Bench top mortiser

[ufg8r85]

I'm still working on the girls' bunkbeds. I'm at the point where I need to put mortises into the posts and the headboards. I tried(on scrap) using my drill press and the hand chiseling the rest. I do not feel comfortable doing this, I'm now looking at bench top mortisers. Delta 14-651 seems to get good reviews, how about the Craftsman model? With the head turned 180 degrees how will I support the headboard as I mortise into the side?
Any ideas, suggestions always welcome.

Thanks,
Steve

[jonmulzer]

The heads do not turn that I am aware of. Just one orientation, straight down. Why couldn't you mortise the pieces like that? Have you considered using a router and edge guide if you have one?

Why don't you like using the drill press and chisel? It is time consuming, but can make for an excellent joint.

[reddog552]

Mortiser

GOOD DEAL I like Grizzly

[LarryG]

I have the Delta 14-651; fine machine. That Grizzly looks suspiciously like it. Which is to say, it appears absolutely identical apart from a couple minor details like the power switch housing. The castings all look exactly the same, and both have the same 1-3/4" high riser block. Specs look the same, too. I'd say they're twins under their paint jobs.

The amazon.com blurb for the Delta says the "head column swings 180 degrees for off-table work." That's more than a little misleading. It's possible to unbolt the column and turn it around backwards, but in no way does the column "swing."

[LCHIEN]

I have the Jet JBM-5 and I can recommend it (altho the afore mentioned Delta is probably just as good).
The vertical post has three mounting holes at 120 degrees, the base is drilled with six holes, I think the intention is that you can turn it 180 degrees, but theoreticaly you have 6 choices of angles most of which make no sense to use. you can't get 90 and 270 degrees.

[breed]

I just made the same purchase a few weeks ago. I am building a full sized bed for my son and although I have done the drill press/chisel method before, I wanted something faster. My design for the bed contained both hidden and through mortises for a total of 60 mortises. They were all about 2.5" wide and from 1/2" to 4" deep.

I had narrowed my choice down to the Delta, but ended up going with the Steel City once I took a look at it at the store. As others have said, many of these have very similar if not identical designs in this power range. The only thing the Steel City did not have was the riser block but if I need to mortise items that thick, there are other ways to get through. It can rotate 180 if needed for tall pieces. A couple of the things it did have that the others didn't were the open chuck access and extension wings.

On the base, it has two extension wings that slide out for a little better workpiece support on long pieces. For the chuck access, it has two clear doors on each side that seem to give a little better access to the chuck for mounting the bits. The doors may not have the durability of the metal ones, but they are pretty sturdy and I take very good care of my tools anyway.

The price for this one was a little bit higher, but they had a rebate going. I think the rebate is still valid.

I don't think you can go wrong with most of those mentioned, but just thought I would share my experience. It saved me many hours of corner chisel work on these and was money well spent.

Oh yeah, the chisels on all of these are OK but if you are going to use them, you will want to sharpen them first and regularly. Makes for a much easier plunge.

[Uncle Cracker]

I got the HF on sale for $69. It's one of only two HF motorized tools I have, and aside from the crap fence and hold-down it comes with, I have actually been very happy with it. Left me with extra cash to spend on other things, too.