But In reality what does a Domino do that a simple biscuit jointer doesn't do for 95% of the times it is used?
(for the record I would love a Domino! haha)
Thinnest stock for Domino?
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But In reality what does a Domino do that a simple biscuit jointer doesn't do for 95% of the times it is used?
(for the record I would love a Domino! haha)
Distinterior
Established Member
Can you even buy " Biscuits " small enough to join 2 pieces of 12mm thick material, as per the original question that was asked...?
Does a modern biscuit machine even allow such a small shallow cut...?
I still have my old ( late 80's / early 90's) Elu MBR 100 biscuiting machine somewhere,....I dont think it would be able to cut a shallow enough mortice in a piece of 12mm material.....
Does a modern biscuit machine even allow such a small shallow cut...?
I still have my old ( late 80's / early 90's) Elu MBR 100 biscuiting machine somewhere,....I dont think it would be able to cut a shallow enough mortice in a piece of 12mm material.....
Maybe not but dowels would work. It was more in reference to the Niche aspect of the Domino and theft that they are great bits of kit but for just about every reason for using one there is an alternative.
As a hobbyist, I love my Domino. I find all sorts of uses for it.
Most recently, I joined some skirtking boards together (to get the full length of the room)
Domino made it really easy, and it's an invisible join after a little sanding and painting.
BTW, I've joined thin ~9mm stock together by shimming the domino fence and using 4mm dominos. Bit fiddly, but possible.
Most recently, I joined some skirtking boards together (to get the full length of the room)
Domino made it really easy, and it's an invisible join after a little sanding and painting.
BTW, I've joined thin ~9mm stock together by shimming the domino fence and using 4mm dominos. Bit fiddly, but possible.
Inspector
Nyuck, Nyuck, Nyuck!
The 0 size biscuits easily work with 12mm material, sheet or solid. I have a Ryobi that uses even smaller biscuits, it never really caught on, that can do 6 or 7mm. Great for small boxes and narrow picture frame mitres. Maybe someday Festool will come out with a Dominette for another grand that will do smaller than the 500 down to the wide end size of toothpicks.
Pete
WoodYewToo
Established Member
Well... my ownership of my first Festool Domino DF500 was a bit short-lived.
Ordered yesterday... picked it up this afternoon... got it home and noticed some rather odd damage. The aluminium face plate (that the cutter pokes through.... ie the face plate with the see-through plastic scale on it) had a small (8mm x 3.5mm lozenge shaped) shallow dent - and part of the dent included an approx. 1.5mm x 1.5mm hole. Looks like it's had some impact with something... possibly during manufacturing (as I don't think there's any evidence that the tool's been used). It's probably useable... but I'm not sure if the impact (if it was impact) may have also caused other unseen damage or misalignments etc. They're not cheap tools... so I'm not really happy accepting a damaged item.
Anyway, there's a new one on its way to my dealer - so I can swap them tomorrow. Hopefully, this one won't be damaged.
In the past few weeks, I've bought 3 Festool tools... and 2 have had damage, straight out of the box. Maybe I'm unlucky.
Ordered yesterday... picked it up this afternoon... got it home and noticed some rather odd damage. The aluminium face plate (that the cutter pokes through.... ie the face plate with the see-through plastic scale on it) had a small (8mm x 3.5mm lozenge shaped) shallow dent - and part of the dent included an approx. 1.5mm x 1.5mm hole. Looks like it's had some impact with something... possibly during manufacturing (as I don't think there's any evidence that the tool's been used). It's probably useable... but I'm not sure if the impact (if it was impact) may have also caused other unseen damage or misalignments etc. They're not cheap tools... so I'm not really happy accepting a damaged item.
Anyway, there's a new one on its way to my dealer - so I can swap them tomorrow. Hopefully, this one won't be damaged.
In the past few weeks, I've bought 3 Festool tools... and 2 have had damage, straight out of the box. Maybe I'm unlucky.
petermillard
Established Member
But that’s the benefit of the Domino isn’t it? There may be alternatives at every use-case, but if you have a Domino, you don’t need them.
DBT85
Established Member
I'd say the Domino holds one of the top spots in the "I really can't justify it" list for a lot of people... until they get one.
There have been delays on everything I've ordered in the last 12 months, but everything that turned up fine, even the 3m rail.
Ah pain in the backside but hopefully remedied shortly.
There have been delays on everything I've ordered in the last 12 months, but everything that turned up fine, even the 3m rail.
