Domino plunge depth problem

[richie]

I've been working on my 1/2 inch plywood drawers for a while and everything was fine until something clicked in my Domino and I've been unable to cut deep mortises since then. With a 4 mm cutter, on a 20 mm depth setting I used to get roughly 11 mm deep mortises. Now I can't get anything deeper that 6mm, even on the 28 mm depth setting. No matter what cutter I use, I simply cannot plunge all the way. In the attached photo I am pushing with my right hand and you can see that I cannot plunge all the way - this is as far as it goes.

I emailed Festool and it took 2 weeks to get the following reply: Thank you for contacting Festool. Please make sure that the area behind the 90 degree fence is clean and clear of obstructions. Sometimes there will be material that can be stuck where the plunge rods are and not let it fully plunge. Festool suggests taking off the fence as if you were going to change the bit and cleaning the fence fully.

There is no material stuck anywhere. Any suggestions?

 

[Roseland]

Can you check it is OK with other cutter/plunge depths and see it is only a problem with the 4mm cutter?

Andrew

 

[Stone Message]

Hi Richie

The first thing to note is that the 4 mm cutter is not as long as the others. When using it the depth setting should be on 20 mm in order to get a 10 mm (nominal) deep slot.

I have just taken a close look at my Domino and cannot see anything obvious that might cause your problem other than an obstruction by debris as Festool have suggested.

It might be worth looking up into the inside of the hollow shaft on the side that the adjuster is on. You should be able to move the adjuster despite there being no spring action to keep it pushed back. Just see if there is anything odd in there.

The only other thing might be a screw coming loose which is obstructing the full plunge motion. Do a visual check for this.

Peter

 

[ear3]

Hmmm.  When you have the 4mm cutter attached, I'm pretty sure you can't actually plunge deeper by setting it to the 25mm or 28mm depths -- the cutting length is so short that you will start forcing the round part of the cutter shaft up against the mortise.  I did this once when I forgot to change the depth setting to 20mm when using the 4mm cutter, but my machine quickly told me by sound and feel that I was doing something wrong.  Is it possible that this problem happened by accidentally having the plunge depth initially set deeper than 20, and then something got jammed with the plunging mechanism when trying to force the bit in?

Alternatively, have you inspected the cutter to make sure the tip is intact -- maybe it broke off, which would be why you can't get the mortise deeper even with a higher depth setting. 

As Peter said -- do a test with a another cutter to troubleshoot whether it's an issue with the plunging action on the machine.

 

[grbmds]

Since you said you can't plunge deeper with any other cutter either, I assume that means you have tried all of your cutters or, at least, one other cutter. Also, since you said something "clicked" in the Domino, that would indicate that either something broke (which doesn't seem likely) or some part has moved which restricts the plunge depth of the Domino.

If the Domino is still under the warranty, I'd contact Festool by phone or online to setup a return for service. It doesn't appear to me that there is any obvious setting that would cause this to occur given what you said you have already tried.

I don't know why it took 2 weeks for Festool Service to reply. I have made contacts with Service by phone, online via the standard service procedure, and even once in person when I was attending a class in Indianapolis. I have always had a quick and thorough response which has always led to resolution of the problem. I confess I have not had need to contact them recently so can't say if that history would apply to the current service response.

 

[batts]

I know this is an old thread but I just had the same problem, checked for obstructions, none found........

Then I noticed the right hand barrel was bottoming out on some sort of plastic stop.....it looked like it belonged there and blended in nicely with the extraction nozzle, so I probably ignored it initially.

There are two black plastic stops on the top-most part of the machine that limit the upwards movement of the jointing height guide. (the left hand one is in the top left of the photo in the opening post of this thread) The right hand one had fallen off and wedged between the spring tube and the extraction nozzle. [eek] put it back to the right place and plunge problem fixed.

Hope this helps someone in the future...

Batts from Oz.

 

[steveser]

I just wanted to drop a thanks to batts for his post.  I hit this same problem today and was baffled why the Domino would stop the plunge at about 12 mm no matter what the setting.  After seeing batts post, I looked and saw the black plastic cap on the top of the fence was missing, and after a couple secs looking around, I found it lodged between the fence and the cylinder. 

 

[Birdhunter]

I’ve had to replace one of those caps. I think their only function is to keep crud out of the post.