Bought a domino and failing with butt joints

[jahej]

I picked up a second hand Domino 500 a couple of days and tried making some butt joints, which I'm failing at. My stock is 18mm, measured to be pretty close to that. I set the fence to 9mm, but my groove does not end up in the middle. When I use the "quick setting" for 16 and 20mm it does end up 8 and 10, so wondering if I need to tune something?

I also noticed that my fence is not 90 degrees when I set it to be 90 degrees and when I set it to 0 degrees and measurement does not align with 0. Is this normal? Adding some pictures of my settings.

 

[Frank-Jan]

The mortice doesn't need to be in the middle, if you reference of the right surface the joint will be flush. I never checked the squareness of the fence on my domino because I haven't experienced any problems, so I don't know how to calibrate that. The only thing I needed to calibrate were the pins (mine is an old model), the paddle version is a bit trickier to calibrate if that is off.

 

[Frank-Jan]

I just saw the pictures, I checked the supplemental manual, and the calibration of the fence isn't discussed, but I found this thread:https://www.festoolownersgroup.com/festool-tool-problems/calibrating-fence-angle-on-domino/

Seems pretty straight-forward (put on a flat surface, undo the hex-bolt, move the pointer)

edit/ forgot to add the link to the supplemental owner's manual, in case you hadn't found it yet:http://www.waterfront-woods.com/festool/Domino_DF_500.pdf

 

[PaulMarcel]

It looks like you have the fence down pretty low. On mine, I can tip down the fence to 90º only until the height scale shows 6mm. Below that, it bumps part of the fence accessory and won't tip down. Stops at 85º for me. Look at the height gauge above the stepped 'thickness' presets.

 

[jeffinsgf]

I'm going to reinforce Frank's comment. Quit worrying about center. Think instead of matching reference faces. Always guide off the face side of two adjoining pieces and the location of the mortise doesn't matter. This approach eliminates error caused by variation in stock thickness, too.

 

[JimD]

My domino is an XL so the minimum distance from the fence to the center of the cutter is 10mm.  That is noticably off center for the roughly 3/4 inch (19mm) material I typically use.  But for me that is a good thing.  I cut the mortises from the good side of each piece and I am less likely to get the wrong side up at glueup with the mortises being noticably closer to one surface than the other.  Even if you can hit center, I would not.  If you do it perfectly it won't matter but it's easy to be off a little and purposely putting them off center causes no issues and may save you from a bigger error.

 

[grbmds]

For almost all Domino joints, the center of the board thickness is irrelevant. It's only important to use the appropriate board face or edge as the reference for the fence. In fact, it helps sometimes to not have the slot in the middle. That way, in the final assembly, there is only one way the project fits together.

 

[Svar]

It's one of those cases when the question is why something is off and every answer is forget it, you don't need it. I believe that when user sets the depth to X, the mortice should be cut at depth X.
But back to the question. [member=75063]jahej[/member] When you use quick setting 16 and 20 does your scale read 8 mm and 10 mm respectively? The scale is attached with two screws and can be adjusted up and down. Measure actual placement of mortice you cut and set the scale to point to that depth.
On picture 3 that black plastic attachment is not a good reference. Move the fence up and measure angle between metal parts.
When the fence is at the lowest position it bumps into something and doesn't go to 0 degree (pic. 5). Slide it up just a mm and it'll align.

 

[Mark Katz]

I have always found this YouTube video to be a clear explanation of how to join boards at either the end or the center without major fuss over the fence setting or the accuracy of the that setting.



I have always found, in my own work, that the key for any joint is to use the either the fence for both sides of the joint or the base for each side. That, along with picking the right reference surfaces on the parts to be joined, is critical. Never use the base for one side and the fence for the other.

 

[morts10n]

You mentioned that it was 2nd hand....maybe "1st hand" dropped it and thats why its 2nd hand?

 

[Sam Murdoch]

For what it's worth I have an old pin style Domino - 14 years old or so - that has seen a lot of use. I am the only one who uses it but over the years it has developed some idiosyncrasies. Mostly that the table height adjustment always seems to need a bit of tweaking to get it parallel to the base. Since as close to perfect parallel slots are essential, if I change the table height I always check for parallel with digital calipers. A nuisance I know but a cheap fix that saves so much fitting aggravation (fitting FITS  [smile] you might say). I just check the depth from the base to the adjustable table height on each side of the base at the same relative spot. Sometimes I need to physically tweak the table as I reclamp its position.

Using the calipers is not an exact procedure as it challenging to hold the device EXACTLY the same from one point to the other so sometimes it is a futile step operation. I don't go for exact. If I get 2 or 3 readings that are within a +/- 0.002" I'm good to go.

 

[MaineShop]

I think you just need to calibrate the reference point on that angle gauge, you just adjust the screw there it is very fast and easy, I have had to do mine from time to time. Also looking at your picture it looks like that ply is actually 17mm to me. Not a huge deal as many have said since using a domino is all about your reference faces not the actual thickness of the material but that one mm can throw you off more then you think depending on how you are referencing. Butt it into a good solid known 90 degree corner and recalibrate that angle reader to zero and then set it at 90 and check it. It will only take a min and you can do it more then once to check it. Then just get some more time using it so you get better about knowing which faces are you references for different pieces in different joints.

Enjoy the tool.

 

[sancho57]

I think you need to call festool Service about how to calibrate the fence. However prior to that FT live on you tube goes over the domino thoroughly. Id watch that first .