One of the many consequences of Globalization is
that the American Consumer is encountering, and
sometimes forced to deal with, THE METRIC SYSTEM!
It's a Euro Plot I tell you. And I'm certain it's the
French who are behind the plot. How they got the
Germans to participate in their Evil Scheme remains
a mystery, given the two countries' history of
MAJOR conflicts.

I first encountered The Evil Scheme when I bought
a Robland X-31 combination machine - made in
( wait for it ) --- Belgium! Laguna Tools, the U.S.A.
distributor managed to disquise the Evil Scheme
by putting an "imperial" (read "inches") tape on the
rip fence and cross cut fence. Only when trying to
fit an "imperial" allen wrench into a Metric allen head
bolt or set screw did I become aware that "something
is different" - and only on certain sizes 8mm being
close enough to 1/4" and a 250 mm diameter blade
is too close to 10" to notice. A minor irritation, not
requiring any mental math to make the conversions
back and forth - and metric allen wrench sets are
cheap - now.

They (the Euro folks) snuck 8mm collets and metric
screws, nuts and bolts into the U.S.A. woodworking
power tools market. But they were subtle about it.

But now - with the FESTOOL INVASION - the folks behind
the Evil Scheme are blatantly coming out from behind
the curtain (think Wizard of Oz, not The Iron Curtain).
These Metric Evangelicals are going to give the Christian
Evangelicals a lesson in how to be evangelical. The
Metric Evangelicals have tangible - see for yourself -
objective, measurable facts, rather than mere "faith",
to support their claims of Metric Superiority.

To support my hypothesis I give you the Festool DOMINO.
EVERYTHING IS METRIC - and it's printed right on all
the controls! They took our beloved mortising machines
and router jigs, and our hallowed biscuit joiner - and
COMBINED THEM INTO ONE HAND HELD POWER TOOL!
Not only that, but they made it easier and quicker to do
functions of both of our "old favorites" - along with
some things our "old favorites" can't do.

You can cut mortises of various widths, depths, thicknesses
and offset from a reference edge, face or end - in side, face
or end grain - with the flick of a switch or lever, and maybe
a quick and easy bit change - AND with the speed and
convenience of a biscuit joiner, albeit one on STEROIDS.

But The Devil Is In The Details.

The first detail is the mental gymnastics involved with
thinking in millimeters rather than the old familiar,
sixteenths, eighths, quarters and halfs - as well as
whole inches. QUICK - hold your thumb and finger
16 millimeters apart. OK, what familiar fraction
of an inch is closest to 19 millimeters? (3/4")

The second detail is the apparent simplicity of
the options.

Four different "bits" that look sort of like a spiral
router bit or an end mill - 'til you examine the grind
on the end.
- 5, 6, 8 and 10 mm diameter bits -

Add a little stair steps looking "distance from
reference face offset to the centerline of the
mortise - with steps printed in white letters
in millimeters
- 16, 20, 22, 25, 28, 36 and 40 mm

Then there's a selector nob on top with three
positions that determine the width of the mortise
WITHOUT the diameter of the bit you're using.
When you actually examine (not just glance at)
the manual you find that the three positions
are for
- 13, 19 and 23 millimeters - PLUS the
diameter of the bit being used

There's also a little Flip This Up, Push That
Foreward and the spring loading will pop
IT foreward and click IT into one of FIVE
positions
- 12, 15, 20, 25 and 28 millimeters depth of
mortise

Thankfully, the fence angle is Degrees - no
metric conversion required as it has detentes
at 0, 22.5, 45, 67.5 and 90 degrees. Why
22.5 and 67.5 degrees I'll worry about later.

Now if you had Permutations and Combinations
in some math class somewhere in your past,
or for some of us, in our DISTANT past, you
begin to see the built in - preset - possibilities
- 4 bit diameters (see how they sneak meters
into words we are familiar with?)
- 5 depth of mortise
- 3 mortise widths LESS one of four bit diameters
(there it is again - meters!)
- 7 offsets from a reference face, edge or end
MINUS half the diameter (they did it again) of
one of four bits.

4 x 5 x (3x4) x (7x4) = ?
:
ready for this?
:
5,040 different combinations - all in METRIC.
(and that's without any fence angles
or "stops" distances (more about the
latter another time).

There are things about metric that are
good - going 105 Km/Hr sounds a lot
faster than a mere 65 mph. A 250 mm
table saw blade sounds more Tool Time
BIG than ten inches. Metric just makes
things seem FASTER/BIGGER (Don't even
think about saying it. OK - you thought it
- just don't say it!).

Because I see things in "imperial" mental
images, I'm doing a bunch of tables and
charts and scale drawings of what all this
metric stuff the DOMINO uses "looks like".
And when I think I understand what on the
DOMINO does what - and how wide, how deep,
how long and how far from - THEN I'll make
a bunch of real world samples and label
them (fence offset, bit diamter, plunge
depth, mortise widith selector switch
position - until it all becomes second nature
to me, or I die first.

And speaking of Death - have you been
- Born Again?

You ain't gonna get inta heaven 'til ya unerstand
METRIC.

Come on down tuh da shop and I'll make ya
a BELIEVER. Never to late ya hear?

charlie b

"charlieb" wrote in message
...
One of the many consequences of Globalization is
that the American Consumer is encountering, and
sometimes forced to deal with, THE METRIC SYSTEM!
It's a Euro Plot I tell you. And I'm certain it's the
French who are behind the plot. How they got the
Germans to participate in their Evil Scheme remains
a mystery, given the two countries' history of
MAJOR conflicts.

Just calm down and take the damn pill! Yes, the dosage is metric, but that
doesn't mean it is part of the plot.

Toller wrote:

Just calm down and take the damn pill! Yes, the dosage is metric, but
that doesn't mean it is part of the plot.

You're right - milligrams! DAMN!

charlie b

"charlieb" wrote in message


The first detail is the mental gymnastics involved with
thinking in millimeters rather than the old familiar,
sixteenths, eighths, quarters and halfs - as well as
whole inches. QUICK - hold your thumb and finger
16 millimeters apart. OK, what familiar fraction
of an inch is closest to 19 millimeters? (3/4")

An a 17mm and 11/16" are almost interchangeable.


There are things about metric that are
good - going 105 Km/Hr sounds a lot
faster than a mere 65 mph. A 250 mm
table saw blade sounds more Tool Time
BIG than ten inches. Metric just makes
things seem FASTER/BIGGER (Don't even
think about saying it. OK - you thought it
- just don't say it!).

But buying gas at ?1,25 a liter takes a bigger chunk out of you wallet.
That's what I paid a couple of weeks ago. OUCH ! ! !
For those not wanting to do the two conversions, it is about $6.50 a gallon.


You ain't gonna get inta heaven 'til ya unerstand
METRIC.

My pressure regulator is set a 6 bar. How about you?

Takes a bit of getting used to, but once you start using metric on a regular
basis you'll wonder why we never did in the past.
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

Charlie,
A few comments;

Is this the metric spelling of knob?

Then there's a selector "nob" on top with three....


And my calculator gets 6720 for the equation below, unless your value
is in the metric system.

4 x 5 x (3x4) x (7x4) = ?
:
ready for this?
:
5,040 different combinations - all in METRIC.
(and that's without any fence angles
or "stops" distances (more about the
latter another time).

But seriously, do you think Festool would ever release this as an inch
machine in the future? Not that it will make a difference if I buy
one but it's a relatively new release and there are thousands of
potential users here.
Marc (I'm only 11.1112
years old in the Celsius scale!)

On Apr 17, 5:44 pm, charlieb wrote:
[snip]

- until it all becomes second nature
to me, or I die first.

And speaking of Death - have you been
- Born Again?

You ain't gonna get inta heaven 'til ya unerstand
METRIC.

Come on down tuh da shop and I'll make ya
a BELIEVER. Never to late ya hear?

Check your temperature, charlie...my goodness.

wait

you'd need a thermoMETER!!! Dammit, you're onto something!!!

