Dedicated Mortising Machine OR Drill Press Jig

[Brian Dormer]

As we all know - Christmas is a-comin'

SWMBO is asking what I want.

One of the few tools I can think of that I WOULD LIKE BUT DON'T HAVE is a mortising machine. And thereby I find my dilemma....

I can go to HF and buy their mortising machine for $129 (less whatever coupon discount I can find - which could be up to 50% if I'm lucky/patient)

-OR-

I could get one of those mortising machine attachments for my benchtop drillpress. Probably in the $70 range from Sears or Delta (via Amazon). Perhaps "on sale" I could knock a few bucks off that.

It would appear that cost is, roughly speaking, about the same. I don't think I need to spend $250 on a mortising machine - but $100 or so... maybe it's worth it.

I don't cut thousands (or even hundreds) of mortises in a year (woodworking is my hobby, not my career) - but something that drills a square hole would come in handy at times. Typically, I hog out as much wood as possible with a Forstner bit in the drillpress, then clean up the corners with a chisel. Although, I've also been known to "get lazy" and just shave off the corners of the tenons so they match the curved ends of the mortise (which sometimes leads to extensive "fine tuning" to get everything to fit just right).

I'm looking for some advice and insight on this... Should I put that money elsewhere? Get the cheap dedicated machine? Get the drill press gizmo? Wait until I REALLY NEED the $250 machine? So many choices... so little time.

TIA -

bd

[Rob Bodenschatz]

The only advice I can give is to read my sig line. :D

Actually, from what I've read, steer clear of the DP attachments. I was able to pick up a PM mortiser for about $210 a while back. While I haven't used it enough to justify even that, it is a solid machine.

[Thom Sturgill]

I'm glad this got brought up, I'm in a similar quandry. I have an old 8" delta DP which would probably be too small for a mortising attachment. I also want a spindle sander and have been debating getting a new DP that oscillates (ShopFox from Grizzly) and putting a mortiser on it. I could store everything on a shelf under the DP so room works for me, but if the mortiser attachments do not do a decent job that would be more frustration that I can do without.

[Gary Keedwell]

As we all know - Christmas is a-comin'

SWMBO is asking what I want.

One of the few tools I can think of that I WOULD LIKE BUT DON'T HAVE is a mortising machine. And thereby I find my dilemma....

I can go to HF and buy their mortising machine for $129 (less whatever coupon discount I can find - which could be up to 50% if I'm lucky/patient)

-OR-

I could get one of those mortising machine attachments for my benchtop drillpress. Probably in the $70 range from Sears or Delta (via Amazon). Perhaps "on sale" I could knock a few bucks off that.

It would appear that cost is, roughly speaking, about the same. I don't think I need to spend $250 on a mortising machine - but $100 or so... maybe it's worth it.

I don't cut thousands (or even hundreds) of mortises in a year (woodworking is my hobby, not my career) - but something that drills a square hole would come in handy at times. Typically, I hog out as much wood as possible with a Forstner bit in the drillpress, then clean up the corners with a chisel. Although, I've also been known to "get lazy" and just shave off the corners of the tenons so they match the curved ends of the mortise (which sometimes leads to extensive "fine tuning" to get everything to fit just right).

I'm looking for some advice and insight on this... Should I put that money elsewhere? Get the cheap dedicated machine? Get the drill press gizmo? Wait until I REALLY NEED the $250 machine? So many choices... so little time.

TIA -

bd
You could get a cheap machine, and buy superior chisels. Machines are no good without good sharp chisels. Put the money into the chisels and buy a honing kit. You hone those suckers and it will cut like butter.
Gary

[Fred Voorhees]

I haven't heard many good comments about the drill press attachments. To be honest, a decent dedicated morticer is not that expensive and will go a gret job for you year after year. I would consider such a thing, however, I wouldn't consider such a thing from Harbor Freight. My morticer gets used a little more than once in a while, but not more than often, but it is there when I need it and it does what I want it to do. Any of the bigger names will serve you well. I went with Jet.

[Tom Henry]

The only advice I can give is to read my sig line


Sig lines say it all! :rolleyes:

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Run don't walk away from the DP jig idea.

Get a dedicated machine, The General bench top is rather nice and many think more flexible and sturdy than the PM.

I'm a fan of slot mortisers.

[Ken Werner]

I've got the Jet, and I use it infrequently, but it does its job very well. I would not buy a precision tool from HF, as I doubt it exists. Likewise, the DP jig is not likely to give you the accuracy you desire. It really is important to have the mortiser rock solid. My advice then is either buy a good dedicated mortiser or don't buy one at all. Again, one of those situations where the best value is not the cheapest option.

