domino 500 fence height

[fletchtool]

I bought the Domino 500 last week and have been doing a few test joints with the 5mm dominos. The first few tries the mortise looked to not be level. I thought this was an optical illusion but when I inserted the domino and joined the pieces of wood together they were out of alignment. I attributed this to being unfamiliar with the tool and excitement. I remembered Halfinchshy’s comments in his videos about being sure to have the fence face vertical when setting and locking the fence height. I did this while pressing down on the fence and the levelness improved.

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But today I was playing around and noticed that whenever I lock the fence height locking lever (#1), the piece that presses against the fence to lock it (#2) moves the fence face up (#3) .

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I measured this movement to be about .6mm.  Do I really have to be sure I remember to put downward pressure on the fence face whenever I set a new height before tightening the height lever in order to have the fence and the resulting mortising level. Has anybody else noticed this with their Domino 500’s? Is this acceptable or is there a problem with my machine?

 

[peter halle]

I hope that you will take this the right way.  Get a scrap piece of wood and just cut the heck out of it using the domino.  Get used to using your non dominant hand to hold the front fence down against the work.  Make sure that the hand that is plunging the tool is basically all the way at the butt end of the tool and is just pushing the domino forward.  Listen to the different sounds that the machine makes when cutting.  Also make sure that the workpiece is high enough off the bench to prevent interference.

I am not trying to be Zen like here, just all three of these exercises will help ensure happiness with the Domino and also rule out unfamiliarity with the tool as being an issue.

All the above were things I didn't do and caused a situation similar to yours and then I was set straight by a jovial Festool trainer.

Peter

 

[fletchtool]

Thank you Peter. I will follow your advice. I still have a question about the fence face moving when the height locking lever is put into locking position. Is this amount of play acceptable? And do I have to push the fence down when locking the height lever to reduce this play?

Fletchtool

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

If you aren't happy with the fence on your Domino and think that there may be an issue with it, I would encourage you to return to your dealer. Compare it to the demo unit they have or just exchange it for another unit. There should be no play in the fence once it's locked into place. There are ways to adjust the locking knob if it's not got enough "bite". But for a new tool, I would recommend exchanging it rather than the hassle of making adjustments.

PS - Feel free to reach out to me if I can be of assistance, sho@festoolusa.com.

 

[greg mann]

I have never had an issue with the fence being in position to use when I change height settings. In fact, I just lift the fence to move the height setting, say from 16 to 20, let the fence come down with gravity and then lock it without any extra pressure downward on the fence. I personally believe that is all you should ever need to do. I believe extra pressure downward could lead to a canted lock-up. There necessarily needs to be some play in the sliding surfaces to allow free movement and I want the machine to be able to take that play out as it gets tightened.

 

[Dongar]

Plunging too fast will cause an angled mortise especially with the smaller bits. I am not sure if ti happens with larger bits.