New Domino Question

[Bill Grumbine]

Greetings all

SWMBO told me I needed to spend money on tools. How hard is that? So, I am now the proud owner, as of last night, of a Festool Domino. I haven't done much with it yet, but a question has already arisen. I stuck it into a piece of wood just to see how it handled, no problem. I then got out the corresponding domino to insert it. The hole was exact - too exact to my thinking. I had to tap the thing in, and it would not come back out except with pliers, and then it came out in pieces. Is this normal, or did I miss some sort of adjustment as I was reading through the manual? The next setting wider gave me enough slop to wiggle the domino out, but I am wondering how I am going to get glue in, much less dry fit joints? Anyone else run into this yet? I was playing around with a piece of poplar at EMC.

Thanks.

Bill

[Art Mulder]

Don't have the Domino, but I watched the video on youtube, and the joints aren't quite that tight.

[Jeff Monson]

Bill, Mine are tight also, I was using a plier also and then read a thread here on SMC about a guy using a claw hammer to remove them and I tried it and viola it works like a charm to remove the stubborn ones.

[Steve Roxberg]

Bill,

Yes the dry fit can be very tight, but I've noticed that I can grab a handful of Domino's and some are very tight and others slip in nicely.

You don't want to use much glue, and I only use the tight setting when I am using the edge to align with . So when edge gluing I place the first one in tight mode, and the rest with the wider setting.

[Vijay Kumar]

Bill,

Yes the dry fit can be very tight, but I've noticed that I can grab a handful of Domino's and some are very tight and others slip in nicely.

You don't want to use much glue, and I only use the tight setting when I am using the edge to align with . So when edge gluing I place the first one in tight mode, and the rest with the wider setting.

The wider setting only lengthens the slot. The problem is in the thickness. And the slot thickness cannot be changed since it is controlled by the cutting bit diameter. What can be done here is select the dominos (like is commonly done with biscuits) for a proper fit, or nuke them in the microwave to remove the moisture.

Vijay

[Bill Antonacchio]

Bill,

There is a Fellow on the Canadian Woodworking web site who just had a Festool rep demonstrating the Domino in his Shed2 and it was commented by one of the attendees who tried the Festool that he did not do his first plunge correctly, he thinks he started the plunge before it was fully up to speed and that caused it to cut the mortise at a slight angle causing a misalignment when trying to dry fit the two boards with the domino.

It seems that, while a good product, there is a bit of a learning curve to be precise. Kind of like any tool, practice, practice and measure twice!

Regards,
Bill Antonacchio

[Bob Childress]

I had to tap the thing in, and it would not come back out except with pliers, and then it came out in pieces. Is this normal, or did I miss some sort of adjustment as I was reading through the manual? The next setting wider gave me enough slop to wiggle the domino out, but I am wondering how I am going to get glue in, much less dry fit joints? Anyone else run into this yet? I was playing around with a piece of poplar at EMC.

All quite normal. When using the "exact" setting, the Dominoes fit quite tightly. I have used pliers to pull them out and the claw hammer idea is worth trying. If you put too much glue in the mortises, the Domino won't want to go all the way in, but it does have striations on the sides for glue to get out. It is very exact.

It is this lack of slop that makes it so useful for alignment and squaring up. I have made a cabinet carcase and face frame both with the Domino and they both glued up exactly square, no fiddling! I've never had that happen before without adjusting the clamps or something.

[Byron Trantham]

Apparently the Domino plugs are just like biscuits. Some are tight and some are loose. Like someone here already said, nuke'em in the microwave.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Same here. Tight to hold the domino, next larger on the mating mortice to allow for alignment. Especially nec for many in a row.

Tip for production use: If you can, pop a brad or two into the tenons from the back side to get the work out of the clamps. Try that with biscuits!!

[Bill Grumbine]

Thanks for all the replied everyone! I will have to see how it works as I use the thing for as while. My big concern is splitting pieces with hydraulic pressure with as tight as these things are if there is just a little too much glue present.

Bill

[Ted Owen]

Hi, Bill--

I've always tried to make my loose tenons fit as an integral tenon would fit--not as tight as you describe. So just rub the thicker tenons on some sandpaper until they feel right to you.

Disclaimer: I just got my domino and haven't even used it, yet, so I could be completely full of you-know-what.

Hope your family is doing well.

Best, Ted

P.S. How did you attach the Domino to your lathe?

[Orson Carter]

Hi Bill,
The hydraulic build up can be an issue if you mortise to the 3mm min suggested by Festool. Make sure you have more material behind the mortise. (Trust me on this.)
As far as the tightness of dominoes in the mortise, as Vijay suggests, nuke 'em, or, keep them in plastic bags or keep the ones that are a looser fit in a separate box in a dry environment and lastly, don't ever leave them in the systainer without some Silica gel.(A rubber seal would be a good idea too.
Also, with regard to the cutting too soon (before the Domi reached full speed), the first thing people think when they buy a Domino is "mm go fast, mmm more power, i.e. they think it does everything for them. (I know cause I got cross when it didn't bring me my coffee one day!) It takes an hour or less of practice to realise that the plate must be flat and that a consistent pressure must be applied to achieve best results. When removing the Domino from a cut, if its "out", you will hear the cutter "clipping". There will be no noise is the cut was true.

Orson

[Jeff Wright]

. . . . When removing the Domino from a cut, if its "out", you will hear the cutter "clipping". There will be no noise is the cut was true.

Orson

Orson, can you better explain what you mean by this comment?

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Give that tool a few months and the slot cutting will open up nicely as the machine wears out.

There is so very much going on in that little package that I can't help but think that sooner rather than later wear will manifest.

[Bob Childress]

Give that tool a few months and the slot cutting will open up nicely as the machine wears out.

There is so very much going on in that little package that I can't help but think that sooner rather than later wear will manifest.

Oh ye of little faith.