Robatoy wrote:

Check your temperature, charlie...my goodness.

wait

you'd need a thermoMETER!!! Dammit, you're onto something!!!

See! Metric Evangelicals have been in your midst
for a LONG time (speedoMETER, odoMETER, ok so we
haven't gotten to your engine's gas or temperature
gauge - yet. Wonder what happened to "fifths" and pints
of Jack Daniels? Notice that soft drinks now have one,
two and three liter bottles?).

charlie b

On Apr 18, 2:00 am, charlieb wrote:
Wonder what happened to "fifths" and pints
of Jack Daniels? Notice that soft drinks now have one,
two and three liter bottles?).

They start off with the soft drink bottles...who knows what's
next...it's just the tip of the iceberg.
Icebergs are nine-tenths under water.....tenths...metric...see???

charlieb wrote:

But now - with the FESTOOL INVASION - the folks behind
the Evil Scheme are blatantly coming out from behind
the curtain (think Wizard of Oz, not The Iron Curtain).
These Metric Evangelicals are going to give the Christian
Evangelicals a lesson in how to be evangelical. The
Metric Evangelicals have tangible - see for yourself -
objective, measurable facts, rather than mere "faith",
to support their claims of Metric Superiority.

I've got the perfect solution to your problem. I live in Canuckistan and
speak a pidgin form of metric, so I'd be happy to relieve you of your
pain. We weaned ourselves off the Imperial system years ago. So just
send the whole nasty business to my brother and me, Bob & Doug, RR 1,
Canada. Remain true to your brothers in Myanmar and Liberia. Rid
yourself of those evil FES things.

ROY! wrote:

were you the guys who found the mouse in the beer bottle in that movie
from way back, eh?

You bet, eh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-llwCUTdQM

ROY! wrote:

before the plot thickens any further could you share your practical
experiences with us on the Domino? Thumbs up? Thumbs down?
Greatest thing since sliced bread?

I got this thing last Saturday afternoon at the Pleasonton, CA
woodworking show. I worked our wood turning club booth from
2 to closing that day and spent most of Sunday back at the
show picking up last minute stuff and an impulse purchase
Razertip SK wood burning unit - with a couple of extra "pens"
(I'm going to start signing and dating my work - so my kids
will know when their inheritance was decreased and why.

I put up some web pages of what I've diwscovered so far
(see the post "Festool DOMINO - First cut at some web pages
on it" for the URLs. Before I actually use it for a project I
want to figure out the What, How and Why first so I under
stand the tool better. THEN I'll do a bunch of organized
samples before I begin the three or four bonsai tables I
promised my oldest. After that I want to try a chair. Will
put up pages on what I discover in a few real world applications.

I have done some test cuts and played with the tool a little.
I've handcut mortise and tenon joints. I've got a General
International 75-750M chisel and bit mortising machine and
used it extensively when building Das Bench. I've done mortise
and tenon joints on the JoinTech Cabinet Maker System
(router table with precision positionable fence) on a router
table and I've built some mortise and tenoned tables using
the TREND M&T Jig and a plunge router. Other than the
LEIGH FMT jig, I've tried "the rest" in real world applications.
Other than doing BIG through mortise joints (which is why
I got the General) - the DOMINO is the fastes, easiest,
most idiot proof way of doing loose tenon mortise and
tenon joints I've found. The proof will be in the results
of the bonsai tables. Will report back on that when it's
done.

One thing it will do that the other methods/tools/jigs won't
do, or at least not easily, is let you mortise into end grain
of L O N G parts, a bed rail or buffet apron -without
having to work on a ladder.

charlie b

"Doug Payne" wrote in message
...
charlieb wrote:



I've got the perfect solution to your problem. I live in Canuckistan and
speak a pidgin form of metric, so I'd be happy to relieve you of your
pain. We weaned ourselves off the Imperial system years ago. So just send
the whole nasty business to my brother and me, Bob & Doug, RR 1, Canada.
Remain true to your brothers in Myanmar and Liberia. Rid yourself of those
evil FES things.

Wow Doug, you really are a generous and swell guy. ;~)