I'm considering buying a DP mortising jig.
http://www.canadiantire.ca/assortmen...rtment=primary
Does anyone have experience using one. The price at Canadian Tire is
$50 reg $80. I own a good Dewalt 621 plunge router and a freud table
top and fence. Would I be better of using my router with a good
mortising bit.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Regards Mark

You will get mixed opinions on mortising machines / mortising attachments
vs. routers or good old chisels.
I started my woodworking hobby with a mortising attachment for a craftsman
drill press. It worked ok, but in my opinion, the drill press quill had too
much slop to make straight, reliable mortises. (Perhaps a higher quality
drill press would not have this porblem.) Also, hollow chisel mortisers
require a tremendous amount of force to push into the wood. In my opionion,
the gearing ratio on a drill press is a little too high for this operation
and you need to crank down on the drill press handle pretty hard, with the
bigger bits. A dedicated mortiser ussually has more mechanical advantage,
and a LONG handle.

I eventually sold the attachment on ebay and bought a dedicated mortiser. I
love this thing! It makes great cuts, is very quick to setup and is alway
sitting there ready to go. It cost about $180 or something though (I can't
remember.)
I have the Delta version, and I made a few mods to it to improve the work
holding. See here for details:
http://www.the-wildings.com/shop/jig...iser_table.jpg

Router table make very nice mportises too, but the mortise ends are rounded
(Which you can quickly fix with a chisel) and in my opinion, they take a
little longer to set up.

My $0.02

--
Joe in Denver
my woodworking website:
http://www.the-wildings.com/shop/





wrote in message
...
I'm considering buying a DP mortising jig.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/assortmen...rtment=primary
Does anyone have experience using one. The price at Canadian Tire is
$50 reg $80. I own a good Dewalt 621 plunge router and a freud table
top and fence. Would I be better of using my router with a good
mortising bit.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Regards Mark

Mark,

If you are going to purchase check out Amazon. They have a pretty good
price on the Delta 14-651 with a $25 coupon as well. Free shipping.

Just got one.

Larry C


"Joe Wilding" wrote in message
...
You will get mixed opinions on mortising machines / mortising attachments
vs. routers or good old chisels.
I started my woodworking hobby with a mortising attachment for a craftsman
drill press. It worked ok, but in my opinion, the drill press quill had
too
much slop to make straight, reliable mortises. (Perhaps a higher quality
drill press would not have this porblem.) Also, hollow chisel mortisers
require a tremendous amount of force to push into the wood. In my
opionion,
the gearing ratio on a drill press is a little too high for this operation
and you need to crank down on the drill press handle pretty hard, with the
bigger bits. A dedicated mortiser ussually has more mechanical advantage,
and a LONG handle.

I eventually sold the attachment on ebay and bought a dedicated mortiser.
I
love this thing! It makes great cuts, is very quick to setup and is alway
sitting there ready to go. It cost about $180 or something though (I can't
remember.)
I have the Delta version, and I made a few mods to it to improve the work
holding. See here for details:
http://www.the-wildings.com/shop/jig...iser_table.jpg

Router table make very nice mportises too, but the mortise ends are
rounded
(Which you can quickly fix with a chisel) and in my opinion, they take a
little longer to set up.

My $0.02

--
Joe in Denver
my woodworking website:
http://www.the-wildings.com/shop/





wrote in message
...
I'm considering buying a DP mortising jig.


http://www.canadiantire.ca/assortmen... UID=109058903
2969&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442970451&assortmen t=primary
Does anyone have experience using one. The price at Canadian Tire is
$50 reg $80. I own a good Dewalt 621 plunge router and a freud table
top and fence. Would I be better of using my router with a good
mortising bit.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Regards Mark

I bought a Delta kit a few years ago and discovered it didn't fit my 25 year
old Craftsman drill press. Subsequently , a nephew bought the Delta kit for
his Delta. It will get the job done but it is a compromise in almost every
respect. It takes time to install, adjust and remove it. You have your
drill press tied up while the kit is installed. In use, you are literally
forcing the mortise bit into the wood while the center bit is clearing the
way - the plunge handles on most drill presses are too short for needed
leverage. When you consider the cost of some lower end mortisers it makes
more sense to buy the dedicated machine if you plan much use.

A confession: A few days after I returned my Delta Kit my wife mentioned
that Harbor Freight had a mortiser on sale for $99. My initial response was
"don't need THAT one!" A week or so later we drove by the store, I went in
and looked at one and decided "oh-well. Only $100. I'll give it a try."
The machine came with three bits that looked much like the delta, has a
fairly long plunge handle, has decent power and it makes square holes.
Granted the hold down hardware sucks but that can be improved. I have used
the machine quite a bit and it continues to make square holes. I doubt if
it will be my life-long mortiser but the complete machine cost about $30
more than the compromise kit.

