Question for owners of both drill press and dedicated morticer

[Ben from Vic.]

I have the use of a cr@py little Ryobi drill press and have been looking at purchasing my own, but then I considered a dedicated morticer and wondered how much, and for what, would you use a drill press if you owned both?

I ask this question to try to figure out the allocation of funds for each machine.

Currently I have my eye on the CarbaTec DP-3125B 1HP 12 Speed Extra Heavy Radial Bench Drill Press (http://www.carbatec.com.au/machinery-for-wood-and-metal-working/drill-presses/carba-tec-1hp-12-speed-extra-heavy-radial-bench-drill-press), but it's not cheap (even on sale) and i've been wondering if the money could be better spent?

Ben.

[BobR]

I have both. If funds permitted me to purchase only one, then it would be the drill. The dedicated mortiser is just that, a dedicated mortiser. One the other hand, the drill can be used to make a mortise via an attachment or by drilling the stock and completing it with a chisel. Also, for pure drilling, a drill press can make life so much easier, especially with large size bits. I would use the drill far more often than the mortiser.

[Ben from Vic.]

Thanks Bob, I'll keep that in mind.:)

[Jim Carroll]

All depends on how much mortising you intend to do.

If only a couple of small jobs then the drill press will handle this if any more then the mortiser is better and easier to use. So you would need both.

[Ben from Vic.]

Most of my furniture is made with M&Ts which I think means that I'd use a Mortiser a lot more than a drill press. If I had a mortiser, the main uses I can think of for a drill press would be the odd large or precise hole and for spinning my sanding drums, whereas a mortiser would potentialy get a lot more work on all the M&Ts. Just having a think about it before I go out and spend all my hard earned on a monster drill press and then find that the money could heve been better alocated.

Ben.