Aligning Dominos in the middle of a large board

[Steven Owen]

Aside from precisely marking the spot to drill a domino in a board, what techniques or jigs are you using the keep a straight alignment of domino is a sheet of plywood or a large board.

With Mafell Doweller, you have a template guide rail that provides brackets and an edge to make sure you’re drilling dowels in a straight line along the length entire of a board. 
https://www.timberwolftools.com/mafell-dd40p-duo-dowel-system

The Domino doesn’t have a template guide.  How do keep the domino holes in a perfectly straight line if you’re drilling shallow holes for dominos through the side of a wide board/plywood sheet?

 

[peter halle]

Your wrote "side of a wide board", is it fair to assume you meant "face" of a large board?

If so, a Festool rail or even a straight scrap of wood clamped down at a set distance (use whatever method you wish to determine that distance including, but not limited to the 2 parts of the lr-32 that sets the distance, the Festool Paralle GuideS, a  ruler, a Woodpecker item, an Incra Gauge, a combination square, scraps of wood you cut to your size, etc.

Others may have additional ideas.  Many of the above a typical Festool Owner would already own

Peter

 

[Steven Owen]

Your wrote "side of a wide board", is it fair to assume you meant "face" of a large board?

If so, a Festool rail or even a straight scrap of wood clamped down at a set distance (use whatever method you wish to determine that distance including, but not limited to the 2 parts of the lr-32 that sets the distance, the Festool Paralle GuideS, a  ruler, a Woodpecker item, an Incra Gauge, a combination square, scraps of wood you cut to your size, etc.

Others