Domino mortices not horizontal.Anyone seen this before?I still love the thing!

[BarryL]

OK!  So that worked...What I found out was....mine also exhibits this issue.  As you can see I clamped the two pieces flat to the MFT.  The board was just cut in half for the test so it was flat.  I referenced the base on the MFT so that takes the board out of the question.  

After the mortice I placed a domino in the cuts and slid the two boards together.  The natural fit has them shooting away from each other at a slight angle.  I have attached a few pictures showing this.  If the boards are allowed to lay flat...the weight of the board will allow them to lay flat together.  

 

[BarryL]

Well, my pictures are not quite in order due to my lack of picture attaching skills...but you get the point.  I am pretty much dead certain that my domino came this way as I have used it very little and only changed the bit once...and I am VERY careful and anal with all my tools.  This definitely looks to be an issue, at least from my perspective.  I can't help but feel a little deflated.  Perhaps some others can check theirs and post some findings? 

 

[sw1211]

As long as it's under warranty I would keep getting a new one until you find one that works to your satisfaction.

 

[Spike]

No problem Barry regarding the PM.

Where this Domino issue really comes to light for me is when I tried it on the ends of 1" x 1" slats. Each slat or baluster was noticeably twisted or skewed. I had to physically straighten each one and toe nail a pin through the top and bottom to straighten them. Not good. I use the Lamello or my JDS Multi Router for mortising now. :'(

 

[BarryL]

Guess I don't know how long the warranty period is....I have had mine for a while but have not used it much.

 

[Brice Burrell]

Guess I don't know how long the warranty period is....I have had mine for a while but have not used it much.

Festool USA has the 1+2 year warranty, free shipping  to and from the service center the first year and free return shipping on the next two.

 

[Les]

Barry,

When Taos checked his he was checking the thickness of the stock left from the top of the piece being cut to the mortise. Look at the pic's Brice first posted for Taos. He only showed the two boards being off when mated together as a way of showing one of the problems this can cause.

What you show could easily be operator error. I was getting non-flush mating pieces as you are because of the way I was feeding the Domino. Check out this thread.

I was amazed by how much I could influence the location of the mortise by my feed method.

 

[BarryL]

I will not discount this BUT....I did not reference off of the board itself.....I rested the base of the unit flat against the MFT and was as careful as I could be about ensuring it was held flat....I was also very careful about not torquing the unit as well as my feed rate into the mortice, as was mentioned in a previous post in this thread. 

He only showed the two boards being off when mated together as a way of showing one of the problems this can cause.

I agree, and that is, in my opinion, a good way to show that it is in fact happening.  I tried to measure but I felt that it was difficult to get reliable measurements ALTHOUGH...what I did measure, before I slipped the two boards together, showed a slight ramp to the mortice.  And then when I mated the boards, what I measured was confirmed. 

It would be good to see other people try what we have done here to see if the results are similar.  I plan on making it over to the store I got mine from to have them do the same so I can compare.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

The Domino has allot of whirly gigs inside and when at Festool School we were told you need to be careful when replacing the bit. When loosening the bit hold the wrench parallel to the fence and push away from the body. This prevents you from possibly damaging thie whirly gigs. You don't want to hold the wrench peperndicular to the fence and push

We were told this for a reason and I wonder if some of the issues people are having are due to this

Dan Clermont

I remember that lesson, too, Dan.  Wrench orientation is important.  But a torque is a torque, and unless you are creating a secondary moment (another torque about a different axis), it's hard to understand how untwisting the bit from the top or the side or any other position is going to make any difference.  I do agree that the wrench should be oriented with the length of the wrench perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the bit.  That orientation results in creating as pure a twisting action as is possible.  The only way to improve upon it is to support the shaft or the bit itself as you apply force to the wrench.  By gripping the wrench with the thumb of your hand nearest the bit axis and articulating your wrist to create the twisting motion, that is as good as you can get in creating a pure torque centered on the axis of the bit.  If you think of what a skilled mechanic does when torqueing bolts, one hand is on the bolt end of the wrench and the other is pushing or pulling the other end of the wrench, resulting in maximum torque and minimum bending of the shaft of the bolt.

Also note the wrench supplied with the Domino is a itty, bitty thing.  That's intentional.  The Festool engineers did not want a user to apply a lot of torque to the bit shaft and all those whirly gigs.

Sorry to belabor this point in my explanation.  But during my association with a lot of engineers who designed aircaft equipment, and because my father was a professional mechanic, I came to appreciate the importance of properly holding a wrench and properly torquing fasteners.  There have been airplane incidents because someone did not torque the wheel bearings to the correct values thereby causing the rollers to not track correctly and eventually self-destruct.  Too tight is often more dangerous than a bit too low a torque when assembling critical parts.

I just snug up the bit when replacing it.  And I make certain there is no contamination on the threaded shaft before installing the bit.

Dave R.

 

[Warrior]

I agree with Steve-Co and would get replacements until you got one that works.

Also the proceedure I use for installing the bits should be that the only time you need the wrench is for removing the bit. Installing the bit to hand tight is sufficient since the operation of the domino will self tighten the bit.

