mortising kit for Sears drill press
toolman50
| Posted in Power Tools and Machinery on
I recently purchased a new 17″ drill press from Sears (Model # OR20501) and was told by the store employee that I could order a mortising kit on-line, which I did. When I received it, I fould that it wouldn’t fit my drill because there wasn’t enough clearance between the bottom of the chuck and the chisel attachment. There was only approx. 3/8″, which wouldn’t allow you to tighten the chuck up on the bit (which also made the drill bit length about 2″ too long).
Does anyone know of any other mortising kit that might fit this drill, or is there none available? Thanks.
Replies
If Sears doesn't make a kit then there probably isn't one available. In addition, you will probably be disappointed with the mortise attachment's performance even if you did find one that fit your drill. A drill press doesn't have the stiffness and enough leverage with the feed mechanism to mortise properly and it is rough on the machine.
John White, Shop Manager, Fine Woodworking Magazine
Edited 1/29/2007 6:23 pm ET by JohnWW
Thanks for the response, John. I do have a benchtop mortiser (Jet) which works pretty well, but it doesn't have the throat capacity to do larger peices. I can't justify the money for a larger one and thought the bigger drill press would do the job. Would your suggestion be to just drill and chisel, or would I be better off building a mortising jig for my plunge router and rounding my tenon corners to fit?
If you ask five woodworkers how to make a mortise you'll get at least seven answers.
If you aren't into building or buying the jig for the router method, then drilling and chiseling is one way to go, but traditionalists just chop the mortise out with a proper mortise chisel and skip the drilling part. My personal favorite method is to use a horizontal boring machine and loose tenons.
John W.
I bought a table top Griz drill press in the 80s and their mortise bit set for a dedicated mortiser and once I learned how to tune the bits it works fine for me. I haven't used a table top mortiser and I don't think they were available at the time. I would not junk my set up for one now.I know their bit sets aren't the best but I would replace them with better bits if I could find some to fit and the ones they have now are probably better than mine.pins
I have one for a Sears drill press that I bought in 1974, I don't use it any more as I have a dedicated morticer. If you live near northern Ohio you might want to see if it will fit your drill press.
Edited 1/29/2007 6:29 pm ET by mrbird90
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled