Domino Refinement

[Jeff Wright]

Here's a patent-pending (by yours truly) idea . . . .

One of the limitations with the Domino is mortising narrow pieces such as rail and styles. The two registering pins are great when using wider boards, but are unusable with narrower 2 to 3-inch boards. I've tried the approach of aligning the rail and style precisely by hand and drawing a line across each piece and then mortising using the plastic sight gauge line, but even after calibrating that set-up, I find that once the entire face frame is assembled, there is an ever-so-small 1/32ish error. I am a pretty careful technician, so at this point I don't think it is my technique as much as it is a limitation of the tool.

But I think I have a workable and inexpensive solution that Dominoites may appreciate!

I had a package of smaller earth magnets lying around. I put three of them against the retracting registering pin to force the Domino to position its bit close to the center of the rail end (there is no need for it to be precisely centered). I made my cut, then moved the same three earth magnets to the other registering pin and made my cut on the style. The result is a perfectly matched joint, and done in a matter of seconds. No more tedious and error-prone measuring and line drawing.

I used a set of magnets available at my local Woodcraft store. Larger ones may work better. If I needed to vary the distance of the mortise cut from the edge, I need only add another small magnet.

The photos below tell the story:
Attached Thumbnails
         http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=63635&d=1177944723http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=63636&d=1177944731http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=63637&d=1177944740http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=63638&d=1177944750http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=63639&d=1177944757

 

[Len]

That is a great tip.  I cut a spacer strip for the last ones I did.  This is much easier and quicker.  Adding or subtracting a magnet is a whole lot better than ripping a new spacer.  I'm going to give it a workout tonight.

 

[Jeff Wright]

Resist the urge to move the magnets from one register pin to the other while the tool is operating. You don't want to mortise a finger! Plus, you don't want to accidentally drop a magnet into the whirling bit. The strength of the earth magnet and the fact that you are pushing the magnet against the pin (and away from the bit location) while cutting helps assure the magnets won't get where they shouldn't be while mortising. I've done a number of test cuts and the repeatability, speed and precision is outstanding.

One note: The operator should take the time to calibrate the register pins. Any misalignment will of course be transferred to any cuts using the earth magnet idea. Unfortunately, I am unable to loosen the inset screw that holds my register pin calibration feature. I tried soaking with WD40 and am using the required 2mm allen wrench, but there is no way that screw will come loose. Anyone else having that trouble? I've even tried grabbing the allen wrench handle with pliers, but when I apply the added pressure the allen wrench slips in the set screw head. Hey Bob M, are you listening? 

 

[Tezzer]

That is a fantastic solution to a real problem. ;D Well done Jeff, top stuff ;D

On the prob not being able to loosen the screw, try a very fine tip on a soldering iron and heat the screw a bit. That should do the trick

 

[Jeff Wright]

On the prob not being able to loosen the screw, try a very fine tip on a soldering iron and heat the screw a bit. That should do the trick

Thanks T . . . I'll give that a try.

 

[John Stevens]

Very cool idea, Jeff, and thanks for all the pics--they were worth 1,000 words in this case.

Here's another idea, for what it's worth:  use a disc-shaped magnet with a hole in the middle to fit the pin.  No chance that the disc would slip out of their proper orientation during use.  You might even be able to use a non-magnetic material for the disc, as long as the material allowed for a tight fit on the pin so the disc wouldn't fall off during use.  The down side of using a disc instead of a stack of magnets is that you'd need a series of discs with a range of diameters.

BTW, for anyone who is using a "Sonicare" electric toothbrush, you can scavenge the magnets before disposing of the old brush heads.  I'm not sure what type of magnets they are, but they seem as strong as the "rare earth" magnets I've bought from Lee Valley.

Regards,

John

 

[Jeff Wright]

Very cool idea, Jeff, and thanks for all the pics--they were worth 1,000 words in this case.

Yes, ideally make up a magnet with a ringed end to slip over the register pin, with its other end flat to lay against the workpiece.

John, I see you are from Ardmore! I lived in Devon for many years prior to retiring to Florida. Went to The Haverford School down the street from you and worked as a consultant in Wynnewood for my last 12 years of employment. It's a small world.

 

[Les]

"On the prob not being able to loosen the screw, try a very fine tip on a soldering iron and heat the screw a bit. That should do the trick"

Has anyone been able to adjust the eccentric bushing, including Rick Christopherson? I was able to loosen the screw but unable to adjust the bushing. Is the bushing loctited? If it is, then heat would help but, would it need to be re-loctited? ???

 

[ROb McGilp]

Jeff,
You are definitely "The Man". A brilliant idea. I can also see a benefit in using the magnets to give shallower cuts by placing a couple on the plate, to each side of the cutter. Depending on the depth of the magnet, you should be able to use the cutter set depth and make a number of different depth cuts for things like inlays at 5mm depth etc. All I need now is someone who will make 3.5 and 4mm cutters for the beast and I'll be in 7th heaven.

Thanks again,

Albert

 

[Jeff Wright]

Is the bushing loctited? If it is, then heat would help but, would it need to be re-loctited? ???

I don't understand why the locking set screw wouldn't be sufficient to lock the eccentric bushing setting. Seems like putting Locktite on the bushing is a bit of overkill, no? But I'm no machinist or engineer. 

 

[mastercabman]

Here's a patent-pending (by yours truly) idea . . . .

