Hi everybody, My name is John i am from the Netherlands and an amateur woodworker.
I came across this site while looking for some info on the domino and decided to register.

Some of the work you people do is amazing and a joy to view.

I have been using Festools for about 9 years and have gathered a nice collection so far.

The latest addition was the domino which i purchassed a few days ago. I had some left over 20mm thick oak floor boards
lying around and decided to make  a small 90x90cm, 50 cm high table. The boards were a little cupped so i had to joint and plane
em down to about 15mm, and glue 4 of them together for the legs. The domino was used for the edge joints and the mitres and i
must say it works like a charm. I did not get all 100% smooth joints but they were very close. A few minutes with the beltsander (a festool too)
and the tabletop was flat as can be. I found the domino to be very precise, fast and easy to use and IMO if errors occur they are probably user
induced. Mostly from applying to much pressure. The best way to operate it, for me anyway, is to plunge it while holding it at the back of the machine
(where the power cord is) pushing it forward and not applying downward force.

Added pic i hope i did this right if there is a better way to add images let me know

Johne, welcome aboard and very nice piece. I too love my domino and end up putting together things with it just because I can.  Fred

fixed pins? are they still spring loaded?do they retract like the metal pins?

Hi,

   I like the way the legs miter into the top on your table. Nice.


     I too am wondering about those plastic pins,  I am sure many members here will want to know everything you can tell us about them.


Seth

There is a saying, "if you can't make it perfect, make it adjustable"

Johne--Love the way You use scrap wood.
That looks like a pro photo on no seam, is that what you do in your other life?
Those pins are a mystery to me!
Bob

Hi all.

@ Bob Swenson: You guessed right i am a photographer. If anyone's interested There are some samples of what I do at www.everards.com
    (look at the "Fotografie" tab)
@ slb: They included some spares, so if they wear out they re easy to replace (see pic)

Bob, I havent used the viewcamera in years. I have a "Leaf"digital back on a Mamiya RZ 6x7. This table shot
was a quick picture with a Canon 5D and a tilt shift lens. You 're right, I corrected the perspective of the table legs
not in camera though but in Photoshop. You have a good eye.

Fred,
The perspective of the legs: If you take a picture of, in this case, a table you point the camera downwards from your
point of view towards the subject. Because of this lines (legs of the table) start converging. On a view camera you can tilt the back
panel (where the film plane is) to correct for this convergence. By doing so the legs look parralel again. With digital it is easier you can
use photoshop or other image editing software to correct this.

Words to live by.

Very nice work, Johne, on both sides of the lens.

Bob, I had forgotten Per had written about your previous careers. You are truly a Renaissance man, unlike that no good kid of yours. 

Fred, No Seam paper comes in 12 yard rolls, 9 feet wide in a rainbow
of colors, Only a pro would buy it. Once I took a 9 x 9 piece and
made a Christmas Card with it. As I folded it I wrote the message
backwards. Had to use a rubber mallet to make the last folds. tied
a red ribbon on it and sent it to an Art Director. Wanted to be there
when he opened the card in his little cubical.
It's the thought that counts 

bob

Hi,

       Do you have the cross stop, and are the pins different on that also?  Do the new pins on the Domino change the use of the cross stop?


Seth

thanks! i have a 15 months female and a 21 months male,both are from the same parents.


as for those new plastic "pins".looking at the pic.i don't think they will register into the mortise.not like it's a big deal,i don't cut mortise that close anyway.

I totally understand what you just said Michael as I am below an amateur in photography.

good point!

Michael nice explanation on the pins.

I would love to take great pictures. 

I just want to point out that if you are not posting pictures on your web site because you feel no one will buy the stuff because of the pictures bad quality. DON"T think that, post what you have. My pictures suck and I have never had anyone say anything negative about the pictures and only positive about the work. Save one photographer who purchased anyway.

So take pics of your projects . I made this mistake and now I have no pictures of over ten items I made, because the pictures were not that great and I was "embarrassed" by them. As time goes on you can learn to take better pics. I have some pics that are not great by a photographers standard, but since I might only make the item once every 5 years I have to use the pics, that or nothing.

I think "how to photograph your work" should have its complete dedicated section, more than just a thread under general. This way as a festool user I can learn how to take pictures form people who know where I am coming from. I don't much care about taking pics of people, but my woodwork. I think this could be nice on this forum.

Is it worth me putting up a pole to see who would like a dedicated section on "how to take pictures of your work"?

I think under OFF-Topic this would be a really helpful section to those off us in this forum.


What do you think Matthew?

Nickao

Where are these pictures? What are these things you sell? Inquiring minds want to know.

Maybe you're right about the 9-foot (~2.75m) stuff, but some of us non-pros do buy the 53 inch (~135cm) paper.  It's pretty easily available.

26-inch (~66cm) paper is much rarer, but B&H stocks it in New York.  Same stuff, only smaller.

Ned
sometime photographer of small things

isn't it funny how this tread got started,and now we are talking about photography and german shepherd!!!!

Here's my guesstimate as to the new "pin" shape.  They no longer register against the true cylindrical end wall of the previously cut mortise, which means they should be less prone to falsely register due to "chaff" (debris) that remained in the previously cut mortise used to reference the new one to be cut.  Same prinicple as is used in many fence and stop systems to prevent sawdust buildup from preventing accurate registry against the stop.  Side motion of the new "pins" is stopped as the pin contacts the junction between the parallel walls of the previously cut mortise and beginning of the cylindrical portion.  The triangular shape of the new pins when viewed from the side enables them to work equally well on all mortise widths in the Domino program.  This change may solve my one gripe about my experiences with my Domino when mortising into the face grain of mediocre Chinese birch plywood and the often resulting "hanging chaff" which throws off registry of successive mortises when using the stops.

Dave R.

Dave, IIRC, hanging chaff can throw off far more than mortises -- even Presidential elections!  (Sorry, couldn't help it.  LOL)



Fred, If there were a lot of complaints, believe me we would have heard them here. (We did hear a little of the one Dave Ronyak referred to).  And why do you think the "older" Dominos are not "up to snuff", a characterization with which I would not agree. 

I guess the question is philosophical, in a way -- if Festool adds an engineering improvement between models, is everyone who bought his tool before the modification "entitled" to the modfication?  Auto manufacturers, for example, make small changes frequently between model years.  Unless there is a defect involved, earlier purchasers are never "upgraded".

I suspect that if manufacturers like Festool had to retrofit every tool with all subsequent modifications, they would simply find it economically unreasonable, and might default instead to holding all changes until a totally new model was released.

My $.02

Dave, those were good points but on the other hand if the older dominos are not up to snuff and I am speaking about the pins area alone then why the change? Why done so quietly? And by the way, while auto mfgs do make small changes all of the time the pins on the domino are NOT a small part but an integral one. I am not even saying that Festool needs to pay for the change but I would like to know their reason for changing which as of right now we know nothing and if we wanted to change over what would it cost? Fred

Dave, I don't think the new pins will even fit into a mortise (John?). I haven't read any instructions in a long time but I don't think even the round pins are intended to fit into mortises, they are intended to register off the face/edge of the part so the first mortise is exactly in line on both parts to be fitted. The new shape/material is more suited to registering to a face, especially a finished face than a small steel pin.

The possibility of chafe or other debris makes the practice of registering from holes problematic. The more closely spaced the holes the more likely you are to get out of register after a number of mortises. I'm guessing the engineers decided to limit hole registration to the less frequent spacing allowed by the cross stops to keep accumulated error within the tolerance provided by the wider mortise.