New member. Mortising advice needed.

[Dan Schultz]

I currently own an old craftsman 20" floor standing drill press with a #3 morse taper for the chuck and a 75mm quill. I was going to buy a mortise attachment but can't find one for a quill that size? Does anyone have any ideas where to look. Secondly would I just be better off buying a mortise machine instead of an attachment if I could find one. On the flip side of all this for the cost of a mortise machine you could almost buy a benchtop drill press and an attachment. Is there a major advantage to having the specific machine. This is a hobby for me but I want to make the right investment. Any opinions or help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[harry strasil]

I have an attachment someone gave me because it was such a pain to set up each time, then remove when a normal hole was drilled. But then, I am more of a neander and use a W.F. &G. Barnes Foot Mortiser or mortise chisels to cut my mortises.

[harry strasil]

you might look at a jessum zip slot mortiser that uses a hand drill to make mortises. around a $100.

[Charles Robertson]

Had the drill press attachment on a dedicated machine. Slow, hard to get set up. Got a bench top. What a difference that was. Very easy to set up, adjust and use. Just recently purchased a floor model Powermatic from the SMC classifieds. Very quiet, powerful, easy to use and rock solid.I think this machine is my top of the mountain. (And I had room for it).
For your use I'd recommend a decent, used bench top. $250 or less. Got one you can try if your in the O.C., Md. area. Have cut many, many hundreds of mortise and tennons with drill press and dedicated machines. There is a reason the drill press attachments sell so cheaply. Good luck with your choice.

[Paul Ryan]

Dan,

As you know there are about a dozen different ways to do mortises. I own a jet floor standing mortiser. It makes cutting mortises really easy. I have never done mortises with a drill press but from what I here most people feel it is a waste of money for the attachment because they usually end up buying a bench or floor machine. There are a couple of jigs also available for use with routers as well. A mortise pal, and jessem makes a jig. Both of those jigs get good reviews. When doing floating mortises you do have to worry about making the tendon stock, but you have to cut nice tendons with a hollow chisel mortiser anyway. I got a super deal on my jet so that was the way to go. But looking back if the jet deal didn't happend i would have bought a mortise pal. A few weeks back they had a great deal on their orginal model for $99, you could check a see if it is still avaiable for that price.

Actually I thing the jessem jig uses a drill bit to cut the mortises, but that jig is more expensive.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

W.F. &G. Barnes Foot Mortiser or mortise chisels to cut my mortises.

Way cool device. And worth about $500.00 at auction

[Jamie Buxton]

Paul's right: everybody seems to have his own favorite. I do own a hollow-chisel attachment for a drill press, and use it once every couple of years. If I didn't own it, I probably wouldn't miss it. Almost always I just use a plunge router to make mortises. It is fast and accurate. It also a general-purpose tool which can be used for all sorts of tasks -- unlike a dedicated hollow-chisel mortiser.

[Jim Kountz]

If you can swing a dedicated machine I would go that route as that will not tie your drill press up. A router does do an excellent job though and like Jamie pointed out its a general purpose tool.
I use a Delta bench top mortiser and it suits my needs just fine but I dont do alot of them these days.