Mortising Attachment

[rolands]

Has anyone used the SS mortising attachment and hold down? I have a chance to pickup all sizes of mortising bits brand new for $10 a piece, but I believe that I need the mortising attachment in order to use them. I see SS has the attachment and hold down on sale by the piece or as a package with 3 sizes of bits. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Bruce]

I don't have one and I'm not sure if you can use the bits without the mortising unit, but if you can you could use them to drill square holes for decorative plugs.

[chiroindixon]

I looked at the idea and dropped it. One of the instructors at a TA mentioned that at the time, this attachment had been dropped from the catalog. There had been too many complaints of stripped gears. The metal works inside the headstock are just too soft to withstand the serious loads to push chisel through hardwoods.

So...I read the complete reviews in WOOD (?) on ten different machines and could see his point. The better dedicated mortisers have heavy duty gearing to make that plunge without damage.

Then there is the issue of whether the quill handle can take it. On dedicated machines, the handle is twice the length in order to give you decent leverage.

Even on sale, it's not much of a bargain when a heavier dedicated unit can be had for not much more.

While I love my Mark V, there are just some attachments that are not worth purchasing IMHO.

You could however buy and sharpen those chisels and use more traditionally. I've seen Norm drill them with bit, then trim with square or mortising chisels by hand. As with all chisels and other cutting tools, a sharp edge is essential. Easier work, more fun ans SAFER.

Doc

[reible]

Hi,

Just so we understand what is being said... The mortising set-up has several parts that all must work together. The bit or drill bit part is different then a normal twist drill but does the same sort of function of removing the wood from the hole (mortis). The chisel is the squareing part that makes the hole square. You have to have a way of holding the chisel square to the fence and to locate the bit in relation to the chisel. The part that does that is the holder.

You can not freely mix and match parts, the holder takes a chisel of a certain size and like wise the bits need to match to some degree the length needed.

The hold down comes in two versions, one for the older fences with the hole in them and another version for the 520 pro fence and other with the t-slot top. The model that works with the t-slot will also work in the older fence with the hole. (You could drill and tap the older one to allow it to work like the new one...)

The first hole that is made requires the most force, you are in effect chiseling all four sides, the remainder of the holes for the mortis require less force. One of the importain things to remember is that the chisel needs to be sharp and you have to take your time and don't force things.

As far as the forces within the machine... if you do any metal drilling you will find that the forces for the mortising are more in line with that... I personally don't know of anyone wrecking their machine by do either of those things. If I had to guess I would look more for abuse then design issues in the shopsmith or perhaps a bad batch of parts... and if shopsmith did drop the mortising because of this design flaw then why did they start selling it again?????

I too had heard the news that shopsmith had dropped the hollow chisel mortising.... and this was several years ago... but when I check then and as I checked again now, it is still offered. There may have been a time when it wasn't but I have no details on that. Most likely we don't care, right?

I have had good use out of my set-up purchased back in the late 1970's and I have never had any issue with how it or the shopsmith worked. I did how ever find some ways to make it easier/better.... one of these has to do with the forces required, yes some physical effort is required to do cuts with the short lever arm on the shopsmith, the improvement was with the purchase of the three-lever drill press handle (555491) . It helps by letting you pick you hand/arm position better. I have a couple of others but we will leave them for another time.

I now find I like to use a router for mortises and thus have been using the shopsmith attachment a lot less. I have the old shopsmith Joint-Matic and the old over arm router along with several other methods of using the router that all work well.

I know Norm loves his dedicated mortiser... heard that enough time right??? I can not speak to that as I don't have one and will most likely live out my days that way. My mortising set up is in a small drawer tucked away and his is taking up bench space (oh yea now I remember he built a special cabnet to store it in...), he has a big shop, I don't, he most likely uses his more then I do...

Ed

[rolands]

Thanks for your comments. I think I'm going to go ahead and order the attachment. Thats what I really like about the board, you get a lot of good opinions and information.

[a1gutterman]

On page 42 of the 2006 Mark V Accessory Catolog is stated: "Several years ago, we discontinued the Hollow Chisel Mortising Attachment that we had offered for many years. This was due largely to the fact that hollow chisel mortising was fading in popularity...as more and more woodworkers were turning to slot mortising with a router. As is the case, with many things in life, this trend is now reversing itself as hollow chisel mortising regains its popularity. Fortunately, we held onto the tooling for this once popular accessory and are now able to bring it back, per your numerous requests."

Nothing is mentioned about the accessory causing damage to the SS.

[paulmcohen]

I have used it many times (IN HARD MAPLE) with the 520 and have never had any issues. I don't have room for the decicated machine so it was never a choice.

[rolands]

I received the mortising attachment on Thursday and tried it Friday and it works great. I'm glad that I got it and I think it will be put to some good use. Once again, thanks for all of the comments on this.