One of the limitations with the Domino is mortising narrow pieces such as rail and styles. The two registering pins are great when using wider boards, but are unusable with narrower 2 to 3-inch boards. I've tried the approach of aligning the rail and style precisely by hand and drawing a line across each piece and then mortising using the plastic sight gauge line, but even after calibrating that set-up, I find that once the entire face frame is assembled, there is an ever-so-small 1/32ish error. I am a pretty careful technician, so at this point I don't think it is my technique as much as it is a limitation of the tool.

But I think I have a workable and inexpensive solution that Dominoites may appreciate!

I had a package of smaller earth magnets lying around. I put three of them against the retracting registering pin to force the Domino to position its bit close to the center of the rail end (there is no need for it to be precisely centered). I made my cut, then moved the same three earth magnets to the other registering pin and made my cut on the style. The result is a perfectly matched joint, and done in a matter of seconds. No more tedious and error-prone measuring and line drawing.

I used a set of magnets available at my local Woodcraft store. Larger ones may work better. If I needed to vary the distance of the mortise cut from the edge, I need only add another small magnet.

The photos below tell the story:
Attached Thumbnails
         http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=63635&d=1177944723http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=63636&d=1177944731http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=63637&d=1177944740http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=63638&d=1177944750http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=63639&d=1177944757

how about using the trim stop accessory?you can use it to mortise small piece,like rail and styles.i think it can be adjusted down for an inch wide.

 

[John Stevens]

All I need now is someone who will make 3.5 and 4mm cutters for the beast and I'll be in 7th heaven.

Hi, Albert.  A 4mm cutter would be nice--I'd love to be able to set a #10 Lamello biscuit lengthwise into a deep mortise.  (I don't think the max plunge depth on the Domi will accommodate a #20 biscuit.)  It'd also be nice if Festool would produce tenons that swell like biscuits--I suspect it's that feature that enables biscuits to achieve such a strong glue bond against end grain.

What would you use the 3.5mm cutter for?

Regards,

John

 

[Jeff Wright]

how about using the trim stop accessory?you can use it to mortise small piece,like rail and styles.i think it can be adjusted down for an inch wide.[/quote]

That's all well and good, but the issue is loss of speed, accuracy and repeatability. Using the trim stop is fine for doing production-like runs of rail ends and the like, but it still requires you to somehow mark the adjoining style and mortising that. Yes, you could carefully measure and draw a line where you think the mortise in the adjacent style should be cut, but it has not, for me at least, resulted in satisfactory accuracy. Plus, it's a somewhat cumbersome technique. Once you make your mortise using the trim stop as you suggest, how do you recommend determining where that adjacent style mortise goes? Using the magnets eliminates all that measuring which is prone to error. The mortise shown in the photos in my post above was cut and assembled in less than 40 seconds . . . it doesn't get much better than that. 

 

[ROb McGilp]

Hellooo John,

A 3.5mm cutter would allow me to cut thin inlays for boxes etc. These I can generate quite happily with a TS75.
5mm is often a little large for a box lid, but being able to make a 5, o4mm and a 3.5mm would be useful. The Domi is very useful for this function and because you can mark a centre where your last cut will be, you don't need stops. Below is a really amateurish demo of what I mean. This was only play, but you can get the idea. Add mitred corners and "Bob's your uncle". This also works for the trough used to hold a drawer base in place. Bang,bang,bang,bang and you're done.
The other thing a 4mm and 3.5mm would be useful for, or so I think anyway, is as internal splines in mitre joints in thin timber. e.g a box with 10-12mm thick sides.

Regards,

Albert

 

[polarsea1]

"On the prob not being able to loosen the screw, try a very fine tip on a soldering iron and heat the screw a bit. That should do the trick"

Has anyone been able to adjust the eccentric bushing, including Rick Christopherson? I was able to loosen the screw but unable to adjust the bushing. Is the bushing loctited? If it is, then heat would help but, would it need to be re-loctited? ???

Les, If you are referring to rotating the eccentric, I had a hard time with that. I used some tri-flow but I'm not sure it helped. I finally got the Domino fixed into position where I could put a lot of pressure downward onto the screw and was able to turn it...barely. It's all good now and hopefully I'll never need to do that again.

Bill

 

[Les]

Bill,

Yes, rotating the eccentric bushing is what I'm referring to. I think they must of put loctite, or like substance on the bushing. Either that or the bushing has been pressed fitted. If the bushing is meant to be adjusted, it should have been made a slip fit at the factory. Maybe they need to check their tolerances on the diameters of the bore and the bushing.  After all the great engineering that has gone into the Domino, it is disappointing I'm unable to make, what should be, a simple adjustment. 

 

[Bill]

Here you go:
http://www.festoolusa.com/Web_files/SP_Domino_DF500Q.pdf

Bill

 

[Les]

Thanks Bill for the link. I edited my post to remove the question on a exploded parts diagram because I realized I could find it on Festool USA site.  :-[

 

[John Stevens]

Hellooo John...

So many ideas there, Albert.  Thanks for showing me even more uses for this versatile tool.

Regards,

John, a.k.a. Stevo

 

[mot]

Please forgive me if this won't work.  I have my Domi, but havn't even calibrated it yet.  Could gauge blocks be made to perform this same task.  Cutting a mortise in a piece of hardwood, and then cutting the piece to length so that the edge of the mortise is a known fixed position from the edge of the guage block, then use that as a reference jig for cutting mortises near the ends of the stiles?

Just a thought.  As I tend to make my face frame widths all about the same, one gauge block might just do the trick.  The mortise, or even a hol drilled in that guage piece could be used for any sized cutter as it just has to fit the size of the aligment pin. 

This has probably already been discussed to death in another thread...I was just thinking of it, but it seems so simple that It can't be an original thought.