Another domino thread

[sometimewoodworker]

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.

I tend to do the same but only to get wider Dominos for the wide wiggle setting

 

[baldkev]

I think mostly shop made dominos will be for either extra length or better material for exterior use. Ive got some cedar cladding to do and id make cedar dominos.... im guessing the beech would fail after a few years?

 

[Distinterior]

The Beech dominos are not recommended for exterior use......Festool do offer an exterior suitable version (Sipo, if I'm mot mistaken). I've never tried them but I've never made anything with domino's yet that was going to be kept outside.

 

[Ollie78]

I like to make dominos from the same timber I am jointing if its important. The other plus of the domino is using it for much bigger tennons on stuff like gates or doors, I did some oak ones with 80mm by 14mm loose tenons and it only took 5 minutes a side.

 

[ola c]

Had the 500 a few good years now, use it regularly. Got some accessories with it like narrow stock thing and some wings with extra side stops, never used any of these. TSO sent me a bigfoot for free when I presented my Domino table. Used the bigfoot a few times and it's quite nice to get more support when working with the fence over edges.

Yes and of course you need a domino table for the machine. Very useful especially if working with small frames with mitered corners, or just small things where the landing surface for the machine is too small to get a stable reference. Veritas and Woodpeckers have recently released commercial versions but it's not that difficult to make your own.

 

[baldkev]

Well, i ordered one and I'll have it tomorrow. I also ordered a cmt 10mm bit as i realised it'll make some nice vent slots in some cedar cladding I'm doing ( insect mesh already installed ) and i could use it to make louvred doors nice and easy!
Not that ive ever needed to make a louvred door

I got 5x30 dominos at the same time. I'll probably make some cedar ones for exterior, although the cladding I'm fitting is actually made from loads of thin strips glued together and faced with a 2mm veneer. So i probably wont use the offcuts for domino production.
I'm not amazingly impressed, but i didnt buy it. ( the cladding )

 

[baldkev]

I have both the DF 500 and the DF 700, but use the DF 500 on almost every project. For 18mm and 19mm sheet goods, I mostly use the 5x30 tenons, but sometimes will use the 6x40 tenons.

If you can, I recommend buying the DF 500 Q-Set instead of the DF 500 Q-Plus. The Set is about £100 more than the Plus, but comes with £125 worth of accessories, specifically the QA-DF 500/700 Cross Stop and the LA-DF 500/700 Trim Stop. I use the Cross Stop on long edges of sheet goods. The Trim Stop is very handy if you are making something with a lot of rails, such as Shaker door panels.

The only change I made to my DF 500 is to replace the two clamping levers with the Norelem 06610-50-10586X25 clamp levers. The levers on the DF 500 cannot be easily adjusted for tension like the levers on the DF 700.

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Just tried to buy these and the website no longer seems to be showing them it did when you posted this, so maybe theyve sold out and they owe you a commission

Edit to add, on ebay theres a listing for am imperial depth thingy in the u.s, but with postage, its a bit much. Has anyone sourced one in the uk?

 

[Distinterior]

Why would you want a depth stop for the Domino machine with a scale in fractions of an inch....?
I can understand the Americans wanting it coz some of them do seem to struggle with Metric measurements.
Sheet material here in the UK is all supplied in mm thicknesses, as are the dominos themselves and the router cutters that fit into the machine...!

 

[MikeK]

Edit to add, on ebay theres a listing for am imperial depth thingy in the u.s, but with postage, its a bit much. Has anyone sourced one in the uk?

Congratulations on your purchase!

I agree with @Distinterior, and wouldn't bother with the imperial depth gauge. The depth adjustment stops on the machine are quick settings for the most common sizes of sheet goods, but you don't have to use them if you want to use gauge blocks to set the cutter height.

The mortise doesn't have to be exactly in the middle of the edge, and won't make much difference as long as you are consistent and use the same reference for both pieces. I use the "20" setting for 18 and 19mm sheet goods, and after they are glued together, no one is going to know.

Here are some references that I think are useful to Domino users. The first is a video by Paul Mercel (aka Half-Inch Shy) showing how to calibrate the DF 500 (also works for the DF 700). The scale on my DF 500 was slightly off and Paul's method was a fast and easy way to set it.



The second is a link to the Festool site for a PDF titled "Domino DF 500 Tenon Joiner Supplemental Manual", also referred to the DF 500 Manual that Festool Forgot. Most of the information in this manual can be used on the DF 700.

https://www.festoolusa.com/-/media/tts/fcp/festool-usa/downloads/manuals/475005_001_df500_usa_nl.pdf

 

[baldkev]

Why would you want a depth stop for the Domino machine with a scale in fractions of an inch....?
I can understand the Americans wanting it coz some of them do seem to struggle with Metric measurements.
Sheet material here in the UK is all supplied in mm thicknesses, as are the dominos themselves and the router cutters that fit into the machine...!

Well mainly for the 3/4" setting being closer to 18mm material. Yep i know, 3/4 is about 19mm, but 18mm sheets goods ( from jewsons ) are usually about 19mm , maybe its moisture absorption?

Edit to add: in peters videos he uses a 1mm packer to shim up the height, ive seen that

 

[Fireburst]

I have both, and I purchased the 700 with the view it would completely replace the 500, but it hasn't worked out that way. I love both machines, but the 700 feels too unwieldy for smaller builds, even when equipped with a smaller cutter. My 500 is currently away in France (I am doing a farmhouse renovation) so I have been using my 700 for lots of tasks I wouldn't normally use it for, and as a result, I am missing the 500 for the more intricate jobs. It does manage them fine but you have to be far more careful than you would need to be with its smaller brother.

