Broken Domino Cutter

[bevans]

Had an unusual incident happen today. While making a mortise with a 5mm cutter I felt a vibration and the cutter tip broke off. I don't recall at what point of the operation but I think the cutter had reached the deepest part of the plunge and when I pulled the cutter back out of the mortise I found the tip into the slot that had been cut. The tip was about 1/4 inch long. The cut was a little rough around the edge not at all like the previous cuts. I estimate that I have plunged the cutter about 50 times and the majority of the type of wood is white oak.

I have used the Domino for a little more than a year but by no means an expert and I suppose the break could have been operator error but I don't think I did anything differently that would cause the break. The wood was recently cut and jointed but there were no knots, nails or glue joints.

Any idea on what could have caused the cutter to break like that?

Bruce

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Bruce,

That's happened to a number of members.  Do a search and you'll come up with several threads with possible reasons and solutions.

 

[Alan m]

id say that the fact you just did 50 mortices made you a bit impatient to finish, the result was you speeding up you plunge a bit and spapping the bit

 

[bevans]

Should have done a search first, thanks for the information. I didn't mean to imply that I did 50 plunges at the time it broke. I meant to say that during the past several months that particular cutter had been used 50 times.

Bruce

 

[atomicmike]

I had one break on me recently, with no more than 100 mortises on it. I called Festool service, just to get some input on whether it could have been operator error, but the tech said it was likely just that the tip hadn't been properly braised on during manufacturing. A few days later, I had a brand new bit show up at no charge, courtesy of Festool.

- Mike

 

[semenza]

Yup, I have broken one of the 5mm too.  I don't remember the details. But I was new to using the Domino and having used a biscuit joiner before , I suspect that I was plunging too fast in hard wood.  However it could just as easily have been a defective cutter  ???

It seems to mostly be the 5mm that breaks.  Has anyone ever broken one of the larger ones?

Seth