Gauge Blocks for Setting Domino Fence Height

[FesRookie]

Hello..Sorry if this has been covered before.  I find adjusting the height on the Domino (500) fence a bit awkward, and difficult to get a precise setting.  At least for those times when the fence is at 90 degrees, it seems a more accurate way to do this would be with metric setup blocks.  I'm wondering if anyone has found a reasonably priced set for this purpose- Thanks!

 

[afish]

I have made a few posts about centering dominos and back in the day I did use some gauge blocks for common material but there is a couple issues with that method.  1. if your material varies at all its going to throw it off so it doesnt end up being super accurate. 2. You have to keep track of multiple gauge blocks

I recently came up with the best system to date I have seen to precisely center dominos/dowels. There is a thread HERE about it.  I ended up making a slightly different indicator holder than the one in the thread that could be clamped to the domino or DDF fence with a simple 2" spring clamp so both hands are free one to hold the tool and manipulate the fence. Trying to hold the first prototype tight to the fence and hold the tool and adjust the fence to .001" was doable but very difficult.  The clamp on one is waaaaaay better.  Using this method gets you very accurately placed dominos/dowels. 

 

[dwillis]

Not sure what constitutes a reasonable price, but I recently purchased a set of metric gauge blocks machined from aluminum. They are sold by Penn Tool Co. (www.penntoolco.com) for $79.95 (iGaging 15 Piece Precision Setup Blocks-Metric - 36-SB-15-M). I've found them quite useful for tool setup and measurements.

 

[ChuckS]

Could you give more info. on what kind of thicknesses of materials or in what situations that you find the built-in board thickness gauge not good enough?

 

[rubber_ducky]

Edit: reading comprehension error on my part

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ear3]

Yup.  Works great when needed, especially for specific offsets.  Veritas makes a good set of metric ones, though they are not as many as in the imperial set

 

[FesRookie]

Thank you for the replies. Perhaps I didn't give enough information when I posted the question.  I was cutting mortises on the beveled end of rails today, and to place the mortise where I needed it I had to set the fence height to 11mm.  The fence moves up and down smoothly enough, but getting it set at 11mm proved frustrating... Despite all of the great features built into the Domino, the vertical scale and adjust seems coarse, and I wish it had a micro-adjust feature.  I felt I needed at least one more hand to keep everything from moving while I locked it down.  So, the idea of simply setting the fence on a gauge block, and then locking it in place seemed like a good solution.  Hope that clarifies what I was trying to do...

 

[ear3]

Just add the appropriate thickness block on top of the board thickness gauge, as per pic in thread I linked to.

I find it's very rare that I need to hit a precise number, as absolute centering on a board is not necessary.  It's only when I'm doing offets on different pieces, like insetting a stretcher on a leg, that gauge block precision is called for.

Thank you for the replies. Perhaps I didn't give enough information when I posted the question.  I was cutting mortises on the beveled end of rails today, and to place the mortise where I needed it I had to set the fence height to 11mm.  The fence moves up and down smoothly enough, but getting it set at 11mm proved frustrating... Despite all of the great features built into the Domino, the vertical scale and adjust seems coarse, and I wish it had a micro-adjust feature.  I felt I needed at least one more hand to keep everything from moving while I locked it down.  So, the idea of simply setting the fence on a gauge block, and then locking it in place seemed like a good solution.  Hope that clarifies what I was trying to do...

 

[ChuckS]

Snip. Hope that clarifies what I was trying to do...

You don't need a set up block for this (but you may want it for something else). I agree that a micro-adj feature would be great, but you can dial in fine adjustments with a simple trick: remove the front from the body before you do any fine setting:

1) With the body removed and the fence folded up (at 0*), move the fence to the desired height and lock it
2) Flip the fence down to 90*, and put the front assembly back to the body.