Mortising Attachment Kit advice

[Christopher Kanda]

I have a grizzly G7944 drill press (12 speed 14" 3/4 HP) and was wondering if the mortising attachment kit they offer is worth the money or should I save for a dedicated machine. I don't plan to use it very often, but I don't want to throw away money on something that won't work. Any ideas?

[Peter Quinn]

Christopher, I don't know about the Griz kit, but it looks a lot like the delta I have for my DP. The delta works fine but I had to work out my own hold down system and fence because neither that came with the attachment were of much use. The attachment punches accurate mortises and is fine for my occasional use (I use mostly slot mortises or dowels). My DP has an extension table/hold downs/fence bolted to the metal base for stock support.

The delta comes with bits/chisels that are not of the highest quality and basically required sharpening/honing before first use. You should look into getting the files/hones for the chisels regardless of which type you choose as sharp chisels go a long way toward determining the quality of cut with any mortiser.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Cristopher, I had a Delta mortising attachment for a drill press and gave up on it for the following reasons;

- the chisel holder mounts to the quill, which can rotate slightly during use (not a problem when drilling holes) which means the chisel comes out of parallel with the fence.

- the drill press didn't have enough mechanical advantage to plunge the chisels in white oak when using anything over a 1/4" chisel. Maybe I'm a wimp, and you're a lot stronger, however drill presses simply weren't meant to have to push that hard on a cutting tool.

I bought a General International bench top mortiser in 2001 and have cut thousands of mortices with it.

Regards, Rod.