Domino Outriggers

[fdengel]

I tried joining two pieces using the outriggers to space the mortises.  I believe I have the distances set equally on both of them, the two outriggers are locked toward the back of the Domino, both show "DF 500" on the side against the rule, and I held the pins hard against each mortise as I made the next slot.

In the photos are three dominos lined up to the mortises in the wood: if one is perfectly lined up, the others are not equally spaced between the two pieces.

Where am I going wrong here?

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[erock]

If the pins on the wings are in the first mortise cut and you opened the mortise slot for adjustment, you didn't accommodate for the extra width being cut for the domino tenon.

Eric

 

[fdengel]

I thought of that, but it was on the narrow setting for all of the mortises.

 

[Brice Burrell]

You need to calibrate them, assuming they are the "new" version.  If they are more than 2-3 years old there is no adjustment.  Also, I see little or no need to use the tight setting on any but the first pair of mortises so the error is not a problem.

 

[Bhend18]

Paul Marcell covered this in his review of the Domino 500. One of his trim stops was off about 1mm so he put a piece of blue tape on it to remind him. He has the older version as do I and I don't believe there is an adjustment.

For reference:

 

[semenza]

I have the old version.  I used to pull the pin hard against the mortise figuring that would guarantee a more consistent  reference, but instead it ended up contributing to stacked up error. When I just placed the pin firmly against the mortise without pulling I got better results.

Seth

 

[endgrain]

On plywood endgrain, which is what I think is in your photo, the mortice left of right ends sometimes chips out and leaves the hole wider than it should be. This causes the pin to register farther than it should causing the mis-alignment. After morticing, I do a dry fit of the first and last pins since any mis-alignment issues will show up between them.

Assuming you catch the problem prior to glue-up, the usual solution is to widen the endgrain mortices with the domino joiner manually.

 

[Birdhunter]

The photos look like a typical  build up of tolerances where the first error adds to the second and the combination of the first and second errors add to the third error and so on.

Is it possible there is some slack in the mechanism that would let the trim stop "give" a little each time you position it?

 

[semenza]

The photos look like a typical  build up of tolerances where the first error adds to the second and the combination of the first and second errors add to the third error and so on.

Is it possible there is some slack in the mechanism that would let the trim stop "give" a little each time you position it?

  Yes, I found a tiny bit of give/flex in them and the farther out the pin is set the more it shows up, which makes sense. That is why I quit pulling them hard against the mortise. Just place the pin firmly against the side of the mortise but don't pull hard to the side. It really is only a tiny bit, but if you pull hard it stacks up in  a much more pronounced amount.

Seth

 

[fdengel]

Mine came in the set version of the Domino which I bought earlier this month, so I would assume the "new" version?

There are what appear may be set screws next to the pins.

 

[MattrYYC]

I can't help but feel like I'm missing out on something with the outriggers.  I've only had my domino a little over 3 mos, but is it fair to say that if you use a mix of the tight and loose settings that these really can't be used to align two pieces? I've been assuming that on one piece you would always use all tight mortises, and a single tight and then all loose on the other potentially for alignment?  I've read the supp. manual, and every time I've thought about using the outriggers I just seem to revert to using pencil marks instead since I've been cutting mortises tight on one piece and all but one loose on the other.  Can someone school me here?

 

[RDMuller]

I find as time goes on I use the outriggers less and less.    A pencil mark on both pieces and cutting medium width mortises gets rid of these annoyances and always gives a good joint.

 

[Birdhunter]

I have both the 500 and 700 Dominos and have never taken the outriggers out of the Sustainer except to look at them.

I pencil mark both boards with them together as they would be after being joined.

I then use the narrow setting on one board and the next wider on the second board.

This technique gives me all the adjustment room I've ever needed.

I got this technique from Halfinchshy's video.