Mortising attachment for a drill press

[krw]

I presume these quaint tools came before the Domino, eh Leon?

[krw]

I have a Mortise Pal, though I don't think they're available anymore.

[Lew Hodgett]

-------------------------------------------------- SFWIW

Took a piece of 8 by 8 graph paper and attached it to

1/4" hardboard with rubber cement.

The 8x8 grid made set ups a snap.

Lew

[Martin Eastburn]

The drill takes out most of the wood (or should) and you must let it transport it to the surface or you jamb up the Mortise chisels and run the risk of splitting the chisel. So the process is in / out or down and up a bit and down for more. Not to Drive like you are pressing a nail into the wood.

Mart> >

[Electric Comet]

that makes sense too so you're saying a lot of force is not needed but that depends on the wood

but it all sounds primitive

where're the laser mortisers

they have laser etchers/engravers seems like a laser mortiser would just need a few more passes

or maybe super high pressure water like they use to cut paper

maybe a little messy for the typical artisan

[Leon]

Sorta :-). I recall my shop class room having two DP's, one had a mortiser attachment with foot pedal assist. All of the mortiser pieces were a different color from the rest of the DP. That was 1969. Somewhere in the 90's I recall $200 bench top mortisers hit my radar and I bought a Delta. That worked but I have not used it since getting the Domino when they were introduced, some time around 2007-8 I know of no tool that cuts mortises as quickly and easily as the Domino.

[John McCoy]

Martin Eastburn wrote in news:p8FZw.338244 $ [e-mail]:

That's not quite right. The first pass usually has to be done in several up & down strokes. The remaining passes are a single down stoke (assuming you have the chisel oriented so the opening faces the previously cut part of the mortise, which is how you should have it oriented).

John

[Martin Eastburn]

Dad had a Delta unit on his double belted Delta. Sorry it went the way of thief out of my brothers shop. Like I said in/out or down and up a bit down for more. Can't push it all of the way.

You said the same thing but added a final fine cut or clean out pass. Big deal - that wasn't the process discussed.

Mart> Martin Eastburn wrote in news:p8FZw.338244

[G. Ross]

I make my own plugs. Get a dowel that fits and cut it into 6" lengths, put some glue on the DOWEL and tap it into the hole. Later saw it off with a flush-cut saw and use the other end. Cut the leftover in half with a scroll saw and use the two halves. If you put the glue in the hole it will gum up the screw and make it difficult to remove if you ever need to do so. (As I just had to do to replace a hand rail.)

[John McCoy]

Martin Eastburn wrote in news:HHYZw.354665$ [e-mail]:

No, that's not what I said. I said on a proper mortising machine, all the cuts except for the very first are done in a single pass. It's only the first hole (which will be square) where you have to be concerned about allowing the shavings to clear. In every succeeding cut, the shavings fall into the mortise.

Now, possibly it's different on an underpowered and under-leveraged drill press attachement. But with a mortising machine, it is "push it all of the way".

John

[Martin Eastburn]

Going to have to explain "in every succeeding cut, the shavings fall into the mortise."

Is this the second hole ? Is this a first ? If the first it is up and down clearing.

If you are cutting man made material - MDF or such - it might not matter. When cutting oak and hard maple - one better go slow.

I have seen chisels split by wood jamming into the cavity and using the drill to compact and stretch.

The drill press had power. Real power. Three pulley, two belts. The motor was a 3/4 hp and could really run the spindle. It was for Metal and Wood use. It had a special spindle for This and another for boring while a normal drill spindle with a 1/2" chuck that would hold sub 1/16 centered. It was heavy duty Delta - built in the early 50's. Not like the pot metal ones you see today.

Mart> Martin Eastburn wrote in

[John McCoy]

Martin Eastburn wrote in news:hkd_w.282787 $ [e-mail]:

It should be clear, but anyway: when you make a mortise, you make a series of slightly overlapping cuts - if you're using a 3/8" chisel for a 2" mortise, you'll probably make

6 cuts.

The first cut, the shavings have nowhere to go but up the chisel. That one you (usually) have to make in several up and down strokes, to let the shavings clear.

The next cut, slightly overlapping the first, the shavings will fall into the hole made by the first cut. And so on down the line, each succeeding cut the shavings fall into the hole from the prior cuts.

The only way that doesn't happen is if the open side of the chisel is not facing the prior cuts. In that case, the shavings again have nowhere to go but up. But if you're doing it that way, you're doing it wrong.

I mostly work with maple & cherry, incidently...no problem cutting the mortises in single pulls.

John

[Jack]

I have an old King Seely Drill press built I guess in the 40's. I used the mortising attachment that I got with it for many years, and it worked perfect, no problem with the power, no problem with the arms not giving enough leverage, and the hold down was better than the one on my Delta dedicated mortiser. The only real draw back, which was mentioned by someone earlier, was it was a pain to put on and off, and when installed, you had no drill press. I was going to buy a cheap bench drill press to leave it on, but never got aroundtoit.

The dedicated mortiser is OK, but it's drawback is it is always there, even though I don't use it all that often. Less often since I've been using pocket holes for all face frames.

For cabinet doors, I'd prefer a frame and panel cutter set and stub tenons rather than using mortise and tenon. I would recommend skipping the drill press attachment, skip the dedicated mortiser, and buy a good set or two of frame and panel Knives for my shaper or even a router if you don't have a shaper. For giant mortises, say in a front door for your house, use a router.

[Jack]

I don't often use plugs, but I make my own with a simple jig. Make a pocket hole in a piece of scrap, insert a dowel a bit longer than the hole, then I use my disk sander to sand off the excess. Also, drill a hole in the other end of the jig to pop out the dowel filler. Works like a charm if you need fillers. Typically, I don't use pocket holes where they show.

[Swingman]

Good to see you back...

[Jack]

Thanks Swing. Never really left, just don't participate much.

[(;harles]

" If you have a short 3 handle drill press don't do it."

When I built my woodworking drill press table for my Rigid floor-mounted press, I found the Long Arms interfered with the table!

As a result, I discovered how simple it was to re-fit the press with shorter arms.

Thus, I would not think a short-arm drill press was necessarily an obstacle to employing a mortising attachment - maybe all you need do is retro-fit a longer arm or two.

[(;harles]

A now this has me wondering if i could remove a handle and make one

B not sure if there are other limitations with the drill press

B - "Simple enough to check, right?"

I knew a fellow who connected a (spring-loaded) foot-pedal affair to control the quill movement.

But, how much work are you willing to do to save some time and effort with the mortices for this project?.

For the $$ and intended use, it might be worth trying out the HFT dedicated mortising attachment - if you can complete the work in thirty days . . .

If you already have the Mortising Attachment - do use it, do make do.

[Electric Comet]

i'm only a member of the peanut gallery on this thread and was only trying to understand why the reply to the OP mentioned the handle length

it turns out that it was due to the force needed to press down to make the cut

then much bluster ensued about doing more cuts that take less material and taking care to clear the swath between cuts

the co op with the CNC router with vacuum hold down would be the way to go

could do all mortises in one go not sure about the tenons yet

I do but don't want to use it see above