New Style Domino

[chrisrosenb]

I have had one of the old style Dominos f

 

[Neill]

Chris,

I got into the habit of marking the center of the mortise back when I was using my DeWalt bisquit joiner.  I just continued the practice when I got my Domino using the "V" as you do.  I am not sure I could adapt to using it any other way.  You know, "You can't teach old dogs..."

I wonder if one of the reasons for the change is that the line is so hard to see unless it is pretty heavily marked.  Even in bright light it is hard to see because as you bend over the machine your shadow obscures the markings.

Some time ago I had actually suggested in the "Wish List" category for a lighted Domino.

Neill

 

[Brice Burrell]

.....I wonder if one of the reasons for the change is that the line is so hard to see unless it is pretty heavily marked.  Even in bright light it is hard to see because as you bend over the machine your shadow obscures the markings.

Some time ago I had actually suggested in the "Wish List" category for a lighted Domino.

Neill

Sounds like you need the new Festool LED headlamp.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Allow me to revive a thread from a great guy, Mr. Bill Esposito.

http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-jigs-tool-enhancements/trion-i-can-see!/

 

[Neill]

.....I wonder if one of the reasons for the change is that the line is so hard to see unless it is pretty heavily marked.  Even in bright light it is hard to see because as you bend over the machine your shadow obscures the markings.

Some time ago I had actually suggested in the "Wish List" category for a lighted Domino.

Neill

Sounds like you need the new Festool LED headlamp.
[/quote

Brice,

I actually have one of those things thanks to Tom at Tool-Home (another gratuitous plug).  Never thought of this application.  Thanks for the tip.

Never mind that it makes me look like Tonto sans hair when I wear it.

Neill

 

[Neill]

Chris,

Thanks for the pic.  Is that Bill Esposito's light?  Looks great.

Shane,

Thanks for the link.  It does look great also.  Not being a very technical person, I am not sure I could handle this conversion.  I am the kind of person that can use what I have but if something goes wrong or needs modification, I am lost.  For now Brice's headlamp solution may be my best bet.

Neill

 

[Tezzer]

The new Domino is so frustrating for me  [crying]

I take advanced Domino classes and have so many jigs and templates that utilise the 5mm pin, and are now completely useless with the new machine. Unfortunately most of those who attend the classes have only just purchased their Domi and get cranky when they realise they cannot do half the stuff im showing. It will no doubt mean I will have to get rid of half the courses content and re format it. Festool stuffed up big time with this so called improvement  [crying]

And Chris, I also use the raised V more than the curser line and also find it irritating its not on the new machine.

 

[Rick Christopherson]

I use the workbench to register the height of  the mortise. The old style Domino has a raised V cast just above the cutter to indicate the center of the mortise. 

Chris,
There are several reasons why I generally steer users away from this practice.

• When you register off the workbench, standard practices dictate that the finished surface should be down for proper surface alignment. Doing so compensates for variations in material thickness. This means that you have to lay out your assembly (such as a faceframe) backward, and has been known to result in errors (I have a couple of backward faceframes sitting in the scrap pile from this situation).
• This method uses the entire workpiece surface area for registration, as opposed to the small surface area of the Domino fence. Therefore, anything that prevents the entire surface from being flat on the workbench (including the workbench itself not being flat) will interfere with the surface registration. A small piece of dried glue, bits of sawdust on the workbench, or a slightly warped workpiece can result in an error between the two workpieces when joined.
• As for using the raised V, this is a cast aluminum feature, not machined. As a result, its position is not considered precise. Furthermore, it is not very sharp and is generally wider than the pencil mark to which it is being aligned. I would imagine that if you compared the alignment of your raised V with the center line of the sight gauge, they would not line up--I know that mine do not.

The methods you describe were very common with biscuit joiners, but a biscuit joint is far less precise and tight compared to Domino.

 

[Tezzer]

As for using the raised V, this is a cast aluminum feature, not machined. As a result, its position is not considered precise. Furthermore, it is not very sharp and is generally wider than the pencil mark to which it is being aligned. I would imagine that if you compared the alignment of your raised V with the center line of the sight gauge, they would not line up--I know that mine do not.

Mine is out 0.5mm to the left of the curser line, so I compensate by placing it on the right side of the pencil line. So in effect its spot on.

But in reality, how accurate does this machine need to be? 

 

[Rick Christopherson]

Mine is out 0.5mm to the left of the curser line, so I compensate by placing it on the right side of the pencil line. So in effect its spot on.

But in reality, how accurate does this machine need to be? 

Any error in the centering position is compounded, so if yours is off by 0.5mm, then the resulting misalignment between joined workpieces will be a full millimeter off. For some applications this is unimportant, but for applications where you have flushed ends, this millimeter error is way beyond what should be considered acceptable.

The raised V is not adjustable, which I suspect is the reason why it was eliminated from the design. The sweep of the cutter is a mechanical variable that will differ from machine to machine, so you don't want any aspect of the machine to not be able to compensate for these variations.

Festool recognized the importance of this precision, and that is why the new sight gauge has a magnified edge, and probably the reason why the V was removed.

 

[Tezzer]

Any error in the centering position is compounded, so if yours is off by 0.5mm, then the resulting misalignment between joined workpieces will be a full millimeter off. For some applications this is unimportant, but for applications where you have flushed ends, this millimeter error is way beyond what should be considered acceptable.

In over 3 and a half years of using the Domino it has never been an issue. I doubt if the average Domino users control would give more than 70% of perfect accuracy in every 100 plunges.

 

[Brice Burrell]

.......I did not understand the part about having to lay out an assembly backwards.

Chris

Since you want all of the joints indexed from the finished surface they would be face down on the work bench. Everything is reversed, the right side on the left and so on, making it harder to keep track of how it all goes together.