Delta 14-651 Mortiser Question

Your fence should have some adjustment to it. To make mortises you must have the stock square to the fence.
The fence should move forward and backward and should lock down at each end.

-- Genius is immediate, but talent takes time.

I have the same machine and there is no adjustment to square the fence to the table. It looks like the top your fence is leaning back toward the column, right?

The only thing you can do to fix that would be to have a machinist square it up or use shims between the back of the fence and the base.

If your stock is square and you hold it flat against the base and the bottom of the fence, it should still work even with a gap at the top of the fence..

I don’t see the hold down. That was included wasn’t it?

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Yes GaryK, it is learning back toward the column. At first I did not note this until I saw that when I line up the fence with the end of the lock-down slots one side is 3/16’s of an inch different.

There is a hold down but I removed it when trying to diagnose the problem. I note I can buy replacement parts from Delta which will defeat the money saved buying it used. Oh well, I am going to remove the motor and column assembly and see exactly which parts I will need. I assume it will be a new fence and rack.

Mike
Orlando, FL

I see what you are talking about, the lengths of the slots are a bit different, doesn’t really matter as long as the chisel is square to the fence.

(Gary, I don’t think it’s the fence that is tilting, just that it’s skewed a bit, it was the comment about the lock down slots that clued me in)

-- I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso

I agree with Damian. As long as the fence is square to both the table surface and the chisel, you will get the mortises you need. This is assuming that the two fence halves are parallel. If not parallel, then you could add an auxillary fence with the right side being thicker to make the two parallel.

-- Scott in Texas

I bought the same tool off of craigslist. It was noticeably out of square. I removed the column from the base, and drilled out the bolt holes to a larger size. This allowed me to rotate the column into alignment with the base.The base is threaded, the bolts go through the column and screw into the base.I believe the bolts are metric, about 5/16”. The base is drilled to about 3/8”. I’m relying on my memory here, proceed with caution. I started with a drill bit one size larger than the hole, and worked my way up. Drill and check, drill again and check again.The hardest part of the whole fix is getting that metal flap back in, the one that goes over the track.I had to remove the fence as a unit from the column and the base, then remove the column from the base. There is a screw that attaches the flap to the fence. I removed the flap from the fence, then turned the whole thing on it’s side, and fed the flap through the column, up and over the gear that moves the fence back and forth.It sounds a lot harder than it really is. I paid $50 for mine, I was willing to gamble on fixing it.

Why not make a straight subfence in wood to go against the original fence that would work glue it in place or screw it in place to be removable or try a metal wedg I would try that.best of luck try shimming also.Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

I made an error in the above post. I drilled the column, not the base. Where I said “The base is drilled to about 3/8” ” that should be the column is drilled to about 3/8”. Sorry!

I own the same mortiser, and I agree with Damian. Just align the chisel to the fence, and you’ll be ok. If you look at any of the tables I’ve built, I cut all the mortises with this same mortiser. I just align the chisel with the fence.

-- Matt, Houston Texas