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Interesting.I bought a Festool MFK 700 router a few years ago and the baseplate ( made from some kind of plastic laminate ) was buckled. I made a replacement out of hardboard. For a router that is now selling for over £500 their quality control seems a bit lax.
WoodYewToo
Established Member
Interesting.I bought a Festool MFK 700 router a few years ago and the baseplate ( made from some kind of plastic laminate ) was buckled. I made a replacement out of hardboard. For a router that is now selling for over £500 their quality control seems a bit lax.
Yes, it's a bit concerning.
Either the aluminium base plate on the Domino DF 500 is rather thin... or this one has had a substantial whack at some point... for there to be a small hole in the aluminium (plus the dent).
As I mentioned, my guess is it's probably still usable (subject to there not being any other damage /internal damage that I haven't spotted)... but I can imagine that if I have an unrelated warranty claim at some point in the next 3 years, the warranty process handler may wonder whether the dent and hole were caused by misuse. Maybe that could make for potential issues around warranty. And, at that point, I might have a hard time convincing the warranty processor that the damage was there at point of sale. So if I take a pragmatic approach now, there could be potential for me to regret it at some point in the future.
But I did get one and then spent more on the FC tools alignment jig in search of accuracy which on sheet goods, 18 / 22mm it does a great job and I can see why the 500 is so popular because it is aimed at just sheet goods but my intention was to replace my Dowelmax with a faster jointing method on larger section wood such as 70 x 45 and this has so far eluded me. I keep going back to my Dowelmax which is just so accurate and easily places four or five 10mm dowels into the end of a 70 x 45 but it is so slow, now thinking of getting another Dowelmax and leaving each in a configuration ready for use which may improve the drilling aspect. The domino is a great tool for making the holes and the dominos as the tenon but to me the Domino is like having a riffle with a bent barrel, but not giving up yet as I hope to find a way to solve my problem using an MFT top and the Benchdogs fence with stops plus some form of jig, if successful I will post details.
DBT85
Established Member
What is it you feel the domino can't do on the larger stock?
If you can't justify the price of a Domino have a look at the Beadlock system sold by Rockler in the US. I have the pro version made of aluminium and they sadly have moved over to plastic now. it makes M+T joints by drilling only - the loose tenon is 'corrugated 'to fit in the mortise. Not as fast as a Domino and you really need the recommended router bit to make your own tenons but it works very well. I made a set of dining chairs a few years ago with this and they are rock solid. Starting out this would be my first choice leaving funds for a Lamello Zeta.
If using more than one domino in a joint, say 2 x 12mm in a 70 x 45 the alignment is out on assembly. I can most of the time get a single domino in and get acceptable alignment. Having used the Dowelmax I am well aware of marking up the faces so you reference from the same sides on mating pieces but I am now trying new approaches, the Dowelmax gets a lot of it's precision from the fact it is clamped to the workpiece and you can use a rule with a stop to easily set location so on this basis I am now trying using the base plate as the reference.
DBT85
Established Member
I'm intrigued that you're having an issue. Given that you can make wider slots with the domino, I'm guessing the precision you are finding missing is the height between slots? Like this?
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So been working on this and now have I believe a solution using my MFT and the Benchdog fence with flags. The workpiece is against the fence and positioned by the flagstop. The side guide locates the 700 and the spacer determines the location in the vertical of the hole. Now drill hole, change spacer and drill next hole, then repeat for other pieces. I now have all pieces identical. If I wanted to have the domino all the way through then all you need to do rather than change the spacer is turn the workpiece over and drill the other hole from the opposite face. With a 5mm spacer my hole is centred 20mm from the lower edge of the workpiece, then using a 30mm spacer I get the other hole spaced 20mm from the other face, the wood is 70mm wide. All suggestions welcomed.
DBT85
Established Member
Looks like it should work fine Roy and be good for lots of repetitive cuts, just surprised you have to go to those lengths to get it working right for you. A pencil mark and your spacer should really be all that's needed.
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Yes it does make doing repetition so easy, I have also tried to use my FC tools DAJ to sort my issue but not so good on the thicker timber, but again not given up yet and will get round to looking at this again.
An issue here, found the hard way is that it can only work if the two dominos are spaced equally from either the top either top or bottom edge, if not then using the base as reference means they cannot be assembled because one of the workpieces needs to be flipped over to align the opposing domino's at the same end and in doing so your reference faces are now also opposite, so back to drawing board.
I will say that using an MFT top and microjig clamps along with perspex spacers is making alignment using a pencil mark seem a lot easier and now realise my jig method is fine providing that when I do the link pieces I just reference from opposite sides on each end to match the others and bingo.
