Festool domino: benefits + price

[clive griffiths]

Money well spent
Clive.

 

[Mjward]

Height gauge... Given UK sheet material is commonly in 15 and 18mm, why are the smaller stops 16 and 20?

 

[paulrbarnard]

Height gauge... Given UK sheet material is commonly in 15 and 18mm, why are the smaller stops 16 and 20?

3D printed alternatives are available. Several on ThingiVerse and I have seen a member here selling them.

 

[Mjward]

3D printed alternatives are available. Several on ThingiVerse and I have seen a member here selling them.

Ah that's good to know. But curious as to why they used those heights

 

[paulrbarnard]

Ah that's good to know. But curious as to why they used those heights

16mm is a standard thickness for commercial cabinets in Germany. I assume the same applies to 20mm for a specific use case in Germany.

 

[Mjward]

ah ok, that would explain it then! given it's such an easily printable part it's a shame they don't adapt that piece of plastic to each domestic market. Would have thought there is enough left in the profit margin of these things

 

[sometimewoodworker]

ah ok, that would explain it then! given it's such an easily printable part it's a shame they don't adapt that piece of plastic to each domestic market. Would have thought there is enough left in the profit margin of these things

Why bother? There is no inherent benefit of centering the domino in the workpiece. In fact an off center domino will ensure that you don’t mess up and swap the faces. There is also the point that you will never get the domino’s centred as the sheet material will always be different thicknesses so better for it to be noticeably off center.

So all in all the supplied hight stops are fit for purpose, I’ve been using mine for over 15 years and the hight stops have never been an issue

 

[Distinterior]

......it's a shame they don't adapt that piece of plastic to each domestic market......

I suggest you contact Festool HQ in Germany and tell them what they should do......Oh, and good luck with that..!

 

[paulrbarnard]

Why bother? There is no inherent benefit of centering the domino in the workpiece. In fact an off center domino will ensure that you don’t mess up and swap the faces. There is also the point that you will never get the domino’s centred as the sheet material will always be different thicknesses so better for it to be noticeably off center.

So all in all the supplied hight stops are fit for purpose, I’ve been using mine for over 15 years and the hight stops have never been an issue

Yeah but OCD…

 

[Mjward]

Why bother? There is no inherent benefit of centering the domino in the workpiece. In fact an off center domino will ensure that you don’t mess up and swap the faces. There is also the point that you will never get the domino’s centred as the sheet material will always be different thicknesses so better for it to be noticeably off center.

So all in all the supplied hight stops are fit for purpose, I’ve been using mine for over 15 years and the hight stops have never been an issue

I disagree re no inherent benefit. From a strength/structural perspective and for the very same reason dowels are centered. It distributes the pressure of the joint more evenly across the entire dowel/domino and the surrounding wood. This creates a stronger bond between the two pieces of wood being joined. An off-center dowel/domino might put stress on one side, risking cracks or breakage.

Now in real world, maybe you're unlikely to see a significant number of cases where this reveals itself (and most likely because its the glue doing its job) but there is a benefit to the domino being centered.

I get your point re swapping faces etc but thats a by product. As said if they are making the stops vs the sheet standards in Germany, the intention is for it to be centre weighted by the engineers making the tool.

 

[Spectric]

but there is a benefit to the domino being centered.

and also not being a sloppy fit !

 

[Jester129]

And nobody likes a sloppy fit!! Apologies, couldn't resist. I'll get my coat now.....

 

[Doug71]

I keep a 1mm plastic packer with my domino, if I want the domino centred on 18mm I set the height stop to 16mm hold the packer on top of the height stop and drop the domino down onto that, simple and repeatable.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

I disagree re no inherent benefit. From a strength/structural perspective and for the very same reason dowels are centered. It distributes the pressure of the joint more evenly across the entire dowel/domino and the surrounding wood. This creates a stronger bond between the two pieces of wood being joined. An off-center dowel/domino might put stress on one side, risking cracks or breakage.

