Difficult stroke on my new Delta Mortiser?

[Mark]

I've just unboxed my new Delta dedicated mortiser and tried it out on some scrap. I had read that it takes some muscle but I found even when moving the head up and down there is a fair amount of resistance, without any stock. Almost like it's binding??? I thought it would be as smooth and effortless as a drill press when no stock is encountered. Can someone give me some insight? I have nothing to compare it to. There was nothing in the manual that I saw about adjustments for the stroke. Seems to cut clean square mortises. Mark

[Swingman]

What model is it? You should be able to tell on the Delta 14-651 if the head is actually binding by observing it in action.

While a mortiser action is _much_ stiffer than a drill press, it shouldn't be as hard as you make it seem. If it doesn't loosen up fairly quickly you might want to see if you can find one locally to compare the action against.

[patrick conroy]

Which one? the 651 or the MM300? My MM300 takes a helluva lot of effort to pull on. But there is a sense of smoothness to the pull which makes me semi-confident that it is not binding.

I've heard (read) others say they all take a while to break in and loosen up. I doubt it will ever be as light as my drill press however.

[Todd]