GPowers
Member
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2010
- Messages
- 2,326
Review of Festool DOMINO? DF 500 Q SET Product No . 574307 (is it easy?)
I want to see if the Festool Domino loose tenon machine was as easy as every one is saying. On the Festool Owners forum there were several discussion on how to make the best joint. And several owners were making all kinds of jigs to make it easier. So why are all these jigs need if the Festool Domino is so easy to use?
Here is what I bought, the DOMINO? DF 500 Q SET Product No . 574307 and the Domino Systainer Assortment ?and four Cutters Product No .493301. Wanted to make sure I had everything I need to get started.
The Domino Set included the:
1. Domino DF500 (Product No.: 574 307)
2. Support Bracket, the Domino Trim Stop (Product No. 493487)
3. Trim Stop (Product No. 493487)
4. Domino Cross Stop (Product No. 493488)
5. Systainer Sys2
6. Not pictured, The Plug-it, wrench, 5mm cutter and manual
The design of the Domino is intriguing. It is a tool that make a very difficult and time consuming joinery technique , mortise and tenon join, easy. The Domino ease of use brings a skill orientated task to the Neophyte! You can make a mortise and tenon joint in less them a minute. Where a traditional mortise and tenon joint would take a lot longer and a lot of skill.
At first I was intimidated by the Domino. The fence system looked so intricate. With all kind of options. So the first order of business was to make a mortise to see how everything works. I started off with the assumption that the mortise needs to be centered in the work piece. Since the Board thickness gauge (2) is pre-set to metric and we use imperial measurement, for plywood in the USA, I opted to use the height gauge (1) to get my mortise in the center of my work piece. As you can see from the test piece above I was NOT successful in getting the mortise in the center. Fine adjustments were imposable with the fence freely sliding up and down.
I was wondering why the height guage did not have some way of making a fine adjustment. Lots of Festool products have micro fine adjustments on them, so why it is missing on the Domino?
The answer is --- Because you do not need it! Which makes my first assumption of centering the mortise WRONG. You do not need to center the mortise. All you need to do is make sure you reference the correct two surfaces. Once you figure this out the Domino become less intimidating and easy to use.
So now the proof of simplicity. First forget the need to center the mortise.
The whole process of joining two pieces of ? Plywood at a 90 degrees took less them 10 minutes. Start by attach the support base. Set the board thickness gauge (the step thing) to the thickness closes to the material you are working with. In my case 20mm for 3/4 inch plywood. Make sure the fence height lever is not locked down when adjusting the board thickness step. After the board thickness is set and the fence is resting on the correct step, lock it down.
Select the Loose Tenon (Domino) that you are going to use to join the two pieces of wood. In this case the 6mm by 40mm. Install the correct cutter in the Domino. This is an easy process, but does require a small tool that is included with the Domino.
The 40mm Domino present a problem if you plunge the mortise 20mm in to the edge and face of the panels. The plywood panel is too thin to accept a full 20mm mortis. So you will need to plunge the edge to a depth of 25mm and the face of the plywood to only 15. This change is done with the depth setting on the left side of the Domino.
Place the two pieces of plywood in the position you want to join them.
Draw a line, across both pieces where you want the mortise and tenon joints. The serves two purposes.
First, the pencil lines mark the reference surface. This is the surface that the adjustable fence must rest on when you are cutting the mortise. This technique is the secrete to the simplicity of the Domino joiner. When you reference these two marked surfaces with the Domino fence, you are making the two mortise the exact same distance for the edge. Not in the center, but the exact same distance from the reference edge. So when you assemble the two pieces the two edges line up.
The second reason for the pencil line is to give you a center point to line up the Dominos horizon gauge on for plunging the mortise.
In this photo the mortise is being plunged into the side panel . The correct distance in maintained as the surface of the Domino adjustable fence is up against the material ( the edge) that we marked with the pencil. The support bracket is attached to the base plate for additional stability and helps keep the Domino at a perfect 90 degrees when plunging into the wood surface.
Next I plunge the mortise into the bottom panel. The mortise in being made in the edge of the panel. This time you need to hang the work piece over the edge of your work table. This is done to make sure nothing interferes with keeping the Domino fence flat on the surface with the pencil lines. Remember this is our reference surface. In the photos above you can see the black stop latch that makes it easy to line up the first plunge with the right edge of the work piece.
Here is a shot of all eight mortise before the Domino are inserted.
Dominos inserter and ready for a dry test fit.
There it is, a dry test fitted joined with the edges nicely aligned. All in under five minutes.
So after reviewing the Domino, for simplicity, I find the Domino very easy to join two panels at 90 degrees. The same technique can be used to join to panels or wood stock flat edge to edge. It is amazing how easy the Festool Domino makes joinery. Even I can do it.
I want to see if the Festool Domino loose tenon machine was as easy as every one is saying. On the Festool Owners forum there were several discussion on how to make the best joint. And several owners were making all kinds of jigs to make it easier. So why are all these jigs need if the Festool Domino is so easy to use?
Here is what I bought, the DOMINO? DF 500 Q SET Product No . 574307 and the Domino Systainer Assortment ?and four Cutters Product No .493301. Wanted to make sure I had everything I need to get started.
The Domino Set included the:
1. Domino DF500 (Product No.: 574 307)
2. Support Bracket, the Domino Trim Stop (Product No. 493487)
3. Trim Stop (Product No. 493487)
4. Domino Cross Stop (Product No. 493488)
5. Systainer Sys2
6. Not pictured, The Plug-it, wrench, 5mm cutter and manual
The design of the Domino is intriguing. It is a tool that make a very difficult and time consuming joinery technique , mortise and tenon join, easy. The Domino ease of use brings a skill orientated task to the Neophyte! You can make a mortise and tenon joint in less them a minute. Where a traditional mortise and tenon joint would take a lot longer and a lot of skill.
At first I was intimidated by the Domino. The fence system looked so intricate. With all kind of options. So the first order of business was to make a mortise to see how everything works. I started off with the assumption that the mortise needs to be centered in the work piece. Since the Board thickness gauge (2) is pre-set to metric and we use imperial measurement, for plywood in the USA, I opted to use the height gauge (1) to get my mortise in the center of my work piece. As you can see from the test piece above I was NOT successful in getting the mortise in the center. Fine adjustments were imposable with the fence freely sliding up and down.
I was wondering why the height guage did not have some way of making a fine adjustment. Lots of Festool products have micro fine adjustments on them, so why it is missing on the Domino?
The answer is --- Because you do not need it! Which makes my first assumption of centering the mortise WRONG. You do not need to center the mortise. All you need to do is make sure you reference the correct two surfaces. Once you figure this out the Domino become less intimidating and easy to use.
So now the proof of simplicity. First forget the need to center the mortise.
The whole process of joining two pieces of ? Plywood at a 90 degrees took less them 10 minutes. Start by attach the support base. Set the board thickness gauge (the step thing) to the thickness closes to the material you are working with. In my case 20mm for 3/4 inch plywood. Make sure the fence height lever is not locked down when adjusting the board thickness step. After the board thickness is set and the fence is resting on the correct step, lock it down.
Select the Loose Tenon (Domino) that you are going to use to join the two pieces of wood. In this case the 6mm by 40mm. Install the correct cutter in the Domino. This is an easy process, but does require a small tool that is included with the Domino.
The 40mm Domino present a problem if you plunge the mortise 20mm in to the edge and face of the panels. The plywood panel is too thin to accept a full 20mm mortis. So you will need to plunge the edge to a depth of 25mm and the face of the plywood to only 15. This change is done with the depth setting on the left side of the Domino.
Place the two pieces of plywood in the position you want to join them.
Draw a line, across both pieces where you want the mortise and tenon joints. The serves two purposes.
First, the pencil lines mark the reference surface. This is the surface that the adjustable fence must rest on when you are cutting the mortise. This technique is the secrete to the simplicity of the Domino joiner. When you reference these two marked surfaces with the Domino fence, you are making the two mortise the exact same distance for the edge. Not in the center, but the exact same distance from the reference edge. So when you assemble the two pieces the two edges line up.
The second reason for the pencil line is to give you a center point to line up the Dominos horizon gauge on for plunging the mortise.
In this photo the mortise is being plunged into the side panel . The correct distance in maintained as the surface of the Domino adjustable fence is up against the material ( the edge) that we marked with the pencil. The support bracket is attached to the base plate for additional stability and helps keep the Domino at a perfect 90 degrees when plunging into the wood surface.
Next I plunge the mortise into the bottom panel. The mortise in being made in the edge of the panel. This time you need to hang the work piece over the edge of your work table. This is done to make sure nothing interferes with keeping the Domino fence flat on the surface with the pencil lines. Remember this is our reference surface. In the photos above you can see the black stop latch that makes it easy to line up the first plunge with the right edge of the work piece.
Here is a shot of all eight mortise before the Domino are inserted.
Dominos inserter and ready for a dry test fit.
There it is, a dry test fitted joined with the edges nicely aligned. All in under five minutes.
So after reviewing the Domino, for simplicity, I find the Domino very easy to join two panels at 90 degrees. The same technique can be used to join to panels or wood stock flat edge to edge. It is amazing how easy the Festool Domino makes joinery. Even I can do it.