That will be a factor if the off center location of the domino was significant, as in if the location was leaving a sliver on one side. However the actual practice is that since it is a virtual impossibility to actually center the domino (if you try you will have to use a micrometer and adjust every domino as boards are never the same thickness to each other nor exactly the same thickness along the board itself, if you have a board that is exactly the same this is pure serendipity) so the cure is to have the domino hole a few millimetres off center, this will guarantee that you can feel if you have swapped the faces but will have no measurable effect on strength.

If there is a measurable strength difference then your board material is c*r*a*p or your domino’s are the wrong size.

Yeah but OCD…

If your OCD is that bad either do enough test glue ups that you subsequently break to prove that it’s pointless trying to center the joint or spend the ridiculous amount of time changing the setting for every domino hole to exactly center it for every plunge.

It really doesn’t matter in the real world if the placement is off by a couple of mm the strength will be the same.

I am not suggesting that the off center be over about 0.5~2mm. A 5mm offset would be ridiculously large for most joints.

 

[paulrbarnard]

That will be a factor if the off center location of the domino was significant, as in if the location was leaving a sliver on one side. However the actual practice is that since it is a virtual impossibility to actually center the domino (if you try you will have to use a micrometer and adjust every domino as boards are never the same thickness to each other nor exactly the same thickness along the board itself, if you have a board that is exactly the same this is pure serendipity) so the cure is to have the domino hole a few millimetres off center, this will guarantee that you can feel if you have swapped the faces but will have no measurable effect on strength.

If there is a measurable strength difference then your board material is c*r*a*p or your domino’s are the wrong size.

If your OCD is that bad either do enough test glue ups that you subsequently break to prove that it’s pointless trying to center the joint or spend the ridiculous amount of time changing the setting for every domino hole to exactly center it for every plunge.

It really doesn’t matter in the real world if the placement is off by a couple of mm the strength will be the same.

I am not suggesting that the off center be over about 0.5~2mm. A 5mm offset would be ridiculously large for most joints.

I don’t think you know how OCD works…

 

[mc281]

I don’t think you know how OCD works…

Any type of Tennon is designed for longitudinal force and not for bending laterally (sideways). If you learned the basics before buying a power tool this type of question would not appear.

 

[Mjward]

Any type of Tennon is designed for longitudinal force and not for bending laterally (sideways). If you learned the basics before buying a power tool this type of question would not appear.

While tenons are primarily designed to resist longitudinal forces (forces pulling or pushing along the length of the joint), they can also contribute some resistance to transverse forces (forces applied perpendicular to the joint) depending on the joint design and additional features.

• Main function: Tenos resist forces that tend to pull two pieces of wood apart lengthwise. This is crucial in furniture construction, cabinetry, and other woodworking applications.
• Limited transverse resistance: The tight fit of the tenon in the mortise offers some resistance to forces trying to pry the joint apart sideways.

 

[paulrbarnard]

Any type of Tennon is designed for longitudinal force and not for bending laterally (sideways). If you learned the basics before buying a power tool this type of question would not appear.

All of which has nothing whatsoever to do with OCD. Perhaps you can also explain why it doesn’t matter if the ends of a knife and fork aren’t perfectly aligned on a place mat before they can be used.

 

[Mjward]

Think we've all digressed a bit here.

I've got the answer. The plastic built in stop units are to accomodate it's primary domestic market in Germany where this would align to centre the domino as their engineers intend. Is it possible and absolutely fine to use these as rough approximations for our UK stock and even help with not mixing up the faces, absolutely. If the patent didn't give them a monopoly would we have seen a UK modification, absolutely.

Thanks all.

 

[mc281]

While tenons are primarily designed to resist longitudinal forces (forces pulling or pushing along the length of the joint), they can also contribute some resistance to transverse forces (forces applied perpendicular to the joint) depending on the joint design and additional features.

• Main function: Tenos resist forces that tend to pull two pieces of wood apart lengthwise. This is crucial in furniture construction, cabinetry, and other woodworking applications.
• Limited transverse resistance: The tight fit of the tenon in the mortise offers some resistance to forces trying to pry the joint apart sideways.

I thought I'd said that!