Excellent video cutting through all the brain fades that comes with over thinking. One tip - certainly not mine but very useful - sand a few dominos of each size and colour with a marker pen; then use these slightly loose dominos for dry fits. It really prevents the problem of trying to remove tight fitting dominos in order to glue up
That was a very clear explanation of how to add the divider. I was doing it a bit different but see that your method is simpler, easier and more straight forward. Keep up the good work!
Hi Jason thank you for your videos , I am a bit puzzled here I saw that the divider was off the centre , dont you have to back it up half way of the panel thickness in order to hit the centre mark? Thank you
When I first watched you using M.M. measurements I thought WHY??? I just finished a cabinet using imperial and I found myself having a tough time reading the tape and figuring out half the measurements. I believe I'm going to give the M.M. a try on my next project. Fingers crossed! Great videos! Please keep up the good work!
@@bentswoodworking it’s so much easier with everything! I build boats for a living, which is where I was first introduced to working with mills. And after just a few weeks I was sold. Now I’m able to draw up project plans without a calculator & withiut my head exploding 😂
Great video, Jason! Your explanation is clear, and very concise! A dividing panel is about the only situation that you do NOT reference a centerline with the domino. It's the exception to the rule. If your reference is to the left, lay your panel on the left. If your reference is to the right, lay the panel to the right. While we at RAB Tools have a few different options to help with aligning your domino in different situations, I think people get confused because of the centerline rule with Festool products.
A well laid out video. I have owned the Domino for almost 14 years and have learned a few things early on. Mine is the one with the steel dowels for indexing reference. I noticed early on that the cutter was not cutting centered between the indexing pins/stops on the Domino. There is an adjustment for this but with the old style steel dowels this was a very bothersome step. I sent the Domino back to Festool to have the cutter recalibrated. The Festool rep called be befor returning my Domino and explained to me that these cutters are set centered at the factory but they do go back out of calibration hence the adjustable indexing pins/stops. His advice to me was to not cut the same sized mating mortices. Use exact fit on one side and the elongated mortice for the mating side. If cutting tight fit mortises on both sides of the joint and the mortises are not are not perfectly centered between the indexing pins, your fit will be difficult. I have used nearly 8,000 5mm Domino tenons, 15,000 plus mortises. Using the technique that Festool recomended has been fool proof and pretty much eleminates small acumilated errors, especially when placing 5~12 mortises in a joint. FWIW we all hope that our Domino's are perfect and will remain aligned. But Festool let's "us" make adjustments as needed as the cutter begins to cut off center between the stops. But that is a step that is unnessary if you simply do not depend on the stops to be a part of the process. I very seldom use the stops for any placement. 99% of the time I place marks with a pencil for the mortise locations and that works just fine. Food for thought.
That's pretty much what I do. I use the side stops on both ends of a piece, in my case a 6' long piece and cut one side tight and the other side loose except for the first first cut which is tight to use as a locater to make both pieces flush. Making both sides with a tight fit takes some high precision and time to make it work, not worth it. I also primarily use pencil marks for everything between the ends of the pieces.
Hi Jason, First of all, thanks for posting your content for us all to learn from! You are an excellent teacher and have a natural ability to break down somewhat complicated tasks into easy-to-follow steps. As a result, we can all achieve what we are aiming for! Kudos for making our life as woodworkers enjoyable and showing us how to build the additional skill to achieve our goal of becoming proficient! Cheers and all the best to you and yours!
Thank you! This is something that seems easy in theory but is easy to mess up. It almost reminds me of the "off by one" problem in computer programming.
As a European citizen, I think it's cool to see an American woodworking channel use the metric system. Is that for a particular reason? Is the metric system gaining popularity over in the USA? 90% of the video's I watch are American channels and I always get confused with the imperial system ;-) God Bless.
You really should mention that this method ONLY WORKS WITH 3/4" MATERIAL (or the metric equivalent). Try it with 5/8" thick stock and your holes will be way to close to an edge. The domino centers it's bit 10mm up from bottom of the base and therefore can't center a slot in thinner material using this method, however there are some simple enough work arounds. This is a very accurate method for 3/4" material, though.
I've done some pieces with 13mm dividers and you're 100% right. The base reference method is ideal with 17mm- 20mm stock. Anything else and you've got to use a bit more math.
