Thread: Delta hollow morticer

Harry, I'll do the best I can;

1. Its really a personal preference, is it going to be permanently fixed? or put away when not in use. My main consideration is ability to support/position longer pieces (if needed) and making sure there is no untoward movement. A dedicated metal stand, built to your preferred height, is the way to go I reckon.

2. Never seen the need to connect the chisel morticers I have used to the dusty, could be good I guess.

3. NFIW

4. Should be bugger all effort, smooth and easy to control. People often bugger up chisels, and get poor results, by forcing the chisel. Nice and slow/steady, cut in and back it out, don't burn the bugger. You need a smooth easy feed to control the cutting rate. Jarrah clogs a lot of chisels very easily so you must back it out regularly.

5. Machining from both sides will double the marking out and double the setup. Use a packing piece and cut through....carefully.


Cheers and congratulations on your purchase. Look after your chisels and they will save you heaps of time.

Work away from the vent(?) on the side of the chisel, you will soon work out why, I also cut leaving spaces half the width of the chisel which I get on a second pass.
I don't use a DC but just brush it off and clean up later.
A 10c piece is about the right size for spacing the chisel above the drill bit.

Thanks for the advice fella's.

Harry - I sat mine on its own stand, which is about a metre-something high (? I'm guessing - it's a long time since I made it, and it's sitting in storage at the moment, so can't rush out and measure). Anyway, the point is, I made the stand after using it on a standard bench for a while, and found myself half crouching and doing some weird contortions to get the right position. The bonus is that it puts the workpiece up where you can see it, and in my case it also kept the work well clear of machines and benches either side of the morticer.
Just a suggestion, in case you haven't discovered it already...
Cheers,

Yeah good idea IanW, havent had much of a play yet dam to hot in the workshop(shed!)tis around 36 in the shade...
I did do my first mortice last night in some pine, spaced the chisel with a 10c piece like Iain said works a treat.
Did a search here and found that the supplied chisel set isnt of the best quality, wheres the best place to get from.
Timbecon has available singluar ranging from approx $15-20 each and MIK's has a 5pc set for $50 are these cheapys?
Cant seem to find any other ones on the net, cant get into CT's main site as I get usual cookie problems with their site and Perths CT's dont display any.
How many different machines use the same chisels, will JET chisels fit my Delta?

Harry,

Best of luck with the morticer, but I have to say that I shall not be surprised if you revert to using the router morticing jig.

As for cutting tenons on the morticing jig, I much prefer the table-saw tenoning jig. See http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ead.php?t=6993

With that jig, and a dado set with a spacer in place of the chippers, you can cut both cheeks of the tenon in a single pass.

Rocker

Originally Posted by Harry72

Did a search here and found that the supplied chisel set isnt of the best quality, wheres the best place to get from.
Timbecon has available singluar ranging from approx $15-20 each and MIK's has a 5pc set for $50 are these cheapys?
How many different machines use the same chisels, will JET chisels fit my Delta?

I'm still using the set that came with the machine. I certainly haven't been kind to them, expecting them to expire very rapidly. But they've chopped out redgum and other tough woods as well as the softer cabinet timbers, and are still going strong after more than 12 years of fairly regular use. I must've fluked a super set, because I couldn't imagine anything harder than the steel in these chisels, yet they don't seem to chip in nirmal use. They've done yeoman service, putting up with my learning phase (like realising you can't overlap too much with the 1/4" bit, or it deflects alarmingly toward the previous hole). As others have said, allowing the vented side to clear into the previous hole helps keep things clear and cool. I also highly recommend polishing the sides of the chisels to as high a shine as you can - it makes a huge difference in how easily and cleanly the chisels withdraw.

Couldn't disagree with you more, Rocker - there's no way I'd contemplate using a screaming banshee to cut mortices after having a half-decent hollow chisel setup. I can cut 20 mortices in 10 minutes & listen to Mozart during and after........

I've tried all sorts of ways to cut tenons, but usually end up either sawing the cheeks by the 'Armstrong' method, or using multiple passes over the table saw cleaned up with chisel and shoulder plane. I've tried various jigs on the t/saw, but the fiddling around to get it perfect just isn't worth it for me. The average cabinet I build has relatively few mortised joints, and there always seems to be several different thicknesses, so it ends up far quicker (and more acurate) for me to saw and pare to fit.
Just my take - everyone has his/her preferred methods.....
Cheers,

Rock, I cant use a TS tennon jig with my TS as its a POS cant line up the blade with the mitre slots... but once I get a nice TS yes I proberly will use one with a dado set.

Your M&T jig is very good a cutting tennons, I will mod it to only cut tennons, only need 1 side stop and some support from underneath. The tennons will be cut with the piece coming in from the side not straight up and down.

