Following the lead from the trailblazers in the DomiDrawer post of three weeks ago, I thought I would give it a try.
Project  - 16 utility grade ( heavy duty) drawers For three base units. Material - 1/4" 1/2" and 3/4" baltic birch. Two size boxes - 4 1/8 and 5 1/2 tall. Solid faces will be added. And hung on full ext BB slides.

 A 1/2" rabbit was cut on the ends of 3/4" (fronts and backs) - sides are 1/2"  and a 1/4" daddo was cut in all stock for the bottom. Using a temp squaring jig I glued (bottoms also) and nailed the outer corners with 18 ga 1 1/4" brads then clamped em up for 15 -30 min. After they were tight I set them up to get Dominoed. Using a temp stop to hold the drawers in place and standing on a step stool.



 I was planning on setting the 5mm domino cutter on the deepest setting - hoping to get them close to flush after driving them in. And benefit from the strength of a deeper fit. But not to be and as noted before the 5 mm bit flairs out towards the bottom of the cutting surface at the shank. And since the bit screws on there is no adjustment. Only the 5mm bit has this feature ( as needed for strength of the skinny bit) just my luck.
  This means that when using the 28mm cut depth you get a flair out cut at the top of the hole. So I used the 25mm depth which made the domino sink about a light 1/2"  into the rabbited 3/4" stock and thru the 1/2". Could have stepped up to 6mm but the fives were a good fit in the rabbit and I have lots of fives. So 5mm it is. I am glad I used the 3/4" stock for the fronts and backs with the rabbits.






 I cut the nubbs off at the band saw ( did not expect to have this extra step ) and hated to see them go






Then over to the osc edge sander to finish off the nubbs.



 I used the index pins on the 5 1/2" boxes and that worked well - on the 4 1/8" boxes I marked and cut. Brads , glue and dominos that should hold em. Looks not a priority here but in a more formal application they would look just fine (without the brads)



 The process went smoothly up till midway thru I sideswiped a (stray) brad nail  I thought I toasted the bit. But no it made it no problem. Even with cutting thru all that plywood. 164 domino$ cut and used. Time to make my own stock.

 

OT-

Your DomiDrawers are looking good!  Why would you need to put brads in them???

I think we may have hit on a new way to make some really good looking, quality drawers with Domino!  I don't recall seeing tenoned drawers in any of my woodworking books. 

With some nifty contrasting Domino tenons, one could have some really spiffy looking drawers - quickly ans efficiently.

I'm making some drawer fronts this week for another client and will see if they would like some as the first ones worked out so well.

 Thanks guys. Matt - great forum to exchange ideas , techniques and info on the tools. Clint - thanks for starting that domidrawer thread. Great stuff !  Dan - your photo tutorial makes picture posting a snap. No more typing [IMG]http://andonandonforeverandthensome.com[IMG]     

  And about those brads    I used them to aid in the glue up process. After fumbling to get the first one into the clamps I quickly reached for the gun. It's all Norman's fault  Tacking the corners made it easy to flip the box around to get glue into the bottom dado, slip the bottom in and clamp. Surely they are not needed for strength and would not contribute much any way. But I found it more tricky to clamp them up compared to HB dovetail drawers. I did not want to huff the cabinet masters around so I made the squaring jig to use the light clamps.
   And now, after handling them for shellac and hardware I am confident that they will perform well and stay square and strong for years.

Overtime,

I think we should give credit where credit is due; it was Tezzer who first came up with the idea of domidrawers on the Ubeaut forum. I have a feeling that sales of the Leigh dovetailing jig may fall off a bit now that there is a much easier way of making drawers.

Rocker

I know this is an old thread, but I was searching the FOG for information on using the Domino for drawer joinery and this thread was top of the list. I plan to use dominoes as is detailed here. It just occurred to me that it would look a little more special if the ends of the dominoes were stained a darker colour to make them stand out a bit. Anyone done this before and if so, were there any problems encountered?

Richard.

Rob,

Making my own dominoes just seems like reinventing the wheel that's all. I only need 20 or so and I have hundreds in the systainer.

Richard.

Making them is pretty easy and quick.

There are some contrasting Dominos, not FesTool, out there for sale, I think.

It appears as if they may only be available in oak now. At least I cannot find any others on their website. Anyway, I was looking to make use of the dominoes that I have already rather than add more. I will test-stain the ends of one or two tomorrow to see how they look. It will not affect the glue area anyway.

Edit: the other woods are on closeout, but will be unavailable soon.

Tezzer,

That's a great method, and the pics ilustrate the final result well. It does look like a proper morticed joint!

Only one very minor issue - I had to read the above several times before I fully understood what you were trying to get across. I think it would be great if at some point you could write a brief tutorial on this technique, with some pictures along the way. I think that'd be extremely useful for alot of people on here.

I do domi drawers too. A nice quick technique for durable drawers.

I like to trim off the protruding domino ends with a flush trim bit with the router.  Its pretty quick and works well even with prefinish drawer stock.

Jonny, here is a pic the Domi in question (oversized for clarity as i have a bad camera)

The red line is where it will be flush with the drawer, and the blue line is 3mm under and thats where i round it off. 

Love it , Tezzer.

Anyone who has not should also make a trip to your website and look at the misc. shop photos, there must be 10 or 12 other good ideas on uses/techniques for the Domino. Great stuff, based on the photos your shop must be hugely productive.

That is a great website you have there Tezzer!