Delta Mortising Kit for the drill press

From what I’ve seen the reviews are mixed based on what people are comparing them to. Beats the heck out of a chisel and mallet but far cry from designated mortising machine.
One of my friends likes his. The other one loved his – until he tried then bought a mortising machine.
Having access to both, I prefer taking my pieces to the dedicated machine over borrowing the kit to fit my DP.

-- CaptnA - "When someone hurts you, write it in the sand so the winds of forgiveness will scatter the memory... "

They work if you don’t mind frustration. They are very difficult to set up. Most light duty drill presses aren’t designed to produce the force necessary for the tool.

I had one, gave it away and bought a dedicated machine. Every project I make uses mortises. I think it was a good investment.

-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net

Joe,
I have and use quite often the mortising attachment from Delta on a 30yr old Delta floor model drill press. It does take sometime to set up each time I use it, but it works well. If you only intend to use it on occassion, then it works well. I agree with ChicoWoodnut, it does take a bit of force on the handles of the drill press to operate efficiently. You can get excellent results with it. I’ll add also that should a dedicated mortising machine become available at a very attractice price in the near future, I’ll probably own it! While I have not helped your delimna, I suppose. I’ll reiterate, it does it’s intended job and does it well on a proper sized drill press. It’s really not a gimmick! Hope this is of some help.

Sincerely,
Ken McGinnis

-- woodbutcher north carolina

Agree with most everyone. Have one myself, works, but a lot of setup required. Once you get used to using M&T then you will find yourself wanting either to spend money to get a second DP or a dedicated machine. I found a dedicated machine on CL for $150. Keep searching. Otherwise you will spend money on kit now, then a machine later. good luck

Ditto tooldad…save your pennies for a used dedicated machine on CL. I’ve got one I’ve used exactly once. By the time I had it set up, I could have routed and hand squared up the mortises…which is what I’m back to.

-- Patrick, Chicago, IL http://www.TenonAndSpline.com/blog

I have one made by AMT.
Send me $10 for my troubles in packing it up and the postage and you can have mine.
Probably weighs 10 lbs.
Lee

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

I got one for 10 bucks on Ebay brand new. It works, set up is a pain. If you do not do a lot of mortises then they are a cheap alternative. Especially for 10 bucks.

If you are going to do a lot then get the machine.

-- Measure once cut twice....oh wait....ooops.

Thanks for all the responses and the offerings. I was drinking some java with the Admiral (wife) this morning, and she asked how the table was coming along. I told her about my dilemma, and she said well if you need one go ahead and get a dedicated mortiser :)

I see Woodcraft has a Steel City bench top on sale for $270. Now I need to go and do some research to find the best bang for the buck.

-- Senior Chief

Powermatic has a nice benchtop. If you do a Craigslist search you will find plenty of Jet benchtop mortisers, not sure what that means but you can find them cheap.

-- Just 'cause a cat has kittens in the oven, it don't make 'em biscuits.

Dude!

That rocks.

Now lets see some mortises (morti?)

Hmmmm

-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net

I have that mortising kit for my drill press! It works fine!

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker