Now Available from FastCap: Domino Mortise Markers

[Ultimate Tools Marketing]

Available by pre-order until August 7th at noon. Delivery expected for September 2024.

FastCap's new Domino Mortise Markers bring precision to woodworking. Insert the marker into a pre-cut mortise, align it with the joint location, and tap with a hammer to create a clear mark. For harder woods, use an inked stamp pad for better visibility.

Mortise Marker Regular Set:

• Ideal for the Festool Domino Joiner DF 500 Q and includes 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 8mm, and 10mm sizes.

Mortise Marker XL Set:

• Made for the Festool Domino XL DF 700 Joiner and includes 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, and 14mm sizes.

Additionally, pairs of any size (4mm to 14mm) are available.

FastCap's Mortise Markers ensure precise and efficient joinery, making them an essential addition to your toolkit.

Pre-Order Now

 

[Vtshopdog]

I’m only halfway through my morning coffee, but I don’t quite get how this is used.  (or more properly how using it is more effective than the Domino as is)

Insert the plugs in a precut mortise, check.

Tap the wood with plugs to transfer the crosshair markings to another piece of stock, check.

What I don’t see is how does one efficiently control alignment of the two pieces while hitting one of them with a hammer??  Can someone clarify this for me?

 

[morts10n]

They have this thing called a pencil mark coming out soon, too!

 

[Sparktrician]

They have this thing called a pencil mark coming out soon, too!

BA-HAHAHAHA!!!!  [big grin]

 

[ChuckM]

I’m only halfway through my morning coffee, but I don’t quite get how this is used.  (or more properly how using it is more effective than the Domino as is)

Insert the plugs in a precut mortise, check.

Tap the wood with plugs to transfer the crosshair markings to another piece of stock, check.

What I don’t see is how does one efficiently control alignment of the two pieces while hitting one of them with a hammer??  Can someone clarify this for me?

May not be efficient...use a handscrew as a cradle to guide the top workpiece?

I had a couple of projects in the past that could benefit from this transfer tool, but I resolved the issues with some shop-made transfer markers:

[attachimg=1]

 

[Ultimate Tools Marketing]

I’m only halfway through my morning coffee, but I don’t quite get how this is used.  (or more properly how using it is more effective than the Domino as is)

Insert the plugs in a precut mortise, check.

Tap the wood with plugs to transfer the crosshair markings to another piece of stock, check.

What I don’t see is how does one efficiently control alignment of the two pieces while hitting one of them with a hammer??  Can someone clarify this for me?

For a lot of joinery, I don't see a benefit to using these over the built-in registration surfaces of the Domino. However, for larger work where those registration surfaces don't help, these Mortise Markers are helpful. The inventor's video (starting at 1:12) demonstrates this.=n4DD8twcAqjJ5IuY&t=72

 

[ChuckM]

The shop-made blocks (with Domino's center lines marked on the edges) I showed above can do exactly the job illustrated in the video, except that instead of hammering, a pencil is used to extend the center lines from the edges onto the mating board to draw the intersecting placement lines. Since it's pencil lines to pencil lines, it may even be more accurate than referring to the stamped marks.

 

[Cheese]

The shop-made blocks (with Domino's center lines marked on the edges) I showed above can do exactly the job illustrated in the video, except that instead of hammering, a pencil is used to extend the center lines from the edges onto the mating board to draw the intersecting placement lines. Since it's pencil lines to pencil lines, it may even be more accurate than referring to the stamped marks.

You are correct Chuck...it is more accurate and it's also more repeatable.  [smile]

If you look closely at the video, when he strikes the large timber it also moves rearward slightly so accurate placement really wasn't needed. A measurement and a pencil mark was really all that was necessary. I still don't understand the end use for this product.

 

[Svar]

I still don't understand the end use for this product.

Exactly the same as dowel transfer pins, which have been around since sliced bread and nobody is complaining about for some reason  [big grin].
Would I use them on every project? No. Are they useful in some situations? Yes.

[attachimg=1]

 

[Packard]

Similar to transfer punches (which I infrequently use but find very handy when needed).

The last time I used a transfer punch was to make a new baseplate for my router.  I took the old baseplate and used the appropriate sized transfer punch to accurately locate the center for my drill.

Machinists use a pricey set of transfer punches.  I bought the full set from Harbor Freight at a cost of $11.99 + tax.

They work exactly like the dowel centers.  The Harbor Freight item is sufficient for woodworking in my opinion.

 

[squall_line]

I would agree with the comparison to a dowel punch or other punch if the Domino were a drill and you could use the punch to place the bit of the machine, but a drill and an oscillating mortiser are two completely different machines.

 

[Svar]

I would agree with the comparison to a dowel punch or other punch if the Domino were a drill and you could use the punch to place the bit of the machine, but a drill and an oscillating mortiser are two completely different machines.

You may still need to position the mortiser to match existing hole pattern.
For example, attach a round pillar to the center of an oval table top. Cut several  mortices into the end grain of the pillar, transfer to the top, cut matching mortises.
Plenty of times when I would cut mortices, changed settings, scrapped a piece, etc., etc. and then later needed to replicate that pattern. Especially on some irregular parts with no convenient reference surfaces.
Obviously, if one makes rectangular boxes from standard sheet goods then there is no use for it.

 

[smorgasbord]

Yeah, the thing about dowel centers is that they leave a mark into which you can put the drill bit for drilling the matching hole.

But, with a domino, you can't directly reference off that mark, so you've got to then extend a cross pattern accurately, then position the domino on the cross marks accurately, and then mill the mortise without it sliding.

Could be do-able, and maybe there are some situations where this could be help, but it doesn't seem to me to be a common use case.

 

[Michael Kellough]

These things give you a usable lateral reference mark but that is the one axis we do need to be precise.

The vertical reference mark is not one that can the matched by the Domino.
You still have to measure and then set the fence to the same height.

 

[ChuckM]

These things give you a usable lateral reference mark but that is the one axis we do need to be precise.

The vertical reference mark is not one that can the matched by the Domino.
You still have to measure and then set the fence to the same height.

When the intersecting pencil lines method is used for placement, the fence is not used. The scribed line on the base and the milled flats (which are in line with the center point of the cutter) are used to position the machine against the two intersecting pencil lines.

 

[Cheese]

For the life of me guys/gals...I really don't know how this item makes things easier in my life. With dowel centers, you use the indented mark to physically locate the center...whether you use a center punch, a drill bit or a center drill, the depression transferred to the material is used as a datum.

But in this case, this is just plain BS, place a marker in the mortise, strike the marker even if it's at an angle, find the marks imbedded into the wood, carefully align with your aging eyes the marks and then find the centerline of that mark and scribe a line...now proceed to do the same with the other mark. Now again, with your aging eyes line up the Domino and do a plunge...accuracy at its best.  [big grin]

C'mon, this is goofy, let's not lie to ourselves. If retailers want to sell this, so be it. If manufacturers want to produce this, so be it. But as consumers let's not be so gullible.

 

[Packard]

Wouldn’t it be easier to make pencil marks on both pieces of stock before mortising?  That’s the way I use a biscuit cutter.

 

[ChuckM]

This center finder would be more useful if it had also the centerline for the tenon thickness so two intersecting lines could be drawn:
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/152...MItabxse7HhwMVORqtBh2d-wMtEAQYASABEgK-UvD_BwE

 

[Ultimate Tools Marketing]

Last Call to Pre-Order FastCap Domino Mortise Markers
 
Pre-order before noon today. Delivery estimated for September 2024.

Pre-Order Now