Home made Festool Domino

[richard poitras]

For those of you that can't afford a Domino .... Make your own.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0FpgdzR56c (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0FpgdzR56c)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63gJAQm9fC0

[Dick Mahany]

That was totally cool ! I have a Bosch Colt and some left over prefinished BB shelving..........so guess what I'm doing this weekend :D;). Thanks for the link.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

That is pretty darned clever!

[Alan Bienlein]

Next on my to do list now! Most people already have one of those routers and for about $30 in materials you just saved yourself about $900 easy.

[Matt Day]

Very cool! Now when is a company going to mass produce something similar and sell it for $100?

[Andrew Joiner]

Does the "carriage" ride on 4 drawer slides?

[ian maybury]

Guess it's missing the 'wobble' tool movement the Domino has??

ian

[Mike Hollingsworth]

I'm sure Wilma will give one to Fred for Christmas.

[Rick McQuay]

Here is his website with plans, $11.

http://www.instwood.com/2013/01/portable-mortising-router_6259.html

[Matt Day]

Ian,

Check out the videos, he graphically explains the cutting motion. Basically he can plunge straight like drilling for a dowel, or he can angle the bit then plunge straight, creating a triangular cut. Once he wastes away most of the material, he manually does the "wobble" motion to clean it all out.


Guess it's missing the 'wobble' tool movement the Domino has??

ian

[Jim Tabor]

I downloaded the $11 plans this morning. Lots of pictures, several shetchup drawings, all dimensions in mm and a lot of Russian. (Makes for interesting reading). The first thing I would need to do is covert everything to fractions. After some thought, I'm not sure I would use it often enough to be worth the time and effort required to build it.

[Rick McQuay]

The first thing I would need to do is covert everything to fractions.

Why in the world would you do that? The metric system is so much simpler which is why I have a tape measure and stick ruler both in metric.

[John TenEyck]

I admire the guys cleverness, and the tool is beautifully made, but I bet it took a LOT of time to make. It's also overly large, IMO, and I wonder how much slop there is in the vertical plane. And how would use that thing on a really small part? I built a horizontal router mortiser for about $50 in about 8 hours that is very accurate, very fast, and does everything less than 2 inches from the edge of a board, on small and large parts. It also cuts tenons and sliding dovetails.

John

[Jim Tabor]

Rick, For several reasons. All my saws, router bits, drill bits, tapes and rulers, are in fractions, even me. I'm 6'1", 73-5/8 years old, and too old to start with a new system. (I do have a mm to fractions conversion chart). Plus, as I said, its looks to be more trouble than its worth. At my age you put a little more thought into what projects you would like to complete and do the most important ones first.

[Jim Tabor]

Well, just received an e-mail with a new set of plans that are in english. Makes more sense this way.

[Alan Bienlein]

Well I also just got my set of plans.

[Michael Mayo]

How do you make the tenons? You make the tool but then where do you get the tenons to use with the nifty mortises you just cut?

[mreza Salav]

How do you make the tenons? You make the tool but then where do you get the tenons to use with the nifty mortises you just cut?

How about making them? Just plane a long board to the thickness, rip to the width and round over the edges twice, then cut to the required lengths. Done it numerous times.
Or you can buy them at different thickness here: http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=44779&cat=1,250,43217

[Michael Mayo]

How about making them? Just plane a long board to the thickness, rip to the width and round over the edges twice, then cut to the required lengths. Done it numerous times.
Or you can buy them at different thickness here: http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=44779&cat=1,250,43217

Thanks for the link Mreza but it didn't dawn on me to just mill the stock and run it through the router table with a bullnose bit.

[John Titor]

Pretty cool!

[Alan Bienlein]

For anyone that has bought the plans Matthias over at WoodGears. ca has a program called BigPrint that will take the plans and make full size drawings to use as cutout templates. You can even use it to make full size prints from pictures if you know at least one of the dimensions.

I figure I would pass this along as it would save alot of layout work.

[Alan Bienlein]

Thought I would post a little update. I built mine out of phenolic and did a few modifications to the slide mechanism and used springs instead of the bungee cord he listed.
256545256544

Here is a couple of mortises I cut with it.
256547256546

And when I put the solid wood onto the piece of plywood the sides I referenced off of came out flush.
256548256549

[Lornie McCullough]

Alan.... I am impressed! Again!

Lornie

[mreza Salav]

Thanks for the update. Looks great. What bit are you using there?

If one could use 3/8" or so bits instead of 1/4" bits it would be a more robust mortising bit. Being limited to 1/4" bits makes it a little limited I feel.
I guess one could try building one with a full size router instead.

[Phil Thien]

Thanks for the update. Looks great. What bit are you using there?

If one could use 3/8" or so bits instead of 1/4" bits it would be a more robust mortising bit. Being limited to 1/4" bits makes it a little limited I feel.
I guess one could try building one with a full size router instead.

Just cut more slots and add more tenons!

[Alan Bienlein]

Thanks for the update. Looks great. What bit are you using there?

If one could use 3/8" or so bits instead of 1/4" bits it would be a more robust mortising bit. Being limited to 1/4" bits makes it a little limited I feel.
I guess one could try building one with a full size router instead.

If I remember correctly there was something about the rule of thirds for the tenon thickness. So 1/3 of 3/4" stock is 1/4". A 3/8" bit would be 10mm. How many here actually use a 10mm bit in there domino for joing 3/4" stock?

Just an FYI. I cut the slot that the bit passes thru with a 3/4" diameter router bit and just plunged it into the phenolic and moved it back and forth like I was cutting a mortise.

[Julie Moriarty]

What I couldn't quite understand was when he measured the width of the tenon with the caliper, he looked at the notches he had on the back, slid the carriage bolt on the bottom to the desired location and he had the perfect width for the cut dialed in. Is there something about those marks in the back that relate to dialing in an exact width of cut? Or did he create marks for the different widths of tenons he was using? If it's the latter, the calipers would have been unnecessary.

[Thomas S Stockton]

All I want to know is where's the SYSTAINER.
Tom

[Thomas Hotchkin]

Alan
Like Lornie said, "Alan.... I am impressed" GREAT JOB. Tom

[Rick Potter]

Hey John,

Got any pics of that horizontal router/mortiser? I would love to see them.

Rick Potter

[Mike Leung]

pretty cool Alan. Is the phenolic expensive? Where did you buy yours?


Thought I would post a little update. I built mine out of phenolic and did a few modifications to the slide mechanism and used springs instead of the bungee cord he listed.
256545256544

Here is a couple of mortises I cut with it.
256547256546

And when I put the solid wood onto the piece of plywood the sides I referenced off of came out flush.
256548256549

[Lucas G Hager]

Wondering if we could get an update from you guys who have built and used this? Are you actually using it or is it on the shelf collecting dust? Would you build it again?

[Kevin Jenness]

Oh for pete's sake , just shell out the $800 for the real thing and make some mortises. If you really want to spend your time making a crude version of a sophisticated power tool, fill your boots, but don't kid yourself about what you are doing.

[Tony Haukap]

Would you build it again?Seems overly complicated for something that can be accomplished with a Self-Centering Plunge Router Base... http://www.woodworkingtips.com/etips/etip032301wb.html

[Rick Potter]

They used to sell one like that. It was called a 'Rig A Mortise'.

[Lucas G Hager]

@kevin

I have no intentions of building one. I was just admiring the engineering. If I want one, I'd just buy the Domino.

[Alan Bienlein]

Wondering if we could get an update from you guys who have built and used this? Are you actually using it or is it on the shelf collecting dust? Would you build it again?

I used it on this project to make the mortises for the slats that hold the magazines.
289382289383

[Alan Bienlein]

Oh for pete's sake , just shell out the $800 for the real thing and make some mortises. If you really want to spend your time making a crude version of a sophisticated power tool, fill your boots, but don't kid yourself about what you are doing.

I built it just to see if I could. I really don't have a use for a domino as I have other methods that will do the same thing for a lot less money.

[Don Huffer]

Oh for pete's sake , just shell out the $800 for the real thing and make some mortises. If you really want to spend your time making a crude version of a sophisticated power tool, fill your boots, but don't kid yourself about what you are doing.

Sounds like your in love with a black and green plastic tool.

Al

[Don Huffer]

I built it just to see if I could. I really don't have a use for a domino as I have other methods that will do the same thing for a lot less money.

Great job Alan. I build tools too. That gear guy is the bomb. If I may without hijacking the thread, this is my machine.

[Don Huffer]

Seems overly complicated for something that can be accomplished with a Self-Centering Plunge Router Base... http://www.woodworkingtips.com/etips/etip032301wb.html

That fixture is fine if your cutting a tenon in the center. It's also very risky and the chance for a slip is high. Also and the kicker is, you can't cut very close to the end of your piece or cut one in the end grain as you would for almost every time you need to make this joint.

[Kevin Jenness]

"Sounds like your in love with a black and green plastic tool."

No,but I use some of them to make a living. If I thought I could get a better ROI by reverse engineering a Domino I would do so, however the prospect seems unlikely.