woodferret
Member
I guess the Sipo connectors are also a decent halfway choice as they're mahogany with lower expansion ratio than the standard beech.
Unhappy Domino 500 Owner
- Thread starter Blackerty
- Start date
Hi S. I tried wetting some of the dominos/tenons I have and when pretty damp the 8mm goes from 0.3mm under to about 0.2mm over nominal. So it's at least possible in theory. It's another PIA workaround that would be picky to make controllable and shouldn't be necessary. I've seen reports of both 'too thick' and 'too thin' in my recent travels.
The problem in large part is the variability. I'm working from a €300 systainer of dominos bought in 2009 with the tool and had hoped that I'd be told that Festool in the interval had got the situation under control. That would have opened the way to going off to buy more. Seemingly not.
I have a machine tool background which includes a practical understanding of limits and fits. Ridges, corrugations and the somewhat elastic nature of wood mean that loose tenon fits would likely not need to be quite so precise as transition fits in metal (the surfaces contact each other, but not so hard that the fit can't be disassembled) - but I know from cutting mortise and tenon joints by hand and creeping up on fits that even 0.1mm makes quite a difference to the fit in hardwood.
Dominos from the above test can move heading towards 0.5mm in 8mm depending on moisture content - and that's before manufacturing tolerances and wood variability are factored in on top. That's absolutely not good enough given the stratospheric cost of the things and the claims for the tool.
Ta for the suggestion of DV connectors WF - I'll take a look. They no doubt cost an arm and a leg.
I'd heard a report that Lamello did a precision biscuit, but didn't know how reliable the information was..
Also a mention of a press or roller system that can be used to compress biscuits to size (might it work on dominos?) but couldn't find it anywhere.
The problem in large part is the variability. I'm working from a €300 systainer of dominos bought in 2009 with the tool and had hoped that I'd be told that Festool in the interval had got the situation under control. That would have opened the way to going off to buy more. Seemingly not.
I have a machine tool background which includes a practical understanding of limits and fits. Ridges, corrugations and the somewhat elastic nature of wood mean that loose tenon fits would likely not need to be quite so precise as transition fits in metal (the surfaces contact each other, but not so hard that the fit can't be disassembled) - but I know from cutting mortise and tenon joints by hand and creeping up on fits that even 0.1mm makes quite a difference to the fit in hardwood.
Dominos from the above test can move heading towards 0.5mm in 8mm depending on moisture content - and that's before manufacturing tolerances and wood variability are factored in on top. That's absolutely not good enough given the stratospheric cost of the things and the claims for the tool.
Ta for the suggestion of DV connectors WF - I'll take a look. They no doubt cost an arm and a leg.
I'd heard a report that Lamello did a precision biscuit, but didn't know how reliable the information was..
Also a mention of a press or roller system that can be used to compress biscuits to size (might it work on dominos?) but couldn't find it anywhere.
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There's nothing coming up on a search up for DV connector.
Do you mean the expanding metal variety that anchors in a domino slot that come up all over the place at over €600 for a set in a systainer?
They look to expand a lot and will likely tolerate crudely cut slots - but slot accuracy is not the problem. Fine if you own a bank and are going the IKEA/flatpack route but not suitable for many applications.
Do you mean the expanding metal variety that anchors in a domino slot that come up all over the place at over €600 for a set in a systainer?
They look to expand a lot and will likely tolerate crudely cut slots - but slot accuracy is not the problem. Fine if you own a bank and are going the IKEA/flatpack route but not suitable for many applications.
woodferret
Member
At this point I can tell nothing will meet your criteria. Grab a bar of ABS or delrin and make your own dominos, since you're confident you can hit the tolerance mark for pennies.
Please pardon me if I struck the wrong tone WF but I'm resisting moving to alternatives in the hope that a maker of accurate wood or equivalent material tenons (whether Festool or better still somebody else) will pop up.
I can make my own and will anyway do so for non standard situations - if the fence problem gets sorted out.
It'd however save a lot of hassle if ready mades in stock dimensions to a decent tolerance were available - but not at any price.
I can make my own and will anyway do so for non standard situations - if the fence problem gets sorted out.
It'd however save a lot of hassle if ready mades in stock dimensions to a decent tolerance were available - but not at any price.
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I'm not so sure Festool replaced the original fence because of 'drift' problems, I thought it was because they were not allowed to use the retractable pins that were present, so redesigned it??
The problem persists and is a real pain. My machine is only a few years old and suffered from it. I swapped the locking handles, but applying more pressure has never felt like a real, proper 'fix', though it has fixed it. The machine IS crudely built, when you compare it to its big brother, but for the most part works as intended.
I think there are a lot of things in play, when you seek help for a premium product - fanboys who will blame everything but the tool, and usually resort to calling 'user error', users whose tool doesn't suffer from the problem, therefor there can't be a problem and those that just don't see those tight tolerances.
Re. your tenons, do you mean you've had them since 2009 as well? If so, I'd disregard that as a problem and buy a small bag and test them.
The problem persists and is a real pain. My machine is only a few years old and suffered from it. I swapped the locking handles, but applying more pressure has never felt like a real, proper 'fix', though it has fixed it. The machine IS crudely built, when you compare it to its big brother, but for the most part works as intended.
I think there are a lot of things in play, when you seek help for a premium product - fanboys who will blame everything but the tool, and usually resort to calling 'user error', users whose tool doesn't suffer from the problem, therefor there can't be a problem and those that just don't see those tight tolerances.
Re. your tenons, do you mean you've had them since 2009 as well? If so, I'd disregard that as a problem and buy a small bag and test them.
Cheese
Member
Amen...
The problems with the early D 500 fence are well documented and coincide with what you've experienced. Consequently, there's a fix for that.
However, YOUR problems with the Dominos themselves are not consistent with what the majority of D 500 users experience. I've NEVER found a Domino to be undersized. Everyone has been slightly oversized and I needed to hammer them into place and also needed to use a pliers to extract them. Invest in some new Domino's to see if that mitigates at least one of your issues.
