expect
a precision machine for the price.

I do a lot of mortises, and wanted precision, so I upgraded to a slot
mortise. It is much more expensive but the results are great.

Bob McBreen

"Charles Callaghan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Have any of you had experience with the Delta hollow chisel mortising
> machine? Our Lowes is having a sale right now and was wondering if it is
> worth the investment. Thanks in advance.
>
> Chuck Callaghan
> [email protected]

Workbench magazine did a review of machines a couple of months back. The
$250 Delta was rated the best in class, the $199 Delta was fair at best, not
a good value.
Ed
[email protected]
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome

I own one and use it a lot. It isn't perfect (how many $250 tools are) but
it does a satisfactory job and isn't so bad that the tenon's cheek and
shoulder cuts don't cover the evidence. In harder woods you can do the bulk
of the work at the drill press and use the mortiser to clean up. I prefer
it to the drill press attachment which I found to be a total POS in accuracy
and set-up time.

Check it against Jet which seems to be identical. Don't forget to see what
is thrown in with the machine (mine came with 4 chisel/bit sets which aren't
cheap).




"RWM" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Charles Callaghan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Have any of you had experience with the Delta hollow chisel mortising
> > machine? Our Lowes is having a sale right now and was wondering if it is
> > worth the investment. Thanks in advance.
> >
> > Chuck Callaghan
> > [email protected]
> >
> >
>
> Like my things in life the answer depends on your expected use and your
> expectations on speed & precision. I purchased the Delta model about 10
> years ago and was not happy with the results I was getting in maple and
> cherry. I found that it took a lot of pressure to make the mortise and
> there was noticeable deflection at the mortise ends.
>
> I read articles about tune-ups and positioning of the drill/chisel but was
> still not happy. Next step was to purchase the better chisels and
> sharpening system. I had a little better performance but still not great
in
> hard woods so I called Delta to see if it was a problem with my unit.
They
> told me to bring it to their service center.
>
> When I went to pickup the unit I was told that they could not find
anything
> wrong. They even did a few test cuts for me in some fir and showed me the
> correct technique. I had some maple in the car so I asked to test on
maple.
> The results were horrible on the maple...even with the "correct
technique."
> The technicians told me that my expectations were too high and not to
expect
> a precision machine for the price.
>
> I do a lot of mortises, and wanted precision, so I upgraded to a slot
> mortise. It is much more expensive but the results are great.
>
> Bob McBreen
>
>