Ron


wrote in message
...
I'm considering buying a DP mortising jig.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/assortmen...rtment=primary
Does anyone have experience using one. The price at Canadian Tire is
$50 reg $80. I own a good Dewalt 621 plunge router and a freud table
top and fence. Would I be better of using my router with a good
mortising bit.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Regards Mark

"RonB" wrote
snippage
A confession: A few days after I returned my Delta Kit my wife mentioned
that Harbor Freight had a mortiser on sale for $99. My initial response
was
"don't need THAT one!" A week or so later we drove by the store, I went
in
and looked at one and decided "oh-well. Only $100. I'll give it a try."
The machine came with three bits that looked much like the delta, has a
fairly long plunge handle, has decent power and it makes square holes.
Granted the hold down hardware sucks but that can be improved. I have
used
the machine quite a bit and it continues to make square holes. I doubt if
it will be my life-long mortiser but the complete machine cost about $30
more than the compromise kit.

Read your post and got to thinking about slapping an x-y table on one, and
went to the HF site to poke around. They have one one with an integral x-y
table for $189. Hadn't seen that there before and wondered if anyone here
had one and could comment on it. Am I better off chopping them out myself?

mw

wrote in
:

I'm considering buying a DP mortising jig.
snip

I bought the Delta DP attachment and then found out to mount it on my DP I
would lose the depth stop. I returned it and got the Delta dedicated
mortiser and have had no regrets. I imagine you won't have the same problem
as me (old Craftsman DP), but having to set up on DP and break down is a
pain. I like the dedicated aspect. Whether it's worth $200 to you is a
question only you can answer. I'd probably use the router and chisel and put
it on wish list for SWMBO

Jerry

The key here is the following:

1. Are you planning to use your DP attachment rarely?
2. Do you have a good DP?

If your answered yes to both questions, it may be worth it but if
you're planning on using it often, then you're better off with a
mortiser. On the other hand, using a router which is probably the best
way, you'll need to build a very precise jig or better, buy one...
They aren't cheap.... 650$ and +

Hope this helps,

Wally




On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 09:41:01 -0400, wrote:

I'm considering buying a DP mortising jig.
http://www.canadiantire.ca/assortmen...rtment=primary
Does anyone have experience using one. The price at Canadian Tire is
$50 reg $80. I own a good Dewalt 621 plunge router and a freud table
top and fence. Would I be better of using my router with a good
mortising bit.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Regards Mark

My first mortise was with a handheld drill and a bench chisel to clean up
the hole. It worked fine. I now have a Powermatic dedicated mortiser. It
works great for most mortises. I passed up using the drill press. In fact,
I gave away the mortising attachment before I used it. Not enough leverage,
too much slop, the drill press can only be used for mortising while the
equipment is attached, and setup takes too long.

Recently, I made some stools. I looked to the book, "Chaimaking and
Design", by Jeff Miller for ideas on making compound angled mortise and
tenons. I copied the router jigs he used for chair joinery . I was
astonished and pleased with the ease and accuracy in making straight and
compound angled mortise and tenons using a router and a couple of easy to
build jigs. There are still good uses for my Powermatic mortiser, but I
will now use the router whenever I can.

Preston

wrote in message
...
I'm considering buying a DP mortising jig.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/assortmen...rtment=primary
Does anyone have experience using one. The price at Canadian Tire is
$50 reg $80. I own a good Dewalt 621 plunge router and a freud table
top and fence. Would I be better of using my router with a good
mortising bit.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Regards Mark

"Joe Wilding" wrote in message

I have the Delta version, and I made a few mods to it to improve the work
holding. See here for details:
http://www.the-wildings.com/shop/jig...iser_table.jpg

Mighty fine looking machine, Joe ... looks nothing like my Delta. Care to
expound on your mods? I have a spare drill press vice, but yours looks
attached in such a manner as to be freely adjustable in x/y as well as being
able to set it at an angle?

If you've already said this all before, kindly point to a link if you can.
Thanks.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 7/10/04

A confession: A few days after I returned my Delta Kit my wife mentioned
that Harbor Freight had a mortiser on sale for $99. My initial response was
"don't need THAT one!" A week or so later we drove by the store, I went in
and looked at one and decided "oh-well. Only $100. I'll give it a try."
The machine came with three bits that looked much like the delta, has a
fairly long plunge handle, has decent power and it makes square holes.
Granted the hold down hardware sucks but that can be improved. I have used
the machine quite a bit and it continues to make square holes. I doubt if
it will be my life-long mortiser but the complete machine cost about $30
more than the compromise kit.


That I was wondering about myself, as I was in HF and saw it. Whch HF store were
you in? I was in the one in Lomita, near Torrance CA on PCH.

Alex

I purchased mine in the Wichita, Kansas store about 2-3 years ago.


"AArDvarK" wrote in message
news:2BuMc.35163$Sh.21880@lakeread06...
A confession: A few days after I returned my Delta Kit my wife
mentioned
that Harbor Freight had a mortiser on sale for $99. My initial response
was
"don't need THAT one!" A week or so later we drove by the store, I went
in
and looked at one and decided "oh-well. Only $100. I'll give it a
try."
The machine came with three bits that looked much like the delta, has a
fairly long plunge handle, has decent power and it makes square holes.
Granted the hold down hardware sucks but that can be improved. I have
used
the machine quite a bit and it continues to make square holes. I doubt
if
it will be my life-long mortiser but the complete machine cost about $30
more than the compromise kit.


That I was wondering about myself, as I was in HF and saw it. Whch HF
store were
you in? I was in the one in Lomita, near Torrance CA on PCH.

Alex