Domino milling depth lever stuck

[NuggyBuggy]

The black lever beside the "milling depth" adjustment on my Domino (pin style) seems to move, but I cannot seem to move th green selector which actually sets the depth... I've tried just about everything.  I know it's New Years Eve, but hoping someone might know of a fix... I have something I'm trying to build using the Domino for the very first time.  Could. It be broken ?

Thanks,
Terry

 

[NuggyBuggy]

Also, what is curious is that I can't figure out what the black lever actually does.  It doesn't seem to be connected to anything save the spring that pulls it back and the hinge on which it pivots..  Does it work by merely physically blocking the green lever from moving ?

and... Happy New Years everyone !!
Terry

 

[harry_]

from the manual

1. Press in on the depth adjust lock.
2. Move the depth adjust lever to the stepped position of the desired depth.
3. Release the depth adjust lock.

 

[tjbnwi]

The black lever is just a locking device. Push the black lever towards the front of the Domino,ush the green lever forward, set to desidered depth, release both levers. After a few times you'll do it with one finger.

If your plunging into the face of plywood, make sure you don't plunge through it.

Tom

 

[NuggyBuggy]

Thanks guys.  I May not have been clear.  I do have the manual and have tried following the instructions, and have been able to move the depth selector before, as recently as last  night.  Now, however, the black rocker/lever moves but I can't get the green lever to move from its current setting (28mm, IIRC).  The black lever and associated protrusion is well clear of the green lever.  It does move ever so slightly up and down.  Since my Domino is out of warranty I opened the main part in front of the power supply/electrical, but at some point you need a special drive bit and I decided not to go any further.

I've tried separating the motor and guide sections and reconnecting, in hopes this would reseat something, but no such luck.  I've considered trying to exert a lot of force on the green lever to see if I can free it, but am not so sure that's a great idea.

Does the black locking lever connect to anything besides th spring and hinge ? I can't see where it would, but moving it back and forth it just doesn't seem to feel like i remembered it.  All I can figure is that it just physically blocks the green levr until it is rocked out of the way, so maybe I just remembered wrong. 

Thanks again.

 

[harry_]

no that all the black lever does. Acts as an interlock.

 

[Rick Christopherson]

If you can't seem to move the depth adjust lever with the fence installed, then try repositioning it with the fence removed. That lever simply adjusts the length of a pin that penetrates the sliding rail. If you have dirt or some obstruction impacted inside the small hole in the rail tube on the fence, it may not easily move.

When the fence is installed, moving this lever will be resisted by the force of the plunge spring. When the fence is removed, there will be no resistance to movement at all.

 

[NuggyBuggy]

Rick,

I've tried moving the lever when the fence was removed.  It doesn't make anything easier, at all.  Does the mechanism that sets the depth penetrate the fence post tube, or does it push forward the end of the Tube ? The end of the tube is clearly much closer on the side where the depth lever is (than on the tube end on the other side) but when I look down the shaft, I cannot see anything penetrating the interior of the shaft.  Which lead me to figure that the depth lever moves the end of the rail tube forward and back?

Thanks,
Terry

 

[Rick Christopherson]

Rick,

I've tried moving the lever when the fence was removed.  It doesn't make anything easier, at all.  Does the mechanism that sets the depth penetrate the fence post tube, or does it push forward the end of the Tube ? The end of the tube is clearly much closer on the side where the depth lever is (than on the tube end on the other side) but when I look down the shaft, I cannot see anything penetrating the interior of the shaft.  Which lead me to figure that the depth lever moves the end of the rail tube forward and back?

Thanks,
Terry

This morning I went down to the shop to take a closer look at the Domino. It's a little more complicated than I originally thought, but I will do my best to explain it without taking my Domino apart. (Oops. I hadn't thought about using the EKAT diagram as a reference.)

The depth adjustment lever is part of a larger piece inside the barrel. (Part number 73 in the EKAT diagram of the motor). This is visible in the picture below. This larger piece is the actual Depth Stop that the linear rail (the post on the fence body) touches when the fence is plunged to the desired depth.

On the end of this Depth Stop, there is a pointed pin that penetrates inside the linear rail of the fence. The purpose of these pins (one in each barrel on the motor) is to activate the return springs that are located inside the linear rails.

The part that I didn't notice right away is that this Depth Stop slides along a different pin that is part of the notched aluminum adjustment area (part number 72). Without looking closer, I had previously assumed it was just a single pin that ran the length of the barrel. Instead, there is a short pin that passes into the Depth Stop, which guides the Depth Stop.

Now that I have seen this, my guess is that your Depth Stop (73) may be impacted with sawdust, and it is preventing the Depth Stop from sliding along the pin in part 72.

[attachimg=#]

 

[Rick Christopherson]

Now, however, the black rocker/lever moves but I can't get the green lever to move from its current setting (28mm, IIRC).  

Oh, I didn't notice before that you said it may be stuck at 28mm. That could be good news. That would imply that you may simply have debris jammed on the outside of part 73, not the inside as I had feared. If it had jammed at 12 mm it would imply something stuck inside part 73. If it's stuck at 28mm, then it implies something stuck outside of part 73.

Look down the barrel of the slide and see if you can see anything jammed in there. Also make sure that the bearing has not gotten pushed deeper into the barrel that it is supposed to be. It should be right at the surface of the barrel.

 

[NuggyBuggy]

Thanks again Rick, for taking the time to look at your Domino and describe the part #s for me. That's very kind of you.

My Domino is at my cottage and I foolishly left it there over the weekend, so I won't get to look at the pieces until next weekend.  Before I left but before I saw your reply, I did look for anything that might be stuck, and did not see anything obvious.  I will take a closer look this weekend.  The possibility that something might be blocking the mechanism was what motivated me to try and open it up... if there is a blockage, is there a good way to get at the likely regions ?

At one point somewhere under the width adjustment dial, I encountered some screws that had a weird center protrusion that I did not have the right bit for.  I also couldn't separate the motor part from the front end of the machine, could only loosen them a few mm without going through the electronics - which I did not want to do.

Ended up finishing up what I needed to do with a Dowelmax, but the Domino is much more fun !

thanks again - terry

 

[NuggyBuggy]

This weekend, I took another look at the Domino.  First I tried blasting the area out with compressed air, this didn't do anything. 

After Rick's posts I felt pretty confident there was probably not much, if anything, behind the depth adjustment.  So as a last resort, I pushed on the lever as hard as I could (without that knowledge, I would have worried that I could break something critical - now I was just worried about breaking the lever.  It finally gave way.  At first, I thought I had broken something because the lever was flopping around loosely unless the locking mechanism was engaged.  This of course went away once I re-installed the fence, so everything is good now.

Thanks everyone, especially Rick.  I wouldn't have had the courage to reef on that lever the way I did without your posts.

terry