After (years of) debate on dropping in on a Domino and vacillating on the XL vs the 500 I finally committed to the XL. For me the primary decision tipping point was the Seneca RTS-500 adaptor which allows use of the 500's smaller bits and the full size range of Domino mortises with one tool. I've seen several others on the FOG with their own versions of shim plates (all great imo) to allow centering mortises on thinner stock than the XL's adjustment range allows for but think the ones I came up with have a few details to add to the discussion so decided to post them (and maybe make someone else's decision to part with $1,500 easier)
The 2 primary differences with mine from the ones I've seen out there are 1) how they're mounted to the Domino and 2) the thin sheet of plexiglass on the material surface side that allows for scribing of a fairly accurate centering mark.
Couple of notes...
- The screws and T-nuts are M4 which just fit the triangular holes on the fence without modification.
- I ended up needing to shim the top of the 1/2" shim with flooring paper to get it's thickness where I wanted it for centering on 12.25(ish) mm thick baltic birch plywood.
- and I found out that neither epoxy nor ca glue bonds well to smooth acrylic hence the 1/2" shim using screws (and some spray adhesive) to attach to the wood shim.
Other than that I think the pictures are all pretty self explanatory but happy to add detail if anyone asks.
The 2 primary differences with mine from the ones I've seen out there are 1) how they're mounted to the Domino and 2) the thin sheet of plexiglass on the material surface side that allows for scribing of a fairly accurate centering mark.
Couple of notes...
- The screws and T-nuts are M4 which just fit the triangular holes on the fence without modification.
- I ended up needing to shim the top of the 1/2" shim with flooring paper to get it's thickness where I wanted it for centering on 12.25(ish) mm thick baltic birch plywood.
- and I found out that neither epoxy nor ca glue bonds well to smooth acrylic hence the 1/2" shim using screws (and some spray adhesive) to attach to the wood shim.
Other than that I think the pictures are all pretty self explanatory but happy to add detail if anyone asks.
