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  1. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Bayside Melbourne
    Posts
    745

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stuart View Post
    As Peter says - they are not designed to swell like biscuits, which start off life actually being compressed for that reason.

    However the domino will absorb moisture from the glue and swell, but I'm guessing that is only temporary once the moisture dissipates, the domino will roughly shrink back to its nominal size. The biscuit on the other hand, starting off compressed, once uncompressed with moisture will not return to original compressed size, providing a permanent extra mechanical strength to the joint than if it was made from uncompressed material. That is not to say it is stronger than a domino, which is obviously much thicker material, but at least stronger than an uncompressed version of itself.
    I remember reading somewhere when I was researching buying a biscuit jointer, that there are issues with the swelling of biscuits, the story went something like;
    When a joint is made and the biscuit swells, the surface of the joint is raised slightly, when this is sanded and lacquered, over time the whole workpiece will reach an equal moisture content and there will be some minor depressions where the swollen biscuit has shrunk back to its normal size.

    I've never experienced this, but it makes for a plausible scenario, does it not?? Therefore if a thicker loose tenon (domino) was compressed the result of it reaching the same M/C as the workpiece would be a greater more visible depression.

    Re: making your own tenons, it seems a simple process, I would like to see a path for excess glue left at the sides, as a perfect tenon going into a perfect mortice will surely result in disaster on finer workpieces.

    My thoughts for what they're worth.

    Regards


    Grahame

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  3. #17
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    130

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    I bought one of these Mortise Pal jigs a few months ago directly from the US web site (US$199) -- back when the Aussie dollar was around 95 cents US. It arrived within two weeks, really good service, and it a joy to use. Extremely well made and machined. It by far the quickest way for me to do joinery - faster than dowel joints and probably stronger. Maybe a Domino would be quicker but possibly not by much. I can't recommend it highly enough.

    I make my own loose tenons out of the same timber the joint is made of.

  4. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Adelaide
    Posts
    595

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    I just watched the video on the Mortise Pal and have three questions. Does the template have adapters to suit all router plates? How much depth is lost, that is the thickness of the block and template guide that fits on the top of the workpiece. How durable is the material of the template guide - it looks like clear plastic?

  5. #19
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    130

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    Quote Originally Posted by Fencepost2 View Post
    I just watched the video on the Mortise Pal and have three questions. Does the template have adapters to suit all router plates? How much depth is lost, that is the thickness of the block and template guide that fits on the top of the workpiece. How durable is the material of the template guide - it looks like clear plastic?
    They say that the jig works best with smaller routers (plunge routers of course). I use the Makita 3620SP. I doubt they have adapters for all router plates but that doesn't actually matter -- all you need is a template bushing guide for your particular router plate (see here). They say to use a 5/8" (16 mm) outer diameter template guide -- but I have a 12 mm template guide for my Makita and it works fine. I pair that with a 1/4" upcut spiral router bit. If I had a 5/8" template guide I guess I could use a 3/8" bit. In the end it doesn't actually matter because the combination of template guide and bit will give you some specific width of mortice, and you make the loose tenons to fit. The length is controlled by the mortice pal template length of course.

    There's a template that will give metric mortices to perfectly use the Dominos or Tuffer Tenons. I bought it ($6) but probably wouldn't bother because it will only work out if you use a 5/8" template guide bush and as I said mine is 12 mm. In any case the easiest thing is to cut a test mortice and then mill your own loose tenons. With a 12 mm bush and 1/4" bit the tenons come out at almost exactly 10 mm wide. I just rip some scrap stock to the correct width, round over the edges (6 mm roundover bit at the router table, or you could do it by hand with a rasp), then chop them to length. You can make a lifetimes worth of tenons in an afternoon.

    The mortice pal templates are 3 mm polycarbonate, which is very tough. It's used for bullet-proof glass I think. I wouldn't be concerned about durability.

    The total distance between the router base plate and the wood to be routed is 15 mm. That is 3 mm for the polycarbonate template plus 12 mm of the jig itself. I use a long shank upcut spiral (e.g the TXSRW 8 from here with a 63 mm shank) and that gives mortices of easily 20-25 mm depth. The mortices come out perfectly square with perfect flat bottoms.

    It probably sounds like I work for the company - I don't, just a very happy customer. I bought this jig with some trepidation because of the cost but the final result is amazing. I have loose tenons that fit like a hand in a glove for very quick joinery and very solid joints.

  6. #20
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Adelaide
    Posts
    595

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    Thanks for that very comprehensive reply to my questions. The Mortise Pal sounds like it is going to be a very useful addition to my tools. I use a 1/2 Maktek plunge router for my floating tenons - with homemade jigs that use the total width of the baseplate between slides. These work very well but it is hard to knock up jigs out of wood that have the kind of universality that the Mortise Pal provides. Thanks again for your answers

  7. #21
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Melbourne, Victoria
    Posts
    5,513

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    The other thing about the templates is the aluminium sides are slightly higher than the polycarbonate, so they don't actually touch the router base at all. You can also add teflon tape to the top of the two rails to further improve the feel between the Pal and the router (if it was a problem)
    Will be doing a video of the MP on Stu's Shed sometime soon.
    "Clear, Ease Springs"
    www.Stu's Shed.com


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