Domino XL miter alignment issue

[Corey Pelton]

Hey there!


New to the Domino XL 700, and I’ve run into a problem with 45 deg miter alignment. There's a shift that keeps throwing them off. They'll be tight on the long side, but gap at the short. At first I thought maybe the tool was out of alignment or something was out of whack, or the tenon was too long, but I’m able to get perfectly joined edges, board to board, no problem. So, it seems it’s me, not the tool https://mail.google.com/mail/e/1f600. I’m using the trim stop attachment and an 8mm bit (the oem 700 XL bit) The tenon is 8x40mm, cut depth set to 20mm.


My work pieces are 1 3/4” square, so I split them right down the middle for the mortise, figuring that would work for each miter. The trim stop should help ensure repeatability, but, that doesn’t seem to be the case.


Anyone have experience with this? I’m sort of stuck til I figure it out, as I’d hate to ruin good timber.

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[mreza Salav]

The issue is you can't hold it tight when plunging and shifts ever so slightly.
The solution is to make a jig to hold the pieces tight and you get perfect miter corners:

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[Clint Baxter]

I’d guess that your mortise depth isn’t deep enough. I’d measure to see how deep your mortise is ending up. If it is 20mm deep in both mortises and your domino is 40mm, it is probably holding the two pieces apart. Quickest way to check would be to cut about 5mm off the domino and see if it goes together then. If it still doesn’t, I’d then set the domino to cut one of the mortises at the wider setting. Just need to make sure you don’t go too deep should be your main concern.

If cutting the domino shorter works, you can either mortise deeper, (assuming you can), or just trim a little off your dominos before assembling.

If you’re getting that minor shifting that the previous poster alluded to, the wider setting on one of your mortises is a possible solution to that as well.

Clint

[johnny means]

No need to waste anything. If you mis-cut a Domino mortise, fill it with a Domino and re-cut.

[Corey Pelton]

Ok, thanks for the replies. I do have the work locked down wen plunging, but I have noticed I do drift a bit on some cuts. I think it’s a matter of getting comfortable with the tool.

I’ll try trimming the domino in my test case, see if it helps. Also, why I never thought to plug a domino in a mis-cut is beyond me, hah. That’ll be very useful.

[johnny means]

I made this contraption for making mitered doors with my Domino. The clamping jig is centered on the slot so that both sides of the miter are set up at the same time. adjusting the jig closer to or further from the cutter adjusts for stock width.

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[Corey Pelton]

Jig looks to be the way to go. I’ll slap one together and have a go at it. Thanks for the pics, very helpful.

I tried a trimmed tenon, but same exact issue. Still off.

[Dan Friedrichs]

The depth setting on the domino actually cuts slightly deeper than the setting indicates, so that's probably not the issue.

[Jim Becker]

For miters, I think a good jig is the way to go because of how the stresses get skewed making that kind of cut since the workpiece can be prone to moving, even if only slightly, as has been mentioned. Workpiece holding is critical for many, many kinds of tools and the Domino is not immune to that.

[Corey Pelton]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. The jig I built worked out perfect, albeit a bit ugly, hah!

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[johnny means]

Teach a man to fish...:)

[Jim Becker]

Corey, I think you made a good decision to make that jig to insure that the workpiece is held absolutely securely while you make those mortises. I plan on making one myself...it's on my "list" for when I have some "copious free time" or need it for a project...whichever comes first. :) :D