Domino blowouts and Domino lighting

[Kodi Crescent]

I frequently have problems with Dominos blowing out the side when I assemble work pieces.  One way I've tried to solve this was to use the middle cutting width setting.  Sometimes that still doesn't work, and the dominos still catch on the mating workpiece and blow out the side of one of the pieces, ruining the piece, or making something that was once stain grade, paint grade.

One way to further reduce this problem would be to round off or angle the corners of the dominos.  Dominos shaped like this would be more likely to  guide themselves into the holes upon assembly, reducing blowout.  Domino blowout is my chief complaint about the Domino.

I anticipate there will be those that like the rectangular dominos.  Festool could offer two parts, a rectangular domino in each size, and a rounded corner domino in each size.

When you are about to plunge, it can be difficult to see the layout line through the alignment gauge.  A simple LED lamp that shines in the alignment gauge area would be really helpful.

 

[Brice Burrell]

Kodi, I've learned that backing up the joint when inserting the tenons when there is a risk of a blow out helps.  What I mean is make sure the area that the blowout will occur is supported, I usually make sure the area is down on the table. 

My partner in the Festool cabinet class Cory learned this the easy and hard way after blowing out a mortise on our cabinet side-even after Steve Bace (Festool trainer) told him how to avoid this problem.  Boy I love bustin Cory's chops. [tongue]  I'm just teasing Cory, he's a great guy, I really enjoyed spending time with him and the rest of the guys in the class. [thumbs up]

 

[dsweetser]

Brice, I also pulled a "Cory." He is not alone. But learned my lesson.

 

[lumbajac]

Agree with the L.E.D. light idea 100%.

Yes, I/we were told in class how to avoid blowout - I was just just testing and wanted to see for myself  [wink]. 

In Kreg's latest videos I thought he was going to do the same thing as he was pounding a domino in without support beneath the piece, but his experience with how much pounding they can take must have pulled through as he did not have blow out.