Pillar drill &/ or Morticer

[Togalosh]

Hello Gents,

I am fairly new to buying good quality machinery & so need some advice on what you'd recommend & what makes to look out for.

I want a morticer but a brand new, good quality one is expensive so I was thinking of getting a decent old pillar drill & fit it with a mortice chisel & get rid of my almost toy-like pillar drill. This will save space & get me a better drill too..the only flaw in all this is that I can see machines for sale but do not know there worth ( I sort of know what specs to check i.e. throat /cut depth & motor power - the bigger the better) or if I can get parts for them if they fail in the future.

Also I do not know if a pillar drill with a chisel works as well as a morticer. I get it that a drill will not have a fence & moveable bed but I'm not doing hours of drilling or morticing to absolutely need that level of design - a good all rounder will do nicely..

Any advice will be welcome.

 

[Elapid]

Clarke do a morticing attachment that fits on some of their better pillar drills. I never used it so it might be rubbish. I only mention it as I remembered seeing it the other day.

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... attachment

 

[SteveW1000]

I've never used a morticer attachment for a pillar drill only used Multico morticers but I'm lead to believe that they don't work very well which makes sense when you compare the length of a handle on a drill with the handle on a morticer which is four or five times longer. Remember its not just the drill / auger your advancing into the wood but pushing a square hollow chisel as well. Some of the smaller Multico morticers had a drill attachment you could add but with limited throat and hight.

Steve

 

[fluffflinger]

I have a small bench top morticer and although it does a good job in all but the most demanding circumstances I can see and feel it is at it's limit physically. I can't imagine (and judging by the majority of revues online) these bolt on attachments to pillar drilsl being all that good.

Personally a good jig (mine was based on the design in Bill Hylton's Router Magic) and a good router is a far better alternative. If you already have the router you are more than halfway there and if you don't then it will do a million times more than a morticer. Loose tenon joinery is quick, easy and a very sound construction method made easiest with a Domino but a good router setup is cheaper and within reach of the impoverished amateur (that's me by the way). That's why I favour a router and jig, after all you can't put a mortice in the end of a rail with a morticer.

I'd also add that a good pillar drill is vital in any shop and with one you can rough out 98% of a mortice with a drill bit only leaving minimal cleanup with a sharp chisel.

 

[Togalosh]

Personally a good jig (mine was based on the design in Bill Hylton's Router Magic) and a good router is a far better alternative.

I have a nice router but the noise, dust & all the PPE put me off a bit..not to mention the intense concentration needed- a morticer just seems to be a far less stressful option...but I suppose with a good jig, a better hose on my extractor & the money to be saved perhaps I need to rethink things. I've been roughing out the mortice with a drill & clearing up but this was not so fast as the remainder seemed to be more..fibrous, stringy (?) and a pain in the arris to remove then I saw a thread about chopping a mortice in another way & that worked a bit better..or so it seemed. Maybe closer matching the dill bit would be better but that's not always that easy- thanks FF

Clarke do a morticing attachment that fits on some of their better pillar drills. I never used it so it might be rubbish. I only mention it as I remembered seeing it the other day.

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... attachment

I had seen this a few times & it was what I had in mind but something stopped me getting it..probably having a cheapo drill. I haven't seen any reviews though - I'll look out for some. Thanks