Thread: Domino: What am i doing wrong

The only thing I can think of is that you may not have the material thickness set to exactly what the material actually is......
I'm no expert though, and have only used my domino a handful of times

A little hard to see how you are using this jig without the workpiece or domino cutter in the frame.
Domino in a standard set up will be very close to the middle of the thickness of a 19mm board.
This difference is most likely caused by reversing one of the reference faces when cutting.
The cutter base should align with the end of one board and the outside face of the other.
i.e. in the first photo you may be looking at the marked side on the left hand piece to cut when it should be marked side down.
(meaning you have to run your reference marks around the end)

Originally Posted by Gabriel

The only thing I can think of is that you may not have the material thickness set to exactly what the material actually is......
I'm no expert though, and have only used my domino a handful of times

I only need to referenced faces to be flush so I dont believe it matters if the boards are of different thickness

Originally Posted by champs

A little hard to see how you are using this jig without the workpiece or domino cutter in the frame.

I use the verticle clamp to hold a board in place to act as a reference so i can slide the board I want to mortise flush up against it. I then remove the refernce board so I can position the domino ontop and hold it flush against the verticle face of the jig. The horizontal clamps are just used to hold the board still while I mortise it

Domino in a standard set up will be very close to the middle of the thickness of a 19mm board.
This difference is most likely caused by reversing one of the reference faces when cutting.
The cutter base should align with the end of one board and the outside face of the other.
i.e. in the first photo you may be looking at the marked side on the left hand piece to cut when it should be marked side down.
(meaning you have to run your reference marks around the end)

I have the depth set to 16mm as my boards are 18mm. I believe that if I had swapped the reference faces around then the error would be muc larger, say 2mm

Ok I might have this wrong but you may be better off with the domino machine flat on a surface and the piece vertical for one cut and face down for the other.
If you are referencing then taking a board away, there is nothing to stop movement once you are going.
Keeping the cutter flat on a surface means the reference distance from a face or edge can't change.
Again - a little hard to see in the photo but it looks like the joint has a lip on the left face as well as the top, possibly indicating a twist.

Yep, Champs has it.

With the domino, it doesn't matter what the depth is. It can be completely arbitrary. The depth stop is only an arbitrary distance indicator of common thicknesses and getting their centres, nothing more.

The domino doesn't need to find the materials centre in this usage. It can be set to 5mm, or any other number. It is simply the distance from the edge that's being set with it.

To the problem of it being "out" is/was my first source of grief. I do a lot of domino work. Lots! When Im using it for the chairs it is always good, but when using it for stuff that needed edges to line up I had the same problem. I was literally ripping my hair out. It was out 1/2mm or a 1/4, but it never was perfect..... I thought....

It came down to how I was holding it. I was letting the bum ride down. To correct it, its is as Champs says, get the work on a flat surface, hold that front knob down HARD and from the back of the domino, feed it forward to bore the hole. I found I was holding not the back near the power cord, but closer up near the switch. This felt right and appears to be its intended use, but as I was feeding forward I was exerting just the tiniest downward force. My wrist couldnt grip so large and exert a linear force without a slight downward pressure. By switching it "on" and then feeding it from the very bum forward (more of a pushing motion) it resolved the problem.

Hope this helps.

(note that this only applies to doing parallel surfaces and 90° edge/edge joins. Other joins were not a problem, for they didn't need exact precision)

Also a note, Id never do my work with all those clamps and bits in the way. Once the line is marked, you can do all the work flat. For the thin edge, just tip the domino on end so you use it more like a drill press. Rely on the markings on the underside and clear guides from the top for alignment.

Have you calibrated the 'horizontal position gauge'? Have a look at the 'Supplemental Users Manual'. For the DF 500 it is on page 22. You will need to google the Festool site to gain access to it.

Thanks Evanism,

The intention of jig is so that i get the domino perfectly verticle (in theory) and eliminate the possibility of twist. I have tried countless times to do it free hand with no luck. The jig has provided better accuracy but not good enough.

Originally Posted by Ari2

Have you calibrated the 'horizontal position gauge'? Have a look at the 'Supplemental Users Manual'. For the DF 500 it is on page 22. You will need to google the Festool site to gain access to it.

About 2 months ago I had a festool rep come over and give me a lesson. I asked him about this and he said the factory setting should be more then enough and recomended against it

domino_df_500.pdf and http://www.festoolusa.com/Web_files/...no_Machine.pdf

These are VERY comprehensive.

Originally Posted by Evanism

domino_df_500.pdf and http://www.festoolusa.com/Web_files/...no_Machine.pdf

These are VERY comprehensive.

Thanks

Had a quick skim and they look great.

now time to experiment

Same process using the jig but this time i made sure my hand was on the power lead as I plunge.

Same poor result

image.jpg

Here is how I align the board with the end of the jig

image.jpg

Ready for the plunge

image.jpg

Hmmm,

Dominos are crooked???

Attachment 367640

Trusty Makita is misaligned!!! !!!

Attachment 367641

Take 48 coming up

That made a pooftenth of a difference

Take 51 I tried doing it horizontally as described in one of the previous posts

image.jpg


Got the following result

image.jpg

Best result so far. Close to perfect. Feels about a 1/4 of a mm out at one end. I could feel it rock while making the cut; the whole reason I made the jig was to remove this rock... Yet the jig results are worst !!!!

i can probably live with this result... I dont like the room for error in the method though.

Given this and the nail I just found in one of the boards which obviously made friends with my new spiral thicknesser head I think it is time for a bundy.... And to read the manuals