I picked up my domino a week or so ago but didn't really get a chance to use it on a *real* project until this weekend.
Well, not so much a real project as a "hollywood" one.
But first, what I got was the DF 500 set (of course!) and the domino assortment systainer.
All the minute details have already been covered in detail on other reviews here, so I won't waste time with those. If you are looking for that of information, I'd recommend starting with Paul Marcel's excellent video reviews. I just wanted to add a couple things I learned (the hard way!) while using it.
Since my son is involved with the drama club at his high school, that means I end up being involved as a booster. Mostly what we do is help raise money and build the sets. This spring's production is "The Boyfriend", and when I realized the set was a full 36 feet long, I volunteered to build it in my barn so we could get everything done well ahead of our move in date in mid March. Scene one includes 10 foot tall flats (walls) with two sets of double french doors. Now, this isn't your typical H.S. production, we're not talking cardboard sets. As an example, here a few samples of last years production of Cinderella....
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"Cinderella" (above) and "Evil Step-mother" (top) are both in the theatre program at UC Irvine now
Anyway, back to the doors (now maybe you'll understand why I went to all this trouble). I decided that making the doors with the domino would be a perfect way to break in the tool and get over the learning curve, while making the doors rock solid to withstand 8 performances and a multiple of set moves during rehearsals. I used the 6x40 dominos. The doors are just 1x4 pine from Home Depot, with a 1x6 at the bottom for better looks. The window dividers are simply 1/4" luann ply ripped to 1 1/4" and stapled across the back of the doors. That's the beauty of hollywood, it only needs to look good from the front!
One the first door, I double dominoed each joint, but then realized that was overkill and on the next 3 I only doubled up on the 1x6 pieces.
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So here's what I learned. From watching other videos/reviews, I determined it was OK to just apply glue into the mortise. So with my biscuit joiner mindset in place, I just gooped a bunch of yellow glue in there, and pounded the domino in. My mistake became obvious when the the glue started oozing from a crack halfway down the face of the board. The pressure from the tight domino had forced the glue into a weak spot in the pine and blew out a crack! The same thing happened to me on the end, only worse, it actually split the domino mortise to the end of the board. Fortunately, clamps where at hand (heck, the glue was already in there! ).
For the rest of the joint, I switched to applying the glue with a small glue stick and made sure I had just enough on the flat
parts of the mortise. That took care of the problem.
[attachthumb=#]
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The other thing I noticed is how tight the dominos are during a dry fit. To the point that I had to remove them with a pair of pliers. Maybe it's the humidity here in California (it was raining that day well). I'm not sure if the microwave trick is still necessary after Festool made adjustments to the dimensions on the dominos a few years ago to address this problem.
The best part is? I set up a length jig on the chop saw and we cut everything quickly to the same length. Total time to make all doors (including domino work).... about 30 minutes.
Anyway, thanks for reading along.
Well, not so much a real project as a "hollywood" one.
But first, what I got was the DF 500 set (of course!) and the domino assortment systainer.
All the minute details have already been covered in detail on other reviews here, so I won't waste time with those. If you are looking for that of information, I'd recommend starting with Paul Marcel's excellent video reviews. I just wanted to add a couple things I learned (the hard way!) while using it.
Since my son is involved with the drama club at his high school, that means I end up being involved as a booster. Mostly what we do is help raise money and build the sets. This spring's production is "The Boyfriend", and when I realized the set was a full 36 feet long, I volunteered to build it in my barn so we could get everything done well ahead of our move in date in mid March. Scene one includes 10 foot tall flats (walls) with two sets of double french doors. Now, this isn't your typical H.S. production, we're not talking cardboard sets. As an example, here a few samples of last years production of Cinderella....
[attachthumb=#]
[attachthumb=#]
"Cinderella" (above) and "Evil Step-mother" (top) are both in the theatre program at UC Irvine now
Anyway, back to the doors (now maybe you'll understand why I went to all this trouble). I decided that making the doors with the domino would be a perfect way to break in the tool and get over the learning curve, while making the doors rock solid to withstand 8 performances and a multiple of set moves during rehearsals. I used the 6x40 dominos. The doors are just 1x4 pine from Home Depot, with a 1x6 at the bottom for better looks. The window dividers are simply 1/4" luann ply ripped to 1 1/4" and stapled across the back of the doors. That's the beauty of hollywood, it only needs to look good from the front!
One the first door, I double dominoed each joint, but then realized that was overkill and on the next 3 I only doubled up on the 1x6 pieces.
[attachthumb=#]
So here's what I learned. From watching other videos/reviews, I determined it was OK to just apply glue into the mortise. So with my biscuit joiner mindset in place, I just gooped a bunch of yellow glue in there, and pounded the domino in. My mistake became obvious when the the glue started oozing from a crack halfway down the face of the board. The pressure from the tight domino had forced the glue into a weak spot in the pine and blew out a crack! The same thing happened to me on the end, only worse, it actually split the domino mortise to the end of the board. Fortunately, clamps where at hand (heck, the glue was already in there! ).
For the rest of the joint, I switched to applying the glue with a small glue stick and made sure I had just enough on the flat
parts of the mortise. That took care of the problem.
[attachthumb=#]
[attachthumb=#]
The other thing I noticed is how tight the dominos are during a dry fit. To the point that I had to remove them with a pair of pliers. Maybe it's the humidity here in California (it was raining that day well). I'm not sure if the microwave trick is still necessary after Festool made adjustments to the dimensions on the dominos a few years ago to address this problem.
The best part is? I set up a length jig on the chop saw and we cut everything quickly to the same length. Total time to make all doors (including domino work).... about 30 minutes.
Anyway, thanks for reading along.