My .02.

[John Kali]

I'm glad this subject popped up...I was going to ask for the delta mortising attachment for my drill press.

[Allen Bookout]

Mortising machine.

[Darl Bundren]

I own and like the Steel City benchtop model. They are running a rebate right now, so you could save some money on it. Easy to set up, good hold down with the rollers, comes with decent chisels, has extendable wings to increase the work area.

I have not heard anything good about the drill press attachments.

You could also get a Domino:D

[Rod Sheridan]

I have the General International bench top unit and really like it.

The fence is accurate, the lever is long enough to give good leverage, and the head slides on dovetail ways with adjustable wear bars.

I've used mine to cut hundreds of mortices and it works great.

Spend the money once, be happy.

Regards, Rod.

[gary Zimmel]

One more vote from the dedicated mortiser.

I also have the General Int. and am very happy with it.

[Gene O. Carpenter]

Not that it will matter much but I'm going to drop my 2 cents in here! Get the dedicated mortiser!
I bought the kit to use on my 1937 or so Walker T table top DP and while it's a great DP it sucked at drilling square holes! The Quill feed spokes are too short, they weren't designed for forcing anything, they are for "soft" feeding a bit into what ever material you're working with!
It requires too much fore arm power to make it an enjoyable operation!
I had 80 3/4" holes total that I had to punch into a railing and boards for the deck that I was building . After the 2nd mortise ( I still had 78 to go) I packed it up and took it back to the local WW Warehouse and explained the situation to Ted, the mgr at that time, told him that I wanted to swap it in on the Delta!
Cost me another hundred plus but it was well worth it!

Wish they hadn't went under, was the only place around that I could go buy just about any WW product that I wanted!

[Charles Robertson]

Been using the dp-attachment to handle my mortising needs for approx. 30 yrs. It performed very well and I had no complaints. Couple years ago I had a very custom kithcen cabinet, island-bar job which involved 160-200 mortises. The dp did the job. After that I belatedly started checking into dedicated mortisers. Few weeks ago I came across a used ( new condition with 4 chisels) Jet bench-top. My old chisels all fit. Tried it out on a few mortises, took the attachments off my extra drill press and took my next step toward evolution. An old dog can be taught new tricks. Highly recommend the dedicated unit. Comparison stops at drilling a square hole. This was the first time I had used a dedicated machine and I was sold. All those years! My 1st. choice would have been the General, but this one was so reasonable I brought it home to try. It will fill my needs. If it doesn't, now that I have compared the two, there's always the General. Be smarter than me. Go the extra length and buy the dedicated. If you are going to stay with it, go the extra bucks and get a decent unit. You won't regret it. Al

[Gary Keedwell]

Wow..now THAT"S a testimonial if I ever heard one. Man, they could make a TV commercial with that one. :eek: :)

Good for you Charles!!!!!

Gary

[Rob Will]

Motising attachments are like using your DP as an arbor press.:eek:

Look at how a dedicated chisel mortiser is made.
Note the length of the hande, it's long for a reason.

I vote for either a dedicated mortiser or a plunge router in a really tight-fitting jig. I think there are some ideas out there about self centering jigs for slot mortising with a router.

Rob

[Gene O. Carpenter]

Charles,
After using that DP with a mortising attachment I surely wouldn't get into an arm wrestling match with you!:)
But then your feed handle's might be longer than the old WT DP. The leverage is what counts!
Up until I decided to build this deck I had always bored a hole and squared it up with a chisel. Wish I had bought a mortise machine 40 years ago!

Just a word of caution though! My Delta has a plastic storage rack attached on the left side, the chisel barrel fits down into the rack with the points up! They're an accident waiting to happen to anyone who reaches across the top for any reason! Will put one hell of a gash in an arm..I noted that immediately and I called Delta's CS to inquire of a "fix" for this dangerous design. They sort of shrugged it off! So I made a wooden sleeve for each of the 4 chisels....

Get the dedicated!!
Gene

[Roy Bennett]

Go dedicated. Even the 'cheap' HF unit, which I bought for $88.00 work great, after honing the chisels.

[Art Walker]

I'm glad this got brought up, I'm in a similar quandry. I have an old 8" delta DP which would probably be too small for a mortising attachment. I also want a spindle sander and have been debating getting a new DP that oscillates (ShopFox from Grizzly) and putting a mortiser on it. I could store everything on a shelf under the DP so room works for me, but if the mortiser attachments do not do a decent job that would be more frustration that I can do without.

