Another domino thread

[Doug71]

Have you used the domino for face frames etc? If so, how did you set it up for the rail ends? I guess you could have a board of ply with 2 battens fixed to it rail width apart, with the rail centred to the domino

Made loads of face frames and like @Ollie78 says I just use a pencil line, it really is that quick and easy.

One thing the 700 has over the 500 is more of the little flip stop things. I normally use the 700 for cabinet doors because of this. The dominos are thicker than needed but if the rails and stiles are around 80mm wide you can just use the flip stops to place two dominos in each joint. You just cut the stiles and rails to length and then cut the mortises for the dominos without any marking out at all, it makes me smile every time I do it.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Im finally ready to take the plunge

Im thinking the 500 will do me. Mostly it'll be for joining cabinets for built in wardrobes and aligning edges nicely. And no doubt as i use it I'll think of other uses.
I have a morticer in the workshop if needed for bigger joints.

But my question is, what accessories do you guys rate and why?


Its worth saying i havent used one or seen one in the flesh. Theres countless threads on this stuff but im interested in your real world experiences,
Thanks

I got mine about 15 years ago, I have virtually every accessory as I had the money and getting 1 order was easy but getting others would have been very difficult.

My Domino has the Domiplate attached almost all the time, I have used the support bracket occasionally, as with the cross stops, I have the aftermarket trim stop, I almost never use it or the hand rail fence,

I bought the systainer domin assortment and 4mm cutter so that I would have them if needed. I have used every one the most used to least are under
6mm, 5mm; 80%~90%
4mm; 5%~10%
8mm; >5%
10mm; >5%
As I have all the cutters and all the different Dominos I am not constrained by what I have, so that never impacts my plans

 

[LBCarpentry]

DF500 without doubt the single most innovative and valuable powertool of the last 20 years. Period.

As everyone says - 5 x 30 tennons you really don’t need much else.

Kitchens, shelves, wardrobes, frames, butt joints you name it it can do it. Just so so good I would never be without mine now. 500 trumps the 700 hands down. I use the 700 for cutting mortice sash locks and deadlocks now more than anything. Super accurate with varying mortice widths. Cabinets even hold together well dry fitted without screws. Buy one buy one nnoooowwww

 

[LBCarpentry]

DF500 without doubt the single most innovative and valuable powertool of the last 20 years. Period.

As everyone says - 5 x 30 tennons you really don’t need much else.

Kitchens, shelves, wardrobes, frames, butt joints you name it it can do it. Just so so good I would never be without mine now. 500 trumps the 700 hands down. I use the 700 for cutting mortice sash locks and deadlocks now more than anything. Super accurate with varying mortice widths. Cabinets even hold together well dry fitted without screws. Buy one buy one nnoooowwww

Sorry also - no need for accessories really. Had mine for years and never used an accessory.

 

[Adam W.]

Im finally ready to take the plunge

Im thinking the 500 will do me. Mostly it'll be for joining cabinets for built in wardrobes and aligning edges nicely. And no doubt as i use it I'll think of other uses.
I have a morticer in the workshop if needed for bigger joints.

But my question is, what accessories do you guys rate and why?

Ive seen conflicting views on whether you need a domi plate etc for instance.
I can buy the domino and a kit of tennons as a package but is it worth it? I'll probably be using the 5 x 30's for jointing 18mm sheet goods mostly, so could buy a box of 300 for 15 quid and then make or buy other sizes as required?

https://www.powertoolmate.co.uk/pow...K52FxtSHuFrawHZPyDgerL7gKwMr2sssaAia3EALw_wcB
Its worth saying i havent used one or seen one in the flesh. Theres countless threads on this stuff but im interested in your real world experiences,
Thanks

I use mine (500) for floors and that's about it, but if you use panel products then I guess they would be quite useful.

 

[Spectric]

I believe the huge advantage of the 500 compared to the 700 is weight, I find the 700 big and clumsy which causes me issues so the original smaller and lighter 500 on sheet goods is a winner. I went wrong thinking the 700 could do the work of the 500 and the heavier 700 task but not the case for me.

 

[recipio]

+1 for the trim stop. The piece has to be secure when plunging into endgrain. The Dominoes are easy to make with a thicknesser and roundover bit. I like to use oak when making chairs and other stressed joints.

 

[Spectric]

trim stop

Or well engineered like

Also don't overlook the FC tools Domino alignment jig (NEW) Domino Alignment Jig XL System Deluxe; (900 LONG PLATE) - FC Tools

 

[baldkev]

I just clicked the link.... 360 sheets

 

[Alpasty]

I only have a 700, as I wanted the ability to use it for larger joinery and joining solid wood (which is it's main use), as well as sheet goods.

So I bought the Seneca plate and adaptor to use the smaller cutters. Yes, it's a heavy machine, but the plate and smaller cutters do work well and I have got used to it and don't find the weight a problem now.

I really love the retractable tabs on the 700 and use them a lot for face frames, mortices on gates and doors etc, and to space double mortices. They are super accurate and help avoid mistakes.

I also use pencil lines when joining solid boards, and use the tight setting for one pair only (if lengthways alignment is important) and the lose setting for the rest. Works well.

 

[Alpasty]

Adding to that, if I did a lot of sheet material work or lighter work I would probably consider a 500 in addition to the 700, but can't justify it as I don't do a lot of that kind of work.

 

[Spectric]

I also use pencil lines when joining solid boards, and use the tight setting for one pair only (if lengthways alignment is important) and the lose setting for the rest. Works well.

I think that if you start of with dowels and then use domino's there is something you don't like about the sloppy domino effect, having used say a double row of 8 dowels and perfect alignment then having to use a sloppy domino just feels so wrong to me. I have also got the Fc tools alignment jig but just so much easier to pickup my dowel jig knowing everything will just align and the joint will close perfectly. I also have that Senaca adaptor to use the 5mm cutters from the 500, just have to ensure you set the depth as there is a massive difference in the 500 & 700.

 

[Alpasty]

I think that if you start of with dowels and then use domino's there is something you don't like about the sloppy domino effect, having used say a double row of 8 dowels and perfect alignment then having to use a sloppy domino just feels so wrong to me. I have also got the Fc tools alignment jig but just so much easier to pickup my dowel jig knowing everything will just align and the joint will close perfectly. I also have that Senaca adaptor to use the 5mm cutters from the 500, just have to ensure you set the depth as there is a massive difference in the 500 & 700.

That's probably the difference. I used biscuits before for board joining, so no lengthways alignment at all. And for doors and face frames etc I used traditional mortice and tenon joints. So the domino works well replacing both these methods.

 

[HOJ]

Ive seen conflicting views on whether you need a domi plate etc for instance.

what accessories do you guys rate

For the life of me I cant remember who, but someone on here made and offered for sale a version of a domiplate, I bought one, never used it.
The 500 is ideal for carcass construction and small stock size projects, face frames for kitchens for instance, (I have used the 4mm domi's as well) but has its limit on maximum cutter size @ 10mm. If you are possibly going to do "joinery" I would consider the 700 as a better option, by the fact you can make loose tenons as wide as you like and more to the point 70mm deep, and as has been mentioned lock fitting, (I use mine to fit espangnolete locks and keeps) and loads of other things as well that need a slot cut, as far as other accessories go, I just use a rod with lines marked on to set positions, certainly don't need a £360 offset jig winging around on the end of it, which ever choice you make buy all the cutters, but not necessarily the box of mixed domi's just the ones you will need for now, unless its on offer.

 

[baldkev]

Adding to that, if I did a lot of sheet material work or lighter work I would probably consider a 500 in addition to the 700, but can't justify it as I don't do a lot of that kind of work.

I see you are in devon! You arent called mark are you? I know a chippie nicknamed pasty

For the life of me I cant remember who, but someone on here made and offered for sale a version of a domiplate, I bought one, never used it.
The 500 is ideal for carcass construction and small stock size projects, face frames for kitchens for instance, (I have used the 4mm domi's as well) but has its limit on maximum cutter size @ 10mm. If you are possibly going to do "joinery" I would consider the 700 as a better option, by the fact you can make loose tenons as wide as you like and more to the point 70mm deep, and as has been mentioned lock fitting, (I use mine to fit espangnolete locks and keeps) and loads of other things as well that need a slot cut, as far as other accessories go, I just use a rod with lines marked on to set positions, certainly don't need a £360 offset jig winging around on the end of it, which ever choice you make buy all the cutters, but not necessarily the box of mixed domi's just the ones you will need for now, unless its on offer.

I dont see myself needingn it for joinery, firstly because so far, as a site chippy i havent done a lot of joinery ( windows and doors / tables etc ) and i do have a workshop that is fairly well equipped, with spindle and morticer etc if jointing a solid tabletop, the 10mm domino would do, being as edge to edge glue joints are strong, the dominos would be for alignment as much as anything

 

[Alpasty]

I see you are in devon! You arent called mark are you? I know a chippie nicknamed pasty

No, I'm Alex. Use this name on forums as it was my nickname as an apprentice years ago, because I mainly ate a lot of pasties in those days!

 

[sometimewoodworker]

I think that if you start of with dowels and then use domino's there is something you don't like about the sloppy domino effect, having used say a double row of 8 dowels and perfect alignment then having to use a sloppy domino just feels so wrong to me. I have also got the Fc tools alignment jig but just so much easier to pickup my dowel jig knowing everything will just align and the joint will close perfectly. I also have that Senaca adaptor to use the 5mm cutters from the 500, just have to ensure you set the depth as there is a massive difference in the 500 & 700.

Everyone has their own preferences and uses, or doesn’t use, functions and accessories. I really don’t understand the feeling you get, as there is no requirement to use the wider settings (sloppy is already prejudicing the conclusion) as there is nothing sloppy in the vertical plane.

For my use I will use exact fit holes on all of one piece, exact fit on the ends of the other piece then possibly the 1st wide setting in the centre holes. This works as my pieces are all the same width so 2 exact fit holes are more than is required, so 5 out of 6 holes are exact fit the remaining is either wide or exact depending on the time I take marking out

There are some who will use wide on all of one side so allowing for lateral movement and faster cutting, I don’t feel that it works for my usage.

As to the recommendation to buy the cutters but not the domino selection, I think that it’s not the best, as there is a significant saving in the selection that includes the cutters, the set has most lengths, the numbers of dominoes are limited but enough to get a good feel for what works well for you and possibly most importantly you have dominoes for every cutter. So either get 1 or 2 cutters and dominoes or the set.

The reply’s have encompassed many view points.
TLDR. nobody who doesn’t have a top of the line other tool has suggested that the Domino was a less than great tool. The virtual overwhelming consensus is “if you can afford it by it, your unlikely to be disappointed”

 

[baldkev]

I think im going to buy the basic df500 kit and buy the add_ons as needed. The cross stop and trim stop are about 50 quid each, so its not cheaper to buy it as a kit.
In terms of domino sizes, I'll get 5x30s and go from there. I can make a few lengths of domino stock to cut to size as required, but i dont think I'll be doing much more than sheet material with it
Thank you all for your input

 

[Doug71]

Dominos are dead easy to make, I used to spend ages faffing about making them but these days I often just run some wood through the saw to size then take a 45 off each corner over the PT, they work fine in most situations.

Rather than using the tight and middle setting it's often as easy to just plunge twice on the tight setting going say 1.5mm each side of your mark. This generally gives you enough wiggle room without giving you too much!

Once you start messing with the settings you are always in danger of forgetting to reset it back again, I guarantee you will mess something up by breaking out through the back of the piece because you forgot to reset the plunge depth, everybody has done it at least once.......

 

[Distinterior]

Once you start messing with the settings you are always in danger of forgetting to reset it back again, I guarantee you will mess something up by breaking out through the back of the piece because you forgot to reset the plunge depth, everybody has done it at least once.......

Oh Yes...!

I think it's all part of the learning curve...