I use domino's against the face of the board to space the reference board so both boards end up where I need the. I.e. the domino centers the cutter 10 above the base, I'll offset the board using 4mm dominos so the cutter will be centered at 6mm
As always, great video and exactly how I do it. I like the method you used for finding center. I've never had to do that as I'm usually measuring to a distance/height, but now I know. One other thing that helps me is that I place a small mark (usually an "A" on the one side of the shelf and another "A" on the side piece where the shelf will hide it) and a "B" on the other side. I do this for two reasons. 1. In the event I was slightly off with my plunges, it helps mitigate that front to back difference (especially in a wider piece where I use pencil marks); and 2. I then do not have to worry if the domino was dead center in the 3/4' plane. If it's not dead center and I flip the shelf upside down during install, it will not be in line with my intention.
@@bentswoodworking. It's equivalent to $1,100. I don't have that kinda cash hanging around. I will save over the year & hopefully get one next Xmas. 4th Q 31-24. It's gonna be close.
Sorry I am late to the party. My DF500 show up tomorrow. I have been watching a lot of your videos in preparation. I also understand the metric system because or you. Seriously thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience!
This was pretty mind blowing to me. I have domino but often feel like i dont know how to best utilize it. Thanks for this. Please make more videos of other domino uses 😁
Jason, Great Tip! I'm not as much in the Festool camp as you are, in fact I don't have a domino - I have a biscuit jointer. Nonetheless, your tip applies to that tool too!! I have a Hutch that I will be starting soon and will be using your technique with my biscuit jointer to layout my uprights.
Thanks, great video. How would this work with the 4mm cutter and 12mm plywood? I'm not sure how the base plate could be used in that case since the distance to the centre of the cutter is 10mm.
When you are marking your divider location with your T square you can simply keep it in place and then butt your panel up against it and it will be nice and square. Then clamp it down.
So this places the center of the mortise in the 17mm piece 10 mm up from the bottom? It won’t be centered in the 17mm board, but that won’t matter since it will still be centered on the line.
What cons are there for this technique over doing a dado cut to fit this into? Do you think it’s a similar strength? What about gaps where the plywood meets? Just wondering why anyone would do the dado technique if this looks so simple?
Nice and clear video. However I'd have gone a bit further. You attached the vertical divider at the bottom, but didn't attach it at the top. The point I'm making is that I think there could be confusion yet, you laid the vertical with one side down, against the horizontal, and that "down" face, has to be down again when you do the top. If the person flips that over, doesn't keep the same surface as a reference, then the vertical could quite possibly NOT be be exactly vertical, as, I'm sure you know. The domino mortise is not automatically in the center of the board, so if it is closer to one side than the other then you see my point. i always mark the face of the board that is referenced, (usually with tape).
now how about for the Df700...no one ever talks about setup/alignment for that model? if you know of any tutorials, please pass them on. I'm having trouble aligning for shelves...it doesn't seem to be the same for the 700
Thanks for your clear explanation. I don't own a domino and am considering a lamello because of the major price difference. But each time I see a domino movie, I get a bit confused about in which system to invest. I though a Lamello would be easier for plywood furniture but how you show it.......
What would you do if you needed three domino's because of the depth, one cannot use the indexing of the tool for spacing the center domino? Thanks and great vid explanation
How would you align the domino in the center of the panel, without the flip stops? I haven't been able to use the reference lines on the domino for 18mm material and I always have to add an extra layer to my divider just to align the tool
Jason I just got my domino, so I’m no expert, but just watching this video, for the center demonstration wouldn’t you be off by the thickness of the plywood from being centered? I’m just thinking this because of the offset of the height of the base to the center of the hole? The line you drew ends up even with the edge of the ply so isn’t one side now center and the other 17mm short? Absolutely not trying to give you any bs just trying to learn how to do better layout as I learn my domino and how to use it better. You do great work and thanks for all of the content!
No, because to get the measurement you take the full width and subtract the thickness of the material. Whatever is left is what you divide. Where the dominos end up at that point is irrelevant. If I didn’t subtract the material thickness then yes, you would be correct
I have a dumb question. Let’s say I want to place another board parallel to the one in the horizontal position. Is there a way to get that same precision of the holes?
Great video but does that center the board? I saw Sedge do something similar, but isn’t the line then the top of the shelf rather than the middle of the shelf? That is, if you’re shelf is 17mm thick and you drew a line right at the midpoint of the base, shouldn’t the board be 8.5mm on either side of the line?
Couple of follow up questions, what side to side tightness setting did you use? I could see some play coming in handy to fine tune the placement, but I could also see it being unnecessary too. Second question, what if your boards are wider and you need to place a couple of dominoes in the middle where the reference tabs wouldn't be able to assist? Thanks Jason!