If you can find Fine Woodworking #46 there's an article about converting your 8" drill press into an oscillating sander by inverting the head and bolting a second ~0.05-0.10 HP gear reduction motor to the original work table to turn a wheel which pushes a rod which turns the quill pinion but is short so the pinion only executes part of a circle and then reverses (auto windshield wipers work this way I think).
Probably this has been reinvented in the internet age so lookup via google might be handier than finding the FWW article. At least think about it as a possible fate for the little DP when you move up to something bigger, if you didn't already secure an OSS. And, although it wasn't a feature in the conversion in the FWW article (credit Wesley P. Glewwe): depending upon how you build the cabinet or work-surface-support, you can include a tilt feature, which isn't an option with the shop fox oscillating DPs because their tables don't tilt.

I haven't done this, but I'm thinking about it. While I think about it, a superfluous 8" DP will stick around in storage rather than hitting craigslist.

Art

[Ray Knight]

The HF is actually a solid machine, chisels can be tuned up as well as any other mfg. Just has a crappy stage and clamps, but the mortiser itself is fine. I moved up to the general table top, really good clamp and table., tilts. I got it for a real good price at woodcraft, as they are not handling General anymore, The general with the mechanical x-y stage is great, but bit more money.
At the low cost end, the HF is clearly better than DP attachment, just be prepared to make a table, fence, and hold down, AND spend some time honing the bits. Good luck. If you live close to southern Indiana - Louisville Kentucky area, give me a call, my HF mortiser needs a new home, and a new stage and clamp. Ray Knight

[Bob Genovesi]

I vote for the mortising machine. This baby gets a lot of use and I make to corresponding tenons on my table saw using a tenoning jig. One is a perfect match with the other.

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s225/BobbyG53/Mortiser.jpg

[Matt Meiser]

I bought one of the mortising attachements early on. It is hard to plunge the bit with the relatively small handle on the drill press and a pain to set the thing up. I then bought a stationary mortiser, which saw very infrequent use. Then I built a router mortising jig from Shop Notes which is even easier to use and sold the mortiser. There are a lot of ways to make mortises at a lot of different costs. Be sure to weigh the cost/benefit of different methods for your own situation.

[John Thompson]

Leverage is important and you can increase the leverage by sliding a longer lead or galvanized pipe over an existing handle. Several years ago a few of the bench-tops were designed with too short of handles and this was a fix. Most have been corrected that had the problem.

But.. something that hasn't been mentioned so far (and definitely should be IMO) is the fact that a DP is a finesse machine. It was designed to plunge a sharp tipped small bit into stock and remove the diameter of that bit. The design of the bit does the work with little leverage having to be applied.

Take a look at the spindle travel gears on your drill press and then compare them to those on a dedicated morticer. They are very delicate compared to the morticer which is designed to use a bit also, but plunge a chisel outside the bit into sometimes very hard and dense stock. I have seen 2 good DP's run-out destroyed using a DP mortice attachment so it would not even be a consideration for me.

I cut a lot of mortises and used a Shop Fox benchie until recently. It was a great little machine I got as the last in stock. The General and Steel City are excellent. Actually all the benchie's I have seen used will get the job done. But all have one thing in common they don't have that a floor morticer does and that is not great clamping and table travel which saves a ton of time if you cut a lot of mortises as I do.

I wanted a PM floor and watched E-bay and Craigs for about 2 years. Nobody sells them and if they do, they don't lose much re-sale value. I ended up with a floor model other than the Power-matic I wanted for many years at a lower cost than the PM. But a great deal is a great deal... so I guess I will get over not getting that PM I dreamed about!

Sarge..

[Brian Dormer]

Seems like the clear consensus is to go dedicated.

The jury is a little mixed on the HF machine. I should have mentioned that I would probably buy or build an accessory table like the one Rockler sells for whatever machine I buy. As far as honing the chisels - that was always my plan. When I purchase a tool - I make sure I also have the tools to maintain it (my uncle drilled that into me as a child).

Given all but one of these reviews - on the "what were they thinking" side - makes you wonder why they still sell the drill press gizmo.

bd

[Mike Heidrick]

Some people like the Steel City Mortiser - it looks good. Amazon had the PM benchtop last year for $209 and I missed out on it. I keep hoping for that deal again some day.

