Microwaving Dominos - a Festool Panacea

[cflansbaum]

Ever since receiving my Domino, I have been unhappy with just how tight the dominos themselves fit into their respective mortises.  I had pretty much reluctantly embraced a technique of not at all using the narrow mortise width setting as well as sanding just about every domino I used - a definite time suck.  I ran across some references to microwaving the dominos to help with this awhile back and vowed to try it the next time.

WOW, this makes a huge difference - 1 minute + in the microwave and the dominos fit perfectly in their slots. 

I suggest Festool include a big sticker inside the systainer saying "Microwave before using!"

Thanks to those of you who shared this tip previously!!!

Carl

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Thanks for the "hot tip," Carl.  What is the Item number of the Dominos you are using; did they come with your Domino machine?  I had the same problem with the 5mm ones originally supplied under Item #493296 at the time the Domino sets were first released in USA.  But when I purchased more 5mm Dominos last Fall under Item #494938, they fit much better.  When I checked the dimensions of the "old" and the "new" 5mm dominos, the ones sold under the new Item number were noticeably smaller in width and thickness.  It was the thickness that caused me the overly tight fit problems you described.

Dave R.

 

[Jesse Cloud]

There's an old saying "What's old will become new again."  This technique has been used for hundreds (maybe thousands of years).  For instance, in Colonial America when they were making chairs, they would bore a hole in the bottom of the seat, turn (on a foot powered lathe) round legs that would fit the hole very tightly, then stick the ends of the legs in a bucket of heated sand.  The hot sand drove moisture from the legs and shrank them a little.  They quickly applied some glue and stuck the legs in the holes.  The snug fit became a dead nuts tight fit when the legs swelled back to normal size.

Thanks Carl for applying this to the Festool world.  Its a time tested method that should work well!