Delta mortising attach. on Grizzly drill press

[Nick Gattuccio]

I have a Grizzly G7943 drill press (14") and would like to purchase the Delta mortising attachement (17-935). Has anyone tried this combination?

I contacted Delta to confirm compatibility, but all they will say is that it works with any drill press with quill diameter of 66 mm, 50.8 mm, 48 mm, and 38 mm. Grizzly gives quill diameter on the G7942 as 2.040", which converts to 51.8159 mm. HOWEVER, Grizzly has its own mortising attachement for the G7943 drill press (G1083), which they spec for 66 mm. Hence my confusion.

Again, if anyone has experience with this combination, I would really appreciate any help you can give.

Thanks in advance,

Nick

[Mike Cutler]

Nick. I can't exactly answer your question, but I wanted to say welcome to Sawmill Creek.
I have used the Delta Mortising jig, and got mediocre results. By the time I was done with all the fiddling around I would have been better off buying a dedicated mortiser in the beginning.
I eventually bought the Delta 14-651, and mounted an X-Y sliding vise on it. It seems to work quite well.
Sorry I couldn't answer your question, but once again pleased to meet ya'

[Don Selke]

Nick:

Glad to meet you and welcome to the Creek. If you are going to be cutting a lot of mortises, go with the dedicated mortiser. I had a drill press mortiser myself and the hassel of set up was time consuming and the thing did not really cut right.
I have the jet mortiser and have been very happy with the unit. I know that tools are expensive but if you take care of them, they will last a lifetime. Once again, welcome to the Creek, great bunch of guys here to help you.

[Nick Gattuccio]

Thanks for the welcome, guys. I've just discovered Sawmill Creek and think it's a gold mine.

No doubt I'd be better off with a dedicated mortiser. I'm just caught in that tight spot between cost and utility. I do cut a lot of mortises, typically on the router table, but that doesn't always work very well.

Incidentally, I did get through to a technician at Delta and solved my problem. In fact the Delta mortising attachment does work on the Grizzly G7943. Now all I need to do is make a decision.

Again, thanks for the feedback.

Nick

[Mike Cutler]

Nick. Everyone here understands that same "tight spot". If you'll accept a tip from a recent aquaintance. Cut the majority of the mortise with your router table, much more accurate, and do the ends of the mortise with the mortise attachment. It will be pretty slow, and a pain but the end result will be better.
The time saved making the tenon may be taken up with the extra steps of the mortise, but it will probably be a wash in the end.

[Charlie Plesums]

Nick, I had good luck with my Delta mortise adapter on my drill press. The down side is that it took me over half an hour to set up the first time, but I got that down to about 15 minutes with practice. Additional mortises once it was on the drill press weren't bad. It was easy to get the alignment off, which led to bad mortises, but I got used to checking it with a square after every adjustment, and it worked fine.

My new combo machine has a built in mortising attachment, so out of fairness, I have to admit that I don't use it any more.

[Ken Salisbury]

Nick,

First of all, Welcome To The Creek. I also would recommend a dedicated mortiser. Another alternative would be to build a horizontal router set-up to make both mortises and tenons. See this post on the subject. The router used could be made removable from the jig for other uses.

Second, as the forum moderator I should point out that to be a boni fide member of SMC you are reguired by the Terms of Service to use a real first and last name. Please PM Jackie Outten with that information and she will update your member registration accordingly. -- Thanks in advance.

[Mike Linne]

I have the G7944 (same drill press/floor mount) with an auxillary table and Delta mortiser. Yes the mortiser fits and works, but in retrospect the set-up/removal time are excessive. As mentioned previously alignment of the bit to the fence requires constant checking as it's easy to drill "off square" holes. Another very annoying feature is that the friction of the bit upon withdrawal from the work piece frequently causes the quill pull out. Very annoying. Save yourself a headache and go the dedicated route.

[Nick Gattuccio]

Thanks to everyone for your helpful responses. I feel like I can make a smart decision now.


And to Ken ... sorry, I will edit my profile to display my full name.

[john mclaughlin]

does that mean you would like to sell you drill press mortiser ??

[James Hart]

does that mean you would like to sell you drill press mortiser ??

John,

Welcome to the creek. You may or may not have noticed that the thread you responded to is 3 years old. Don't take offense if you don't get a reply.

Jim