[Gene O. Carpenter]

I just saw a Jet with 3 chisels on CraigsList $150, Northern NJ,, it's in my Boro (Rumson) but I don't know who it could be..It's definitely not mine nor do I know the seller..It must be a cell phone, the 609 is a Southern NJ area code.

http://cnj.craigslist.org/tls/483014639.html

[Gary Keedwell]

Given all but one of these reviews - on the "what were they thinking" side - makes you wonder why they still sell the drill press gizmo.

They sell them to unexpecting wannabe woodworkers like me, who bought one 17 years ago and threw it out before I could do ONE mortise.;):)

Years ago I bought a Jet bench top mortiser and didn't like it so I removed the tiny MDF table and replaced it with an 1/2" aluminum plate 12"X24". I drilled and tapped a series of holes to accomodate a toggle clamp that pushes the stock firmly against the fence. I like my Jet now:D
Gary

[Bruce Wrenn]

I vote for the mortising machine. This baby gets a lot of use and I make to corresponding tenons on my table saw using a tenoning jig. One is a perfect match with the other.

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s225/BobbyG53/Mortiser.jpgJust be careful that you don't break the rod that holds the fence to the column. A friend recently did. Delta lists it as an OBSOLETE part, no longer available. The currently available Delta MM 300 uses the same fence, and comes with a TWO year warrenty. Just wonder how Delta will do warrenty when parts aren't available. Luckily my neighbor, a retired machinest. made a replacement part that looks better than the original.

[Gary Keedwell]

Bruce,
When I get the fence exactly where I want it, I clamp the fence to my aluminum table. The toggle clamp puts alot of pressure on the fence. Usually 2 clamps will do it.
Gary

[Mike Heidrick]

I keep hoping for that deal again some day.

After checking for sale section I am now crossing fingers. Too ironic.

[Denny Rice]

I own and like the Steel City benchtop model. They are running a rebate right now, so you could save some money on it. Easy to set up, good hold down with the rollers, comes with decent chisels, has extendable wings to increase the work area.

I have not heard anything good about the drill press attachments.

You could also get a Domino:D

I also own the Steel City model..... I had purchased the Delta unit from Amazon, and after two weeks had not received unit. Called Amazon and was told it was on backorder. I cancelled my order with Amazon, and went to one of my favorite sites and ordered the steel city unit with free shipping and the rebate to boot. I have cut about 50 mortises with this unit and have been very happy. I was also pleased with the bits that come with the steel city unit.:D

[Rod Upfold]

I used a drill press mortiser for a few years and it worked for me. It took awhile to put it together on the drill press and set it up. It would always happen that it seemed that I needed the drill press, so I would have to dismantle the mortiser to use the drill press.

Its much easier to have a dedicated mortiser machine and keep the drill press as a drill press.

[GERALD HARGROVE]

Brian,
I have had both, and only used the DP attachment twice before I purchased a Jet morticer. I would be glad to sell you my DP Delta attachement for $50 if you want to give it a try. But, trust the words of everyone, the stand dedicated unit is the way to go. Maybe for soft woods, the DP attachement will work fine, but on hard wood I gave up. Do a General Industrial Supply has Jet units for around $170.00, located in Nashville, TN #1800-371-2220 worth checking out.

[Gene O. Carpenter]

I vote for the mortising machine. This baby gets a lot of use and I make to corresponding tenons on my table saw using a tenoning jig. One is a perfect match with the other.

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s225/BobbyG53/Mortiser.jpg


Bob,
This is the same machine that I have! Did they add a threaded hole to store the quill lengthening adaptor?
When I bought mine the adaptor was in the envelope with the chuck key and I could just see myself years down life's highway finding that I need to buy a new set of chisels or augers and they turn out to be too short AND now where did I put that thing! So I drilled and tapped a hole for it!
When I called them about the positioning of that chisel storage storage rack I mentioned the "adaptor hole" and just wondering if they added that hole or moved the rack..

[John Clapp]

Another vote for the Steel City mortiser... good price and good quality in my opinion.

[Brian Dormer]

Well... it was more than I wanted to spend. But the old saying about getting what you pay for - and NEVER buy a "cheap" tool because you'll regret it every time you use it.... got to me.

I went to the spousal unit and pled my case. Lucky for me - she just got a new fridge and range.... She caved on a Delta mortise machine.

It's on order from Amazon. I'll post a report/review/gloat when it arrives and I get it set up.

[Leo Graywacz]

I've never had any negative issues using the drill press attachment. I've worked with maple and oak and don't really have any issues. If I was going to be working all day punching holes it might be a different story. But for occasional use it is fine. I don't find the short handles on my DP make it hard to get into the wood. I have a 16 1/2 Delta DP and the mortising attachment came with the drill press kit.