Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Holcombe
You guys are cracking me up! hahaQuote:
Originally Posted by James Morgan
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Holcombe
You guys are cracking me up! hahaQuote:
Originally Posted by James Morgan
Depending on the joint they add a lot of strength.Quote:
Originally Posted by James Morgan
Just trying to be discreet. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Aeschliman
Cary, that depends on the biscuit as well - I've been seeing more and more that are so thin that, even when swollen, they fail to make firm contact with the sides of the slot.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cary Falk
I think pocket screws would be plenty strong
Don't understand why you insist on having your mortises tight side-ways. Just cut them a little bigger and there won't be any issues.
Have used thousands of dominos and always worked fine.
It's tough for me to say in the abstract, since I don't have an idea of how you're building supports and so forth, but I did a blog post on this one on my website, which you're welcome to have a look at, and may provide some insight.
I tend to err on the heavy side, Id rather over build than repair a failure. I do some minor calculations on occasion but often enough I will simply stand family members on things and observe for deflection. :D I also like things to be repairable, another furniture maker told me earlier on that he made things to be repaired since he wanted to make things easier on himself in the future.
Also it is easier to move heavy furniture in pieces rather than as a whole.
Brian, lots of good stuff on your website. Which post did you have in mind?
Two posts come to mind;
https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/...konoma-plinth/
https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/henrys-bed/
FWIW - I have been using the DF500 for about 10 years, I bought one new when they came out. I do love the machine and have built countless things in all shapes and sizes with it but like all tools one has to develop their own usage system. Like some of the others on this thread, I do not like the wide sloppy mortises, I agree with the comment asking why Festool thought they have to be so huge - especially with two sizes, adding a +0.5 mm feature would have been more useful than the +5mm middle sized mortise. For me, the only thing the extra wide mortise is good for is when I cut my own wide tenon for the occasion project that is too narrow for more than one tenon but requires more strength than supplied by the standard loose tenon.
Therefore, I rarely use either of the wider mortises, to me the extra time involved in fitting it all together is worth the extra strength, as another member said, it does depend on the forces exerted onto the joint. The only time I use the wide sloppy mortises is if I am using it more for alignment that may include shear forces but not racking or pulling forces.
I have found the cross stop and mortise pin-alignment system to be useless for cutting multiple mortises - for me personally it causes more trouble than it is worth, thus everything is done with a tape/square onto pencil or a knife (and transferred across the joint at the same time) and cut with the cursor. This pretty much always works with two tenons, but when things do not fit perfectly with 3 or more mortises I often can address that with just a little gentle paring on a tenon with a chisel. For inside projects I also have found that fitting it all together with hide glue is a good way to deal with multiple mortises, the hide glue acts much more like a lubricant than PVA and the longer assembly time allows me to go around the whole project gently tapping with a mallet until I can fit it all together.
Jeff, thanks for the hide glue tip - I have a bottle of Old Brown Glue in a refrigerator that I haven't used yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Booth
If I were making traditional M&Ts, by whatever means, I would be embarrassed to make one as sloppy as what results from the wide domino setting (DF700 only has tight & super-wide settings). Why should I work to a lesser standard of precision with the Domino? Again, it's just my sensibilities, which some agree with and others find ridiculous. Chacun a ses gouts.
Apparently, however, no one has figured out a method for fine calibration of the cross-stops.
I have never used the cross stop.
On cross grain joints, I prefer to use the exact fitting setting. I strike lines across the joint and use the cursor.
If there is an alignment issue - which happens rarely, I will take a shaving off the edges of the domino on one side.
For cross-grain joints, I'm rarely using a huge row of dominos. I use rows on edge-edge joints where the only function of the dominos is alignment; so I don't mind using the wider setting here.
I don't use the cross stops unless I'm using it for edge reference.
For glue-joints I just align the boards on a workbench then scribe a pencil line across the joints then use the cursor to cut each joint on the 'tight' setting.
I only use the loose settings when putting together a floating joint where one side is cut 'tight' and the other side is cut loose, and assembled without glue on the loose side. Good example of this is a breadboard end.
-Brian
Great idea on an easy way to make breadboard ends - glue in one or two dominoes in the middle and let the others float in over-sized mortises. Paired with a sprung joint, should be just the ticket.Quote:
I only use the loose settings when putting together a floating joint where one side is cut 'tight' and the other side is cut loose, and assembled without glue on the loose side. Good example of this is a breadboard end.
-Brian