Gloat.Out with the old and in with the new.

[Mike Cutler]

Thought I'd share a pic of my new toy. It's a Delta 14-651 Mortiser. It seems like a nice little machine. I unpacked it and had it set up fairly quickly. It seems to make a good mortise, but the mortise does have to be cleaned up slightly with a chisel.I'm not sure if this normal, or I need to replace or sharpen the chisel(s)
I bought this to do the M&T joints on the remaining library bookcases and shelves for LOML, in addition to making the library door.
I enclosed a pic of the "machine" it will replace, my home built router mortiser.
I'd appreciate any tips or advice anyone has to share on the use of the mortiser, my learning curve needs to be very steep.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Yeah, you do have to clean them up a little; mortise machines don't make pretty mortises. But don't do too much. I like to do a test mortise then make the tenons to fit. Try not to widen the mortise too much when cleaning up so all the mortises will be the same width and the fit will be better in the end. I just ate a lot and am having a hard time thinking here. :) Alan in Md.

[Dennis Peacock]

Yup....

Mike...just a light cleanup with a good sharp chisel is all it takes. As Alan mentioned, don't clean it up too much or your fit of the tenon will become too loose very quickly. It may not be baby smooth inside the mortise, but it is easier than hand cutting every single mortise.!!! :D

[Bart Leetch]

Hmmm I don't know. When I made the mortises in the legs of my bench using my ShopFox mortiser I didn't need to clean anything up with a chisel. The mortises came out nice & clean with square smooth edges. :)

[Jim Becker]

I wouldn't throw out your router jig...there are some times when that method is quite appropriate. But having the dedicated mortiser is a nice addition to your shop. Don't forget you need to hone the chisels, even when new, for best results. Lee Valley carries the stones which will work with your drill to take care of this task. "Un-sharp" chisels can and will result in lots of frustration and even tearout in softer woods.

[Brad Risley]

Mike, you need to very very lightly hone the outside of the chisels. It needs to be more like a polish than a true honing. I did mine with 600 grit wet dry paper and it made the world of difference. But be careful if you remove to much material you will not have true sized chisels.

Also it is very important to set up the chisel square to the fence. Otherwise you end up with stepped sides in the mortise.

I have found that you want to drive the chisel into all wood or to have the right and left cutting edges both over a previously cut area.

That is all I can think to share at this time. I hope it helps.

[Jim Becker]

Brad, be sure to only "polish" the outside of the chisels...you don't want to remove ANY metal. The honing cones I mentioned from Lee Valley work on the inside of the chisel where it's safer to bring things up sharp.

[Kent Cori]

Mike,

The Lee Valley diamond cone sharpeners work very well for me and best of all they only cost $6.75. They are Lee Valley Part Number 77J81.20.

Look at the bottom entry on this page:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?SID=&page=41702&category=1%2C180%2C42334&ccurrency=2

[Mike Cutler]

Thanks Guys. I'll be ordering the honing stones right off. Thank you for the link. Jim, I don't plan to toss the router jig just yet, once it's set up it is very fast. Brad. I'll try the half stepping method you mentioned, I had read that you did the ends of the mortise first and then did the middle, but didn't think about the 1/2 step method. I didn't get too much time last nite to set the chisel up square, I just kinda made sure everything was working. I'll play with it more tonite, if I have to do a little cleanup with dogleg chisels thats fine. The last project had over 100 M&T joints to do, I'm pretty much certain that the mortiser will save me a lot of time on the backend "tuning" M&T joints.
Once again thanks for the info everybody.

[Alan Turner]

There is a trick to installing the bit and chisel. Put a dime between the bit and chuck, then tighten the bit. Then slide the chisel up to the chuck. This way there is a bit of clearance for the bit, and the cutting will clog less often.
A second trick is to position a shop vac, or compressed air hose, over the cut, so that ther eis a bit of air movement on the chisel, which keeps things cooler. It is easy to overheat the chisel/drill combo since there is little air and much friction in the mortise as you cut.
A third trick is to put a 12" straightedge on the side of the chisel, and then make that edge parallel with the fence. Better vision for getting the chisel straight tothe edge of the stock.

Have fun with you new toy.

[Mike Cutler]

Thanks for the setup tips Alan. I like the "dime gauge" alot. I knew I'd need something to keep the bit and the chisel clear during operation, all those chips falling back in, that drill bit would just have to work harder. The straight edge trick will definitely help, the achilles heel of this machine appears to be the fence. There is a lot of room for movement in the fence, but once setup it looks like it will be fine.I've already made a jig to do a 6 over 1 angled mortise for tusk tenons.It worked great, this will save me alot of time in a few weeks. Once again thanks for the tips& tricks