Base Support Bracket; Working With The Machine; Overview, General Notes And Tips; Getting Started - Festool DOMINO DF 500 Guide D'utilisation

ible in the point of the verifi cation window
[14.1] on the fence.
• The distance between the stop latch and
the center of the mortise slot is 37mm (1-
7/16 inch).
• The stop latches can also be used to register
the next mortise by inserting the latchs into
a previous mortise slot.

Base Support Bracket

The base support bracket [15.1] can be used
to enlarge the contact area during jointing at
the workpiece edge, thus allowing safer guid-
ance of the machine.
Secure the base support bracket with both
screws [15.2] to the threaded bores [15.3] of
the guide frame, whereby the contact areas of
the support bracket [15.5] and the table of the
joiner [15.4] must be on the same plane.
15.3
15.2
15.1
Working with
the machine
Overview, Gener-
al Notes and Tips

Getting Started

Prior to processing the fi nal workpiece, it is
advisable to optimise the dowel-hole depth,
14.1 14.1 14.1 14.2 14.2 14.2
15.4
15.5
width and diameter using a sample work-
piece.
Because the Domino system is a form of the
classic mortise and tenon joinery, it should
follow much of the same guidelines of mortise
and tenon joinery. Here are some guidelines
to assist you in making your choices:
• When the strength of your workpieces is
comparable to the strength of the Domino
tenon (e.g. general hard woods) then the
thickness of the Domino tenon should be
approximately 1/3 the thickness of the
workpieces.
• It is acceptable to use a tenon that is
slightly thicker than 1/3 when the width
of the Domino tenon is relatively narrow
compared to the width of the joint. This
is why 8mm Domino tenons are the most
common for joining ¾-inch lumber.
• For softer woods, such as pine, the joint
will be stronger when the tenon is 1/3 or
slightly less.
• For plywoods, especially low-grade con-
struction plywoods, the Domino tenon is
much stronger than the surrounding wood,
so it is best to maximize the strength of
the substrate by minimizing the thickness
of the tenon.
Domino Tenon Placement Guidelines
There are no steadfast rules on where tenons
should be placed, especially when they are
used for alignment purposes. For edge joining
boards, a typical placement might be 6 to 8
inches apart.
However, when tenons are used to strengthen
a joint, you might be tempted to place the
tenons too close together. This can actually
weaken the joint by removing too much of
the substrate material.
• A wide mortise weakens the substrate, so
it is better to have several narrow mortises
with uncut space in between, than it is to
have a single wide mortise with several
tenons side-by-side.
• When placing several tenons close together,
leave at least twice the tenon thickness be-
tween mortise holes. As a general rule, this
means the minimum tenon spacing should
be about 10 mm to 20 mm, but they can
be spaced much wider.
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