Domino Refinement

[Jeff Wright]

Here's a patent-pending (by yours truly) idea . . . .

One of the limitations with the Domino is mortising narrow pieces such as rail and styles. The two registering pins are great when using wider boards, but are unusable with narrower 2 to 3-inch boards. I've tried the approach of aligning the rail and style precisely by hand and drawing a line across each piece and then mortising using the plastic sight gauge line, but even after calibrating that set-up, I find that once the entire face frame is assembled, there is an ever-so-small 1/32ish error. I am a pretty careful technician, so at this point I don't think it is my technique as much as it is a limitation of the tool.

But I think I have a workable and inexpensive solution that Dominoites may appreciate!

I had a package of smaller earth magnets lying around. I put three of them against the retracting registering pin to force the Domino to position its bit close to the center of the rail end (there is no need for it to be precisely centered). I made my cut, then moved the same three earth magnets to the other registering pin and made my cut on the style. The result is a perfectly matched joint, and done in a matter of seconds. No more tedious and error-prone measuring and line drawing.

I used a set of magnets available at my local Woodcraft store. Larger ones may work better. If I needed to vary the distance of the mortise cut from the edge, I need only add another small magnet.

The photos below tell the story:

[Jim Becker]

Clever solution, Jeff! If you needed a measurement that was not in an interval that the thickness of the magnets gave, you could embed one in a wood block that gives you that measurement.

[jason lambert]

Isn't this what this accessory is for
http://www.festoolusa.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProdID=493487&ID=15

Is it possible to just take off one side?

[Jeff Wright]

Isn't this what this accessory is for
http://www.festoolusa.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProdID=493487&ID=15

Is it possible to just take off one side?

I wish it were so. I've found no way to remove an end. And if you use it to mortise the end of a rail, then you must find a way to precisely align that centered cut on your style. Now you could carefully measure down from the end of the style and strike a line, hoping your measurement technique is precise, but that introduces both additional time and opportunity for error.

The piece you refer to is great for doing production runs of a bunch of mortises on end pieces, but there remains the challenge of aligning that cut to its mate in the other piece.

So far I've found no better solution than simple earth magnets.

The mortise I cut in the accompanying photo in my original post took me 37 seconds to both cut and assemble! Both halves! (Yes, I timed it.)

[Dan Forman]

Jeff---Have you posted this to the Festool Owners Group? I bet they would be interested too.

Dan

[glenn bradley]

Great idea Jeff. I think Jim is going for a percentage of the patent royalties. :D

[Jeff Wright]

Jeff---Have you posted this to the Festool Owners Group? I bet they would be interested too.

Dan

Yes, I did. It would be my hope that perhaps Festool will pick up on it and design something similar but a bit more elegant . . . maybe a magnet with a ring on one end that would encircle the register pins and have a flat end on the other end to rest against the workpiece.

[Roy McQuay]

Great idea Jeff. I think Jim is going for a percentage of the patent royalties. :DI agree, together it works. How long before they come up with a plan for attaching a narrow rail to the center of a stile without measuring or marking.:D

[Tim Martin]

Hi Jeff, it s a good solution to an annoying problem with the Domino.

Here in Aus we have been playing with making little adjustable jigs etc... I resorted to just slipping the appropriate thickness timber strip in between the indexing pin and the edge of what you are mortising.

They all work, but you still have to swap whatever you use from side to side. The only true solution is to machine a channel into the face of the Domino, to allow installation of an adjustable/retractable index pin. Something they should have done to begin with.
IMO an oversight by Festool......or maybe they knew it would be hard enough selling the tool at its current price, and the adjustable index pin would have added to the overall cost.

[Jeff Wright]

Hi Jeff, it s a good solution to an annoying problem with the Domino.

Here in Aus we have been playing with making little adjustable jigs etc. . . . .

Tim,

The sliding adjustable pin idea would be great; maybe on the next iteration! I have been pleased with the results of the magnets. I had thought that I could have developed good enough technique to do the rail and style ends freehand using the sight gauge, but there was just too much variance to suit my standards. A 1/64 here, a 1/32 there (or mm's in your case) begins to add up when you're doing a wall of cabinets. Maybe others can do it freehand.

[David Dundas]

Jeff,

That is a brilliant idea; it works very well. The 1/10" thick magnets are close enough to 2.5 mm thick. Maybe I will start using the index pins now:)

David