Hi All,
I have a Powermatic table top mortiser I purchased 5ish years ago. I don’t’ use it that much but it comes in handy from time to time if I don’t want to do a mortise by hand or I have a lot of mortises to do. I don’t have a drill press and would like to get one. I know folks usually ask the opposite conversion, but, I was wondering, is it possible to convert a mortiser to just be a drill press? My drilling needs are fairly simple and I’ve been looking to get a drill press. If I can convert my mortiser easily to be a drill press, I may not need to purchase another tool. And, yes, I’ve thought of selling the mortiser and getting a drill press and buying the conversion kit. Firstly, I’d like to just see if I can solve the problem by converting what I already own to a simple drill press. Many thanks.
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Replies
https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?239514-Can-anyone-tell-me-why-a-mortiser-can-t-be-used-as-a-drill-press
Lots of reasons it's a lousy idea.
Thanks. I did a google search prior to this post and didn't come across this.
I think a mortiser would make a terrible drill press. Ewwww. No.
I think using a mortiser as a drill press would be worse than using a drill press as a mortiser which you can do but is universally considered pretty bad. You can probably just chuck a bit into your mortiser and see how you do. My mortiser just operates on one speed, that limits you quite a bit, so to speak.