I will say this though.... I love both machines.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Well mainly for the 3/4" setting being closer to 18mm material. Yep i know, 3/4 is about 19mm, but 18mm sheets goods ( from jewsons ) are usually about 19mm , maybe its moisture absorption?

Edit to add: in peters videos he uses a 1mm packer to shim up the height, ive seen that

Having used the Domino for the last 15 years and after I got the Domiplate now use that for the majority of my work I completely fail to see any benefit of having the domino centred in the workpiece. This is an obsession typical of non users or new users.

After a while it becomes clear that a couple of mm off centre makes absolutely no difference and is in fact beneficial because firstly it is virtually impossible to exactly centre the dominos due to the point that the boards vary in thickness, you rarely get boards where both faces are equally good so you want them to be correctly orientated, and if you are off centre by a couple of mm a mistake in cutting the slots or dry fitting is much more obvious than the slight difference provided by the almost (but never completely) centred slot. Last but by no means least the off centred slot makes zero difference to the structural integrity of the joint.

Personally I have used the hight adjuster very very few times as the majority of my work involves sheet material and for that the domiplate is perfect.

 

[Chris Hawkins]

Congrats on your Domino! It's transformative, but I have lost my M/T joinery skills . Some of accessories are silly expensive - I think the thinking is that if you can afford a Domino then you have money for anything! Also transformative (for me) was the 'domiplate' which I've found makes it more consistent and accurate. But I made my own - see pic - using MR MDF. I have 6 or so of different thicknesses (the 18mm is fitted) - I think they would be difficult to make without a router table. Took me about 30 mins to make them all and cost just pennies. I also have a collection of Domino positioning templates for the Festool track and the Axminster Pro Grip (latter is far more versatile). I printed these for pennies - Etsy versions tend to be silly expensive. For smaller fiddly stuff I also have a homemade table/jig thingy (as per Ola's post above) - a few hours to make but better than spending £££s on WP/Veritas versions. Luckily I enjoy making jigs and accessories as much as the final output - I love the journey as much as the destination!

Have fun, but consider making accessories yourself?

Chris

 

[Spectric]

I completely fail to see any benefit of having the domino centred in the workpiece. This is an obsession typical of none users or new users.

Yes that is a common mistake I would suggest many make when first using a tool, it equally applies to dowels and rather than trying to work with absolute measurements it is often far easier to use relative measurements and providing the same datums are maintained everything will align.

 

[Spectric]

Yes and of course you need a domino table for the machine

Having seen this before I have looked into making something along those lines for my 700 but as yet that is way down the list. It is great but the fence flipping is where errors can be introduced and using a vernier to measure that thickness in wood cannot be that precise especially in softwood. It has made me rethink jigs again but the one thing I did like are the orange & blue stick on dots which if you also add a number or letter too really make keeping the parts in order a doddle, much clearer than the tick marks I use.

 

[ola c]

Having seen this before I have looked into making something along those lines for my 700 but as yet that is way down the list. It is great but the fence flipping is where errors can be introduced and using a vernier to measure that thickness in wood cannot be that precise especially in softwood. It has made me rethink jigs again but the one thing I did like are the orange & blue stick on dots which if you also add a number or letter too really make keeping the parts in order a doddle, much clearer than the tick marks I use.

I agree about the vernier measuring and solved it in a imo much better way a few days after the first video was released. Did you watch the second movie I posted? This integrated fence flipper solves the flipping super accurately without having to measure anything.

The coloured dots were only for illustration purpose in the video, never use them in the real world. But I maybe should start doing it, the domino is the machine where I by far makes most stupid errors. When the speed is up it's very easy to mix left/right and up/down...and to not forget changing the depth of cut. I think we all have an unintended domino cut in our workbenches as a result from something that wasn't supposed to be a through cut.

 

[BucksDad]

@ola c did you work with Veritas or Woodpeckers on their tables?

 

[ola c]

@ola c did you work with Veritas or Woodpeckers on their tables?

Work with is maybe the wrong term but yes Veritas made a similar version and are paying me royalties. Woodpeckers also made a version...they don't pay me and I have no patent for this so no right to be upset about that although I think they could have credited me for the original design. There was a quite heavy debate last year when woodpeckers presented their version.

 

[Spectric]

Did you watch the second movie I posted? This integrated fence flipper solves the flipping super accurately without having to measure anything.

Yes have just watched this and the first one again, I did notice you have other jigs in the background and I like it when people make jigs rather than just look to buy an off the shelf solution like many of us do including myself, I remember Steve Maskery was also very into jigs wheras I seem to use more templates.

I will have to start thinking about something like you have made for my 700 but not just for small parts, I use mainly dowels which are always tight and don't like sloppy domino's so have issues getting bang on alignment with the 700 if only using the tight setting and hence why it currently lives with my lawnmower and I brought another dowel jig. BUT the 700 does make a great mortice with a precise depth and much faster than dowels so a jig like the one you made could bring it back into use.

The coloured dots were only for illustration purpose in the video, never use them in the real world. But I maybe should start doing it, the domino is the machine where I by far makes most stupid errors. When the speed is up it's very easy to mix left/right

Yes the coloured dots do make things stand out, it is the left right thing that is not an issue when using a dowel jig but on a fixed domino bench your idea works well and I dare say there are other ways if you have the microjig slots which I find so versatile.

 

[BucksDad]

Work with is maybe the wrong term but yes Veritas made a similar version and are paying me royalties. Woodpeckers also made a version...don't pay me and I have no patent for this so no right to be upset about that although I think they could have credited me for the original design. There was a quite heavy debate last year when woodpeckers presented their version.

That is good to know that Veritas decided to pay you royalties. Speaks volumes for them as a company