From the few mortices I've cut so far with the delta I dont think I will need to go back to the jig, unless I want a rounded edge finish of course.

I reckon cutting the tennons with a TS and jig(no dado set)will be no faster than using the M&T jig, once its set up for it.
The M&T jig allows for very smooth square sides on the tennon(within .01mm), I imagine the TS blade would leave some marks?

IanW, so you reckon I should just soldier on with the orginals and give them a polish up?
Have you tried out the sharpening kit like Timbecon has got, is it worth the $90?

Originally Posted by Harry72

IanW, so you reckon I should just soldier on with the orginals and give them a polish up?
Have you tried out the sharpening kit like Timbecon has got, is it worth the $90?

Harry - It depends on what your set is like. I have often seen posts in this BB and others saying how bad the cheapies are and how good the Austrian-made ones are. They can't all be wrong, so I'm prepared to accept that I got lucky. If the Austrian ones are lots better than mine, all I can think is that they must measure and cut the mortice without human help .
On the other hand, my morticing machine IS a pathetic pile of junk! That's what you get for buying the first cheapie to hit the market. I know a bit more about what to look for in its replacement, which I can almost justify after putting up with the idiosyncracies of this one for so long! Still, it does do the job pretty efficiently (and quietly!) - you just have to be aware of its quirks.
The chisels that came with it were straight off a pretty rough surface grinder, and took a deal of effort to polish (on a diamond lap) but that made a huge difference to the way they work.
No, I haven't tried the sharpening kits - so far I have gotten by just polishing the outsides regularly, but will have to get some cones for the inside bits, soon. I'm about to order the ones from Lee Valley, (which are way less than $90...
Cheers,

I have just purchased the Delta Mortiser and found the same as Harry, it was very stiff when pulling the handle. I think it was packed this way for transport purposes. Anyway a quick read of the manual and a few screw adjustments soon sorted it out. It does have one minor design fault, there is a material hold down jig that comes with the saw, it has a grub screw for height adjustment, the grub screw is too long to allow the jig to fully engage to the bottom position. I find it strange that no one at Delta has picked it up.

I’ve done a couple of test pieces on both hard and soft wood, both came out a treat. As for the tenons, I was contemplating buying a proper tenon jig for the saw but I went into my local steel outlet and rummaged through the off cut bin. I found not one but two pieces of 3/8in angle 6” x 4”. Both cut dead square 200mm long, what a bit of luck. Just started to build the jig from one of them.

On another matter my wife purchased a GMC 150mm disc/belt sander for a Christmas present. I used it twice and it ceased up, I took it back and got a replacement last week, guess what, the inside mechanism was all out of alignment and I never got to even plug it in. I got my money back and purchased the Ryobi, it looks a bit more solid anyway.

Now that I have most of what I need, my wife wants to know when I’m actually going to make something, I seem to be forever making things for “setting up”, jigs etc or stuff for the workshop, benches etc. Told her I will start soon.

Harry,

Cutting tenons with a dado set and tenoning jig is very quick, easy and accurate. The tenon cheeks come out smooth and normally need no paring -only the ends need cutting to fit the mortice.

IanW,
Your experience with a cheap morticer, that it is quirky and presumably therefore inaccurate, tends to confirm my view that only the more expensive morticers, costing at least $400, can do as good a job as a precision router morticing jig. I don't see that the noise that a router makes has much bearing on the question, since wearing ear-muffs can cure that problem.

Rocker

Originally Posted by Rocker

IanW,
I don't see that the noise that a router makes has much bearing on the question, since wearing ear-muffs can cure that problem.

Rocker

True, ol chap, but my neighbors may not share your enthusiasm! And getting them to wear their ear protectors all day has proven a bit problematic

I just don't like routers, I'll admit it freely, (even though I have a couple - there are a few jobs nothing else can do as well!!). Nothing rational - just a personal distaste.

I wouldn't say my quirky mortiser is inaccurate, it does a fine job, as long as you are aware of its little quirks. It's just quirky, and I want a better one!!
Cheers,

Stubchain, mine has a bolt with a lever on it for that adjustment? Have you worked out the raiser block yet?
Rock, I cant wait to get a dado set for my nice TS that I dont own yet, allthough they're offering finance options at Timbecon Hmmmm... I can see a new TSC10 HB and a 16" SBW4300 Bsaw, 6in Jointer - WJ-150-Q, 6x9in Sander - BDS-69-W coming my way if the SWMBO OK's it!

Harry I only got the mortiser a week ago, no need to try the extension as yet, I probably won't until I need it. Mine also has a height adjustment bolt with a lever, the bit with the long grub screw is the shaft that holds the hold down jig in place, it does not allow the jig to fully drop, it's only a mater of 1mm or so.