DF700 spacer plate

[Neil Lickfold]

I made a spacer plate from what was supposed to be 10mm acrylic sheet. What arrived was actually 9.3mm thick.
So to attach the spacer, did this.
The 2 pins on the plate were marked with a 5.9mm drill in the inner corner of the rectangular holes. Drilled with a 6mm drill.
2 plastic pins were then pushed into the holes to protrude no more than 3.5mm.
To drill the hole for the front pin, was marked out based on a 5.8mm pin in place. A 4mm hole was drilled through, and opened up with a
6mm step drill. As the front little recess is slightly tapered, the idea was if it was loose, could tighten it by pushing the pin through a little more.
It is a light clip fit to the base and stays very centred.
Marked a centre line on the bottom to match that of the centreline of the plastic plate. Did read the instructions about aligning that plastic insert plate
test to get it all working as it should be.
As there is a gap of 9mm or so between the lines, when aligning up against the 18mm ply, it works very well. In a piece over 600mm long and lining up the marks,
the slots can all be done on the narrow setting and they all go together. (6X40 domino's with a homemade extension for the 6mm DF500 cutter). Also did some other 8mm tenons but they were from the outside , going into the 18mm ply 50mm deep.
Since the plate was not the nice 10mm I wanted, then set to, and made my own depth stop gauge. Not as fancy as the original or the 3d print copies, but works well.
It has a 5 steps in the block that make the centreline from 9.15mm +, 9.0mm 0, 8.9mm -, 8.8mm =(double minus) for the lower 2 settings. This will become my 18mm plywood depth stop block. I plan on making the blocks to suite the various plywoods etc that are sold out here.
This tuneable stop is primarily made to adjust the flat side position centre line thickness to match that of when a slot is cut near an edge of the board and the end result to be flush. Like when they match at 90 degree and wanting the corners to be flush to each other.
There maybe a much better way to put the 14mm deep 6mm wide slots in the edge of the plywood that what I have done, and if so, would be keen to learn more.

Here are the pics of the 2 pieces for the pivot base and the space for the fixed base.



Step block


Bottom plate spacer for edge holes.




Neil

 

[Neil Lickfold]

So Today, realised it is too much messing around trying to match a set of slots that are references off the base with a spacer, and then trying to adjust and get the nice match from the adjustable face with a spacer etc.
So had a a cast Iron angle plate just gathering dust, and attached it to the base of the DF700 with a line scribed all around it in the middle. Drilled a couple of mm holes for the clamp screws though the angle plate, and align it by eye to the existing lines on the DF500.
Then decided to make a 6x40 deep cutter from a 6mm Aluminium carbide cutter. Used Loctite 648 to glue the cutter into the adapter I made on a Myford S7 lathe I have. The body/adapter is made from the shank of a large M14 capscrew, turned to just clean up at Ø13.8mm. Inside is screwcut M8x1 with the inner spigot reference. I measure the DF700 cutter set and made the bore the average of what was used. The inner was bored and reamed to Ø6.01mm for 30mm of length. The other end had the M8x1 detail for 15mm deep. The over all length is 90mm long.
One issue of the home made cutter, is that the Aluminium cutter far too much helix angle, and makes the cutter want to pull in, especially when the DF700 is down plunging. So my test hole has a funny wobble mark. I removed the cutter and then by hand, with a diamond lap, reduced the amount of positive rake. Hindsight , should have used a cutter with a similar helix angle to that of the originals, and then it would not have tried to pull down into the wood. As an exercise of making a cutter , has worked well though, with the width being a very good match to the 6mm domino.
Pictures show the cutter 1 pic, the messed up hole with a domino in it to show more clearly the error 1 pic. The Angle plate and how I have used it. 4 pics The weight of the angle plate balances out nicely the DF700. Will make a handle for the front of the plate, and add a strip of that gripping tape, similar to what is used on the base of the guide rails. Available from Milwaukee.

Cutter

 

[smorgasbord]

Seems like you just made yourself a TSO BigFoot equivalent and a DIY adapter like the one Seneca makes to run DF500 bits in the DF700, except you're not running actual DF500 bits, so they don't work well at the DF700's (slower) rpm.
I'm not surprised you're not getting good results. The Seneca adapter works well if you don't plunge too quickly on these smaller diameter bits (haven't tried the 4mm one yet though).

 

[Neil Lickfold]

All the DF500 bits run fine. I fixed the 6mm bit after the 1st vertical fail. In the horizontal testing , no issues were noticed. Yes the feedrate just needs to be slower. All a learning curve to me. The smallest DF700 bit is 8mm . A bit thick for 18mm and 12mm ply. I was really testing a 7x diameter cutter and see how that goes. Now will make a 35mm long 5mm and 28mm long 4mm cutter when time permits.
My DF500 bits, have their own adapters.
This body can be used for another cutter. Just heat to 140c and the glue will release and onother can be inserted.
Thanks for mentioning the TSO Bigfoot. I looked them up and watched their video. Very interesting for me. Thanks.

 

[peter halle]

Sorry for putting the Moderator hat on. In a few posts on this thread it has been mentioned that a user made his own Domino Cutter. While that Member may have the skills and ability to make his own bits for his own use, obviously Festool, and this forum owned by Festool, would not condone nor encourage that. Of course the Festool disclaimer here on the Forum speaks to this, but I felt it necessary to directly mention it.

P. Halle - Moderator