Eiji

 

[bustedbolt]

I know old post, but just to add info to future searchers....

I also have this same problem with uneven doms,
but in my case it is caused by an uneven adjustable fence.

this is because the two towers/surfaces that the fence rides up on NOT BEING PARALLEL.
as the fence is raised for a deeper setting the tilt gets worse.

the symptom would be leaning domino slot when using fence to cut in the side of a piece of mdf
but not when registering off of stainless steel bottom panel and throwing the fence to 90deg or out of the way.

be careful with these things! i warn you!

 

[Dan Clermont]

I know old post, but just to add info to future searchers....

I also have this same problem with uneven doms,
but in my case it is caused by an uneven adjustable fence.

this is because the two towers/surfaces that the fence rides up on NOT BEING PARALLEL.
as the fence is raised for a deeper setting the tilt gets worse.

the symptom would be leaning domino slot when using fence to cut in the side of a piece of mdf
but not when registering off of stainless steel bottom panel and throwing the fence to 90deg or out of the way.

be careful with these things! i warn you!

I'd call Festool Tech Support and get a new fence or machine

Dan Clermont

 

[fshanno]

Mine is doing this slightly.  When I'm using the fence I compensate with a little twist to the fence as I lock it down.  No kidding, rack the fence a tiny bit and the mortise is perfect to the hundredth.  Sometimes I forget.  But rarely does the problem evidence itself on assembly anyway.  And I don't worry about it because I can manage to be off that much with a mortising machine so I'm no worse off.

 

[David Makseyn]

Bustedbolt has the cat by the tail!!!

Mine is doing and has been doing the same thing since I got it! I let is pass off to operator error until I was unable to get the edgebanding to line up flush with the top of a seat top I am working on.
After reading the entire post I went and did the same test cuts and discovered the fence is NOT parallel with the horizontal swing of the cutter.
I used the 10mm cutter and a dial caliper to check the slots and they are off .oo8" from side to side.  I used the fence on the top of the stock as my reference surface because I'm working with 2" solid edging and I need the domino in the center.
The fence has some play on the vertical tracks and I bet that when you tighten the locking knob to set the height it pulls the fence down and causes the problem.
Calling Festool for service!!!!

 

[Canucker]

Wow..

I need to come here more often.. Mine does the same thing.. All this time I thought it was me.

 

[L2theP]

this thread is awsome, thank you for posting it, i just tested my DOMINO and i have the same problem, got it from BEAVERTOOLS, just last week and i will try to get a new one.   The problem is quite evident and as some people try to say it's the technique or this or the other, this does not change the fact that FESTOOL advertises the tool as a rotation-proof mortiser that is quality built with top of the line design that costs 825.00  plus bits and dominos your looking at 1085.00+tax just to get started.

i was recently doing a couple of open faced cabinets for a client on a budget so instead of using solid stock i ripped 3/4 plywood and edgebanded it, the frame was 1-1/2" and i used 8x50mm  tenons to join it and was very dissapointed at the results as i had to manually twist the frame while clamping to get a desired result and it's kind of hard to do when you have to twist 3 pieces of wood clamp at the same time while you only have two hands and as you know i can't sand the plywood too much. 

As of now the domino gets a B-, if you are looking into getting a domino, i would say only get it if you have disposable income and don't depend on it to perform as some of these sponsored reviewers tell you it does. It's still a great tool, if you do a lot of mortise and tenon joints it's a great tool, the tenons fit snug, its flexible on sizes of tenons and mortises and can make a lot of things much easier.

 

[Les]

Me thinks your last paragraph not true. Many of the replies have said if you are not satisfied with your machine, return it and get one that is doing what you want or get your money back. Your referral of sponsored replies is way off base. Many of us had to modify our technique or adjust the machine to get satisfactory results and have stated so.

Yesterday I joined two boards that were ~16" long together for a drawer front. I'm going to guess they were flush to one another within .001 to .002. Could barely detect a step with my finger. This was done locating off the top of each board since there was a difference in the thickness of the two boards. I can't expect any better than that. You should expect the same results with a good machine and proper technique.

 

[L2theP]

Hey Spencer,
i didn't mean it across everyone that has made a review about the domino, because the machine is great, but a member has brought into light a common problem among the domino line of FESTOOL which is being defended by some to be a incompetant user error & technique.  And yes I will be sending this DOMINO back and any new one that is not perfect, because there is no way that i'm going to waste over a 1000.00 dollars on a tool that doesn't perform as advertised.

 

[ripat]

Same problem with mine. I went to the Service Center for my country. They admitted there was an offset in the fence. They replaced it in a couple of hours.

Excellent tool otherwise and the service to match.

 

[yj]

Just picked a new unit last week. It came equipped with the bit installed. I have the same alignment problem. Very disappointed since so many reviews on the web and magazines do not mention this at all. It's not cool when a tool that cost this much would have a major issue like this. Did I say how disappointed I am? I guess I have a decision to make...do I have festool service try and fix...or return for full refund and seek other alternatives to MTs. Very disappointed. I wish I woul d have seen this discussion board prior to purchasing.