Making tenons isn't such a big deal with a drill press or router, but I don't
know how I'd make mortises without an actual mortiser except by drilling a
series of holes and then chiseling them out (which is no fun at all and not
very precise). I've seen several mortiser attachments for drill presses,
including one made by Delta that I spotted at Home Depot today. Are these
things any good? A mortiser essentially looks like a small drill press anyway,
so I guess I don't see what makes it such a special machine. Then again, I have
no idea what I'm talking about, so perhaps I should just shut up and let
someone shed some light on this.
I've had a mortising attachment for my 17 inch floor model drill press for many
years. Set up is not really a problem. The problem was that the chisels and
bits that came with the attachment were not the best. The bit did not hold its
edge and the chisels were not smooth on the outside. I honed the chisels and
bought better bits. Now it works like it should!
Len
--------------
NoNameAtAll wrote:
> Making tenons isn't such a big deal with a drill press or router, but I don't
> know how I'd make mortises without an actual mortiser except by drilling a
> series of holes and then chiseling them out (which is no fun at all and not
> very precise). I've seen several mortiser attachments for drill presses,
> including one made by Delta that I spotted at Home Depot today. Are these
> things any good? A mortiser essentially looks like a small drill press anyway,
> so I guess I don't see what makes it such a special machine. Then again, I have
> no idea what I'm talking about, so perhaps I should just shut up and let
> someone shed some light on this.
In article <[email protected]>,
NoNameAtAll <[email protected]> wrote:
>Making tenons isn't such a big deal with a drill press or router, but I don't
>know how I'd make mortises without an actual mortiser except by drilling a
>series of holes and then chiseling them out (which is no fun at all and not
>very precise). I've seen several mortiser attachments for drill presses,
>including one made by Delta that I spotted at Home Depot today. Are these
>things any good? A mortiser essentially looks like a small drill press anyway,
>so I guess I don't see what makes it such a special machine. Then again, I have
>no idea what I'm talking about, so perhaps I should just shut up and let
>someone shed some light on this.
I've got the Delta kit. With a table-top drillpress.
It _is_ a hassle setting up and tearing down.
I *don't* have the space for both a drill-press and a dedicated mortiser,
so I willingly live with the hassles.
That said, _within_its_limitations_, it does quite a good job.
For what I use it for, it works fine -- I work mostly in mahogany, which
is relatively soft, and I don't experience any major problems. I wouldn't
want to try going through 75+-year-old 2" thick white birch with it, that's
for sure. Last time I was dealing _that_ kind of material, I nearly
blunted the laser. That stuff gets _hard_ with age! <grin>
I have one for the Delta 10" drill press. It works fine.
Honestly, though, it is not much faster than drilling holes with forstner
bit and chiseling the rest.
I plan on buying a floor drill press and make the smaller one a dedicated
mortising machine.
Dave
"NoNameAtAll" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Making tenons isn't such a big deal with a drill press or router, but I
don't
> know how I'd make mortises without an actual mortiser except by drilling a
> series of holes and then chiseling them out (which is no fun at all and
not
> very precise). I've seen several mortiser attachments for drill presses,
> including one made by Delta that I spotted at Home Depot today. Are these
> things any good? A mortiser essentially looks like a small drill press
anyway,
> so I guess I don't see what makes it such a special machine. Then again, I
have
> no idea what I'm talking about, so perhaps I should just shut up and let
> someone shed some light on this.
NoNameAtAll wrote:
> I've seen several mortiser
> attachments for drill presses, including one made by Delta that I
> spotted at Home Depot today. Are these things any good? A mortiser
> essentially looks like a small drill press anyway, so I guess I don't
> see what makes it such a special machine.
If you search the Goodgle Groups you will see a couple of recent threads
about this. Consensus is the DP attachment is OK, can be a PITA to set up
when needed. The stand alone machines do a better job with less hassle. --
I bought the Delta machine recently and have only done 32 mortises so far
(plus a few test holes), but feel it is a good tool. You can also do them
be using a router. Lok at www.patwarner.com for more information.
Ed
[email protected]
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome
[email protected] (NoNameAtAll) wrote in
news:[email protected]:
> Making tenons isn't such a big deal with a drill press or router, but
> I don't know how I'd make mortises without an actual mortiser except
> by drilling a series of holes and then chiseling them out (which is no
> fun at all and not very precise). I've seen several mortiser
> attachments for drill presses, including one made by Delta that I
> spotted at Home Depot today. Are these things any good? A mortiser
> essentially looks like a small drill press anyway, so I guess I don't
> see what makes it such a special machine. Then again, I have no idea
> what I'm talking about, so perhaps I should just shut up and let
> someone shed some light on this.
>
I bought the delta mortiser attachment, then after I saw what a pain it was
to install, I returned it and bought a standalone mortiser. It was worth
the additional bucks to not have to break that attachment down every time I
want to use my drill press.
And, it didn't fit my dp anyway.
Echo Moose's experience - true I have a cheapo table top DP, but the Delta
attachment did fit it. However, it didn't work very well. I couldn't seem
to get enough downward force onto the chisel with the DP handles.
I returned it, and bought Delta's dedicated mortiser, MM300. Got it at
Woodcraft for $180 with a coupon.. It came with 4 chisels, but I'd bought
some chisels for the attachment. I use those because they're far superior
to the ones that came with the MM300. The 14-651 had just come out, and was
about $240. I passed on it because of the price difference. The MM300 has
been great, but I think the 14-651 would have been worth the price
difference. I see where Tool Crib has it for $229 on sale. That would be my
recommendation, FWIW.
Nick B
"NoNameAtAll" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Making tenons isn't such a big deal with a drill press or router, but I
don't
> know how I'd make mortises without an actual mortiser except by drilling a
> series of holes and then chiseling them out (which is no fun at all and
not
> very precise). I've seen several mortiser attachments for drill presses,
> including one made by Delta that I spotted at Home Depot today. Are these
> things any good? A mortiser essentially looks like a small drill press
anyway,
> so I guess I don't see what makes it such a special machine. Then again, I
have
> no idea what I'm talking about, so perhaps I should just shut up and let
> someone shed some light on this.
On Sat, 24 Jan 2004 21:21:28 +0000, NoNameAtAll wrote:
> Making tenons isn't such a big deal with a drill press or router, but I don't
> know how I'd make mortises without an actual mortiser except by drilling a
> series of holes and then chiseling them out (which is no fun at all and not
> very precise). I've seen several mortiser attachments for drill presses,
> including one made by Delta that I spotted at Home Depot today. Are these
> things any good? A mortiser essentially looks like a small drill press anyway,
> so I guess I don't see what makes it such a special machine. Then again, I have
> no idea what I'm talking about, so perhaps I should just shut up and let
> someone shed some light on this.
I went straight for the Jet mortiser right before building a a/c bed. 15
verticle slats -> 64 mortises later I'm damn glad I did. The price
difference between a dedicated benchtop mortiser and drill press is a bit
over $100 and worth every penny. I've also heard people commenting on the
included chisels in the sub $200 units, they really aren't THAT bad - I
haven't gone out and spent another $70 on a chisel set, and the 3/8" bit
is still working fine (after quite a few sharpenings) even after that oak
bed.
I did buy the Delta mortising attachment for my Delta drill press. I
think it's pretty good, but I don't do a lot of hardwood mortising.
I'm making a toy chest right now and used it to mortise some standard
2x4s. It took a little time to figure out the set up, but then it
worked fine. I used the 1/2" chisel for some 3/4" mortise holes. I
posted a review on amazon.com . The thing to watch out for is
adjusting the bit inside the chisel. If you do it wrong like I did the
first time, you'll end up with gun-metal blue chisel - sigh....
On 24 Jan 2004 21:21:28 GMT, [email protected] (NoNameAtAll)
wrote:
>Making tenons isn't such a big deal with a drill press or router, but I don't
>know how I'd make mortises without an actual mortiser except by drilling a
>series of holes and then chiseling them out (which is no fun at all and not
>very precise). I've seen several mortiser attachments for drill presses,
>including one made by Delta that I spotted at Home Depot today. Are these
>things any good? A mortiser essentially looks like a small drill press anyway,
>so I guess I don't see what makes it such a special machine. Then again, I have
>no idea what I'm talking about, so perhaps I should just shut up and let
>someone shed some light on this.