Domino 500 / 4mm Cutter - Depth of cut?

Just double checked that I was "in the goove" and that's not the issue. Found a piece of the grey plastic conduit last night that fit on. Cut it, sanded it to fine tune it, cleaned it and got a nice 9.5mm mortise. Thanks, Rick. and BTW you know I just sent you a thank you note like three days ago about how much I benefitted from your documentation only to be the recipient of your evil RTFM rant. Where's the justice??? [crying]. Also I peered down the tube at the end of the rod. It's doesn't really come to a sharp point but it's a little pointy for what that's worth.
 Shane, I apologize for the petty and vindictive tone of my PM. I'm saying that a lot lately. I promise to try harder.
 
Charlie Mac said:
Thanks, Rick. and BTW you know I just sent you a thank you note like three days ago about how much I benefitted from your documentation only to be the recipient of your evil RTFM rant. Where's the justice??? [crying]

Oh my. That wasn't a rant. It was a joke. My deep apologies if you took it that way. "RTFM" is one of those acronyms that you're not actually supposed to put words to.
 
Charlie, 

Sorry your having problems with your Domino and I would like to know how you resolve the issue.  I'm confident that Festool will resolve your issue and I would like to know the fix to the problem your experiencing.

Jack
 
I just made some cuts with my 4mm and 5mm bits. To address Paul's question, I used both the narrow and medium width setting. All 4 mortises used the 20mm depth setting. Then I resawed the stock so the cross sections could be examined. The raw wood did not photograph well, so I outlined the cuts with a sharpie. I get the depths expected: 20mm for the 5mm bit, and 10mm for the 4mm bit. The width setting only made less than a mm difference.

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Please forgive me if I'm stating the obvious but the bit is not only rotating about a pivot but translating across a distance. That distance changes when you "shift gears" and set a wider or narrower mortise. It isn't just pivoting as it's turing but it's translating horizontally and different distances depending on which mortise width the operator chooses.

Tom
 
Hi

Out of curiousity I checked my domino and I have also about 2mm excess depth on my bits, measured from fence-face to tip of bit. I never had an issue with this since when working with 1/2" (or actually 12mm here in Europe) I always use the 4mm dominoes offset. 15 and 25 which in my case gives me an actual depth of 9,5 and 14,5 mm depth (should be 7,5 and 12,5). I guess the problem is more obvious when joining two pieces face to face instead of face to end-grain.
I'm not sure if the excess depth is intended (from Festools side) to make room for excess glue. It is after all a "loose tenon". If that's the intention from Festool they should clearly point that out in the manual, I think ???

Festoolviking

 
Still waiting on service to call back..............

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Charlie Mac said:
Still waiting on service to call back..............

Charlie, I had told my colleague that I had corresponded on the forum with you. So, I suspect he was under the impression that the issue was handled.

How about we give your Domino sent into service. At the point, I think that's the best option. We can check it out and see what's causing this issue and get it resolved. Based on your location, I would estimate a 5 day turn around from the time it's shipped until you get it back. Of course, that's based on the shipper mostly.

If you'd like to speak someone by phone, please email or PM me your number and the best time to call and I promise you will hear from someone during that time.

Shane
 
festoolviking said:
Hi

Out of curiousity I checked my domino and I have also about 2mm excess depth on my bits, measured from fence-face to tip of bit. I never had an issue with this since when working with 1/2" (or actually 12mm here in Europe) I always use the 4mm dominoes offset. 15 and 25 which in my case gives me an actual depth of 9,5 and 14,5 mm depth (should be 7,5 and 12,5). I guess the problem is more obvious when joining two pieces face to face instead of face to end-grain.
I'm not sure if the excess depth is intended (from Festools side) to make room for excess glue. It is after all a "loose tenon". If that's the intention from Festool they should clearly point that out in the manual, I think ???

Festoolviking

Thanks for responding, FestoolViking
I was just reading back through the responses and something you wrote caught my eye. My drawers were face to end grain and I did try 15 / 25 depths. The 15mm setting for the face mortise caused me concern though as it just didn't seem to be enough depth/glue surface. Now my question. Ideally, shouldn't you get a 5mm deep mortise with a 4mm bit and a depth setting of 15mm? If you're getting 9.5mm depth then I think yours is cutting even deeper than mine. I'm also under the impression that the machine should cut to the specified depth and that the tenons are shorter than the specified length to make room for glue. Anyways, thanks for taking the time to respond.
By the way, festool sent a shipping label but I didn't send it in right away as I finished the drawers using the PVC spacer mentioned in the supp. manual. I just sent it out Monday the 7th and they received it on Weds. I hope to have it back early next week.

-Charlie
 
Hi

I think I have messed up my math.  ???  I also confused myself after re-reading my own post.  [embarassed]
I will check the settings and re-measure before I will get back on this.

Festoolviking
 
Charlie,

I checked on you Domino this morning with the service team. It's already shipped back out. The issue was that the casting for the depth adjustment was cracked.

Shane
 
Thanks for checking Shane. I got it back yesterday. One week exactly.  [big grin] The depth selector gizmo has a very different feel to it. I didn't realize how mushy it was before. I'll try to get to the shop after lunch for some test cuts and report back.
 
I just cut four mortises with the 4mm bit at 20 mm depth, and ranged from 10.5 - 10.85mm. I'd have liked to have been closer to 10mm for 12mm ply but this is much better than it was. While 12mm ply is now do-able, I think my next set of drawers will be 5/8. Thanks to the good folks who offered suggestions, encouragement and empathy.
[thanks]
 
The machine is designed to make the mortise slightly deeper to leave a glue pocket.
 
Hi Charlie

Just like I thought, I messed up my numbers. I'm not going to try to work out how I got the figures. Anyway I re-measured the depth with a 5mm bit and a 4mm bit and I got the same excess depth as you, about 0,5 - 1mm.  [smile]
Makes you wonder why I commented at all.  [embarassed]

Festoolviking
 
hi all... no intention of reviving a 2-year-old thread, but i'm facing a different problem.

if i may summarise, the origin of this thread has to do with mortise made by a 4mm being 12mm instead of the advertised 10mm. in my case, i got slightly less 9mm. so if you can imagine my dilemma when trying to join a 20mm tenons - the two pieces joined with a very noticeable gap. To rectify the situation, i have to sand down the dominos.

i've had the dominos for about a year. have always been using the 5mms, and 8mms wide dominos, and i didn't have any depth problem.

Any idea? should i send it to service for calibration or something?
 
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