You could use the loose but I don’t think it’s necessary. As for your second question, I would just draw a line or use the pins and reference the previous cut mortise
Interesting video but Im confused. If you subtract the thickness of the vertical 17mm plywood piece and divide in half by two. Shouldn’t you center the domino cut on the center line 252mm and split the difference in order for it to be centered?
No. So we took the total width, subtracted the thickness of the material. That gave the total length minus the panel. So if we divide that by 2, we take that number and measure from one end. Then when you make your mortises and stand the board back up we are now adding the thickness we subtracted leaving the same spacing on the other side. It’s not referencing off a centerline.
Thank you… I was thinking this was off,too and couldn’t figure out what I was missing. So, to clarify, the edge you measure from has to be the side you lay the shelf board on in order to have this work. If you measure one side and reference the other side of the line, you’ll be off
For a project I’m on right now I must use half inch plywood… any idea how to accurately do this trick? Trying to figure out how to get the bit centered correctly but still able to keep my reference edge against the lines I’ve drawn on the piece. Do you just have to make a jig? This is day one for me and my domino so still trying to figure it out
SO I remembered that center of the bit to the base is 10mm… The closest I can get the fence (when plunging horizontally) is 15mm from center or so. So when I originally tried to lineup vertically I was off by right around 5mm. So I took a paolini pocket rule (I bought after watching your video on it!) and drew a line exactly 5 mm away from my other line, referenced the base off of that line and BOOM it was perfect 👌🏻 just had to think that one through
Very touched that our cousins across the pond still use the measurement system of the old colonial power of long ago. 🙂We Brits changed to the metric system in 1965 but still measure our journeys in miles and our beer in pints. Despite Brexit we buy the best woodworking tools from Germany. What a funny old world!
I'm converting to full metric and am ordering a bunch of different pocket tapes on hopes of finding a 2.5 or 3 meter tape that's metric only, accurate, has a blade at least 15 mil wide and a flat bottom so it will remain upright with the blade locked. Any suggestions? Anyone?
Any tips on using the Domino XL for the same process. I know the center is 15mm on the XL which makes this method impossible but I'm trying to figure out a way to utilize my 700 for casework. I have the Seneca adapter with all of the smaller cutters to use 5 and 6mm dominos but cannot figure out an accurate way to do it. I have the Seneca shim plate which allows me to cut the center of 18mm ply but cannot come up with an accurate method for layout and plunging both sides of the mortise. Any tips, besides buying the 500, would be much appreciated.
ok, but if I have a 45 mm panel and I what to put the domino in the middle of this height??? In other words, if you do not set the height of the cut you will always cut 10 mm from the base!
Hmmm... So if I owned a domino would I use it for cabinet construction instead of dados and grooves? Seems like it would be a weaker joint. How about a video to test the strength of the domino joint? I'm fairly sure the wood would break before a dado joint would give but I'm not sure about the domino.
There are a billion videos testing the strength of a domino joint. It’s a floating tenon that has grain etched into it. If you have time for dados and grooves then that’s probably the way to go. But this video would be a hell of a lot longer if it was dados and grooves.
Very helpful video thank you. One of my next projects is making a shelving unit out of my deceased father-in-laws drafting table for my wife. I was rather nervous about getting this correct with the domino.
I really hope, that if you have that amazing, but high prices tool. That you can do math. Not you Jason. I appreciate your videos and your well thought out shop my friend.
Another great video (I finally subscribed). If you're using 18mm ply, would you still use 5mm dominoes? Common practice dictates 6mm, being 1/3 the thickness; but 5mm are only 30mm long, so I don't have to change the depth setting for each plunge. I would think the 5mm dominoes would be stout enough for cabinetry casework?
The alignment wouldn't be correct for the two references. The vertical panel would end up in a different location than you planned, if you used this method. Edit: clearly mistaken
@@gulzeb The alignment wouldn’t be affected at all. I’m still referencing off of the same point - whether its a 5 or 6mm domino, it would be centered. I was curious about the strength of a 5 vs 6mm domino in that situation.
You are a good teacher/communicator... however, the process that you used does not result in a perfectly centered board. If it did, the domino would be centered on that line and the vertical board would be centered on that line, with equal amounts of the board on either side of the line.
I don't get why people spend so much money on those things, you can buy a lamello classic for $800 less and do the same thing plus the biscuits are $50 for 1000 will last a ling time, Festool is not worth the money in my opinion.
