drill press as plunge router for mortising?

I'm going to be doing several mortises sometime soon, and as I don't have a plunge router or dp mortising attachment, I was planning on drilling them out with brad-point bits or forstners on a drill press, then chiseling out the waste. Then I got to thinking - what if I carefully set up a drill press table with a fence, chucked in an end mill or spiral upcut router bit, drilled down at one end of the mortise, and slowly slid the board until I cut the whole mortise? Then I'd only need to square up the ends with a chisel. Has anyone done this? I know the dp is far slower than a router, but if it can be done in metal (that's the point of an end mill, right?), why not wood? I know lateral pressure on the quill isn't good for the dp, but if I used a sharp bit and fed it slowly, how much would it stress the machine? I'd appreciate shared advice, experience, and opinions, Andy

Reply to
Andy
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My Dad used to do this all the time. He had a mortising attachment for his drill press.

Reply to
Bob AZ

I think it represents abuse of the drill press. I prefer to guard the accuracy of my drill press (that's why I bought it), then to try to save a little time. I think using the drill press to drill down repeatedly guided by a fence will be much faster than trying to cut sideways at drill press speed. That's a tried and true approach to larger mortises.

Bob

Reply to
BillyBob

Using a mortising attachment is not what the OP proposed A mortising attachment is an up and down operation, not a sideways operation.

Bob

Reply to
BillyBob

Haven't done it, doubt the DP will do a very good job. But just because you don't have a *plunge* router doesn't mean you couldn't use one. You could...

  1. Mount the router horizontally to a fixture and plunge the wood into it. Not full depth in one crack though. Also much better if you have previously hogged out most with a slightly smaller diameter drill on the DP.
  2. Attach a couple of wood pieces under the router plate. Distance apart equal to thickness of wood you want to mortice, position relative to the router bit dependant upon where you want your mortice (centered/off center). Start router, position vertical wood guides on each side of piece to be cut without bit touching, push down then slide along.

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Reply to
dadiOH

A drill bit is not designed or sharpened to have a cutting edge along the side. You could conceivably sharpen one, or even use a router bit in the DP. But I think the posts about using a router are better.

Steve

Reply to
Steve Peterson

I've done this with an end mill and it works OK but it is somewhat slow. The immediate problem is not that it's so bad for the quill or bearings, but that the chuck on a DP is prone to fall off with side pressure, either the jacobs taper freeing from the chuck, or the morse taper adapter (if your DP is so equipped) falling out of the spindle. A light cut of about 1/8" depth at a time with a 1/2" end mill works OK on my DP. If you have a heavier duty machine maybe you can take a havier cut.

Reply to
Lawrence Wasserman

A router bit is unlikely to provide optimal results when turning at the top speed of your typical DP. If you don't push too hard, you might not damage the DP, but why not just pick up a mortising attachment? The cost would be less than if you mess up your DP, wouldn't it?

Dave

Reply to
David

Mark Duginske does it in one of his videos. Put a router bit in the drill press and set up a jig for registration. Make holes all along the mortise length, then slide it back and forth to clean it up.

Looked like it worked just fine. If you make a series of holes along the mortise, you're not stressing the drill press out very much when you clean up the excess. He didn't say anything about it harming the drill press.

Reply to
else24

There are mortising bits for drill presses specifically designed for this. They cut on the down stroke like a forstner bit and then have a side flute to remove material along the sides of the bit. You just drill down across the length of your mortise to remove the majority of the stock then slowly move the piece back and forth with the bit extended down into the mortise to remove the little bit of excess remaining. I've used before with good results

Gary A in KC

Reply to
Gary A in KC

I'd probably opt to create a jig and use the router. You could pre drill a starting point if you are worried about a free hand plunge.

Reply to
SonomaProducts.com

I've done it that way and gotten very nice results. but then I have a mill-drill.

it works, but it's slow. if you only have a few to do it might be ok, but pretty soon it becomes obvious that making a jig and using the router will get you there faster and better.

nothing at all wrong with using chisels, though.

Reply to
bridgerfafc

I've tried that, a lot of stress on the drill press, very slow.

Make a jig for your router. I have several for different operations, somewhat adjustable. One I use the most is for leg mortises to accept table apron tennons.

Even though I have a dedicated mortiser, I prefer the router jig. Much cleaner slots and faster.

Frank

Reply to
Frank Boettcher

Read the original post again.

Reply to
CW

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