Milling machine as a mortiser

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks Chris. I will add that my methods are best suited to someone like myself, who lacks the space for dedicated machines, and even if there was this, it would be difficult to get the budget past my wife! I can justify decent-ish tools as do build a fair amount of furniture, but nothing like someone with an eye on selling. Certainly nothing like the demands of a professional such as Brian or Mark.

For mortising, I turned to mortise chisels in the past, but these days it is easier to use machines to a larger extent. This means either a router in a fixture ...



More recently I have been using the Domino DF500 and custom loose tenons using a simple positioner ...





The limitation here is that the maximum depth is 28mm ..



New version of the positioning tool (for 6, 8, 10mm) ....



On curved chair legs ...





If square-ended mortises are required, then use a hollow chisel to square them. Easy to sharpen and quick to work ...



Like Andrew, the idea of a milling machine for mortising has crossed my mind a few times. I have tried a bench top mortiser (I was given), and it lasted 5 minutes before giving it back - simply unable to cope with the hard woods I use. In any event, I really did not wish to add anther machine.

The question I now have is how well my Nova Voyager drill press would fare using end mill bits? Again, the one's I have are limited in depth of cut (around 25mm). Are there longer makes you can suggest? I would focus on 10mm, 8mm, 6mm mortises. Why this drill press? Well it would be fast to set up (with added cross slide vise), have plenty of grunt (2 h.p), negligible run out, and the ideal speed setting is there to be dialled in. But ... will the morse taper for the chuck be capable of withstanding the lateral forces? If not, is there an alternate chuck which could be used? The router and the Domino move to cut, and these lateral forces are not issues then (I assume).

Regards from Perth (currently in Wellington, New Zealand)

Derek