Domino Cross Stop not lining up?

[Woodchippie]

I have been using the domino today to join lengths of pine. I thought excellent, a chance to use the cross stops.
With my first pass on wood A used the smaller mortise setting.
With my second pass on wood B use the medium mortise setting.
I made the first mortice hole on wood B and then realised with the cross stop each hole would gain distance on the next, therefore not lining up with holes in wood A.

I have searched for a solution on the web but can't find anything?

Does this mean both A and B have to be mortised with the same size width setting?

 

[Stoli]

reduce the cross stop setting by 3mm to account for the extra width of the medium setting

 

[Woodchippie]

reduce the cross stop setting by 3mm to account for the extra width of the medium setting

Won't you still get gain after the first hole? Puzzled!

 

[gippy]

Make the first mortise on A and B with the smaller setting, all the rest with the medium setting.

 

[Woodchippie]

Make the first mortise on A and B with the smaller setting, all the rest with the medium setting.

That's what I did, and it doesnt line up?

 

[RKA]

Make the first mortise on A and B with the smaller setting, all the rest with the medium setting.

That's what I did, and it doesnt line up?

Your initial description suggests side A was narrow mortises and side B were the medium mortises.  Is that correct?  If so, what he's suggesting is to make the first opposing mortises in each side narrow.  The balance would be on medium so that the cross stops are referencing off the same size mortise on each side. 

 

[rustym]

Took the words right out of my mouth [big grin]

Rusty

 

[Bohdan]

Make the first mortise on A and B with the smaller setting, all the rest with the medium setting.

That's what I did, and it doesnt line up?

Your initial description suggests side A was narrow mortises and side B were the medium mortises.  Is that correct?  If so, what he's suggesting is to make the first opposing mortises in each side narrow.  The balance would be on medium so that the cross stops are referencing off the same size mortise on each side. 

I was just typing exactly the same message but you got in first.    [laughing]

 

[Dunn wood]

I have been using the domino today to join lengths of pine. I thought excellent, a chance to use the cross stops.
With my first pass on wood A used the smaller mortise setting.
With my second pass on wood B use the medium mortise setting.
I made the first mortice hole on wood B and then realised with the cross stop each hole would gain distance on the next, therefore not lining up with holes in wood A.

I have searched for a solution on the web but can't find anything?

Does this mean both A and B have to be mortised with the same size width setting?

I do this on cabinets. I add 1mm to the small mortise setting and everything lines up. Thats only doing 4 in a row, if you are doing more you might have to add 2mm to wood A.

 

[elfick]

If you aren't going to mirror the mortises from A to B, you are probably better off just using pencil marks and sight line on the domino.

 

[Woodchippie]

After reading everybody's responces today, which I appreciate, thanks.
I went back to do the workshop to have another look at it.
Basically I'm trying to do a row of mortises approx 10 along my timber about 72" long, and join about 5 widths of 5" timber.
Using the cross stop I can only duplicate both edges if I use the same width of mortise, in my case I used the medium setting, and on the second attempt. This works ok.
I can see no possible way to do the small mortise to medium mortice using the cross stop.

 

[Stoli]

I can see no possible way to do the small mortise to medium mortice using the cross stop.

When you use the medium setting, the mortises open up by 6mm total, or 3mm radial.

You can put all the mortises in one piece using the cross stop and the narrow setting, then put one narrow mortise on the other piece for alignment.  Use the cross stop as normal for the first medium mortise (since you are referencing off of a narrow mortise).  For the rest of the mortises, reduce the cross stop setting by 3mm, and the mortices should now line up.

 

[benwheeler]

I'm very interested in topic as the owner of an as yet unused DF 500.

When I bought my gear, the salesman (a heavy Festool user) recommended against buying the set with the cross-stop. I'm trying to understand its advantages - is it speed? Repeatability?

I would have thought that if you were to use the larger mortises on one side, it would be easier to just use pencil marks. If you were using small mortises on both pieces, would the cross stop be accurate enough?

Apologies for any hijacking.

 

[Woodchippie]

I'm very interested in topic as the owner of an as yet unused DF 500.

When I bought my gear, the salesman (a heavy Festool user) recommended against buying the set with the cross-stop. I'm trying to understand its advantages - is it speed? Repeatability?

I would have thought that if you were to use the larger mortises on one side, it would be easier to just use pencil marks. If you were using small mortises on both pieces, would the cross stop be accurate enough?

Apologies for any hijacking.

The only thing about using the small mortice a on both sides, does not allow for any slight movement. I mean if the pin on the cross stop isn't in the right place each time, this doesn't leave room for error, and the more mortises you make the further out it can go.

 

[Woodchippie]

Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic tool, I wish I had more jobs to do with it.

Just ordered a large box of Dominos 5x30s seem to use this size mainly..

I just need to understand what Im trying to do with the cross stops.

Stoli seems to have an interesting answer, will try that tomorrow. Thanks

 

[ear3]

It ultimately sounds like this is a simple issue of technique and properly accounting for changes in mortise width -- I just wanted to add, though, that when I ran into the same problem using the cross stops for multiple mortises during edge joining, it was actually due to a defective cross stop.  The left one wasn't at a straight 90 from the machine and thus did not sit totally flush on the board, and so it would add (or subtract, I can't remember) a small amount each time, resulting in an escalating misalignment between the mortises on either board.  I fixed the problem by going to the dealer and him simply giving me a new left cross stop.  It doesn't sound like this is your problem, but just in case...

 

[Birdhunter]

I can't understand the reluctance with using pencil marks and the Domino's center line marking. I augment each pencil mark with a N or W indicating the desired width of the mortise. The pencil marks not only situate the mortise but indicate the reference surface. A quick wipe with alcohol and the marks are gone when I no longer need them. Simpler than trying to use cross stops for me.

 

[waho6o9]

"reduce the cross stop setting by 3mm"

Bingo, I  think we have a winner.

Good stuff.

 

[Stoli]

I can't understand the reluctance with using pencil marks and the Domino's center line marking. ... Simpler than trying to use cross stops for me.

For one offs, I agree.  I had a build recently that required a large number of boards to be jointed.  In this case, it was faster to use the cross stops than to align each pair of boards and make pencil marks.

 

[Birdhunter]

I find I use the flip-outs on my 700 Domino a lot and never use the "paddles" on my 500 Domino. I wish Festool would offer a front end for the 500 Domino with the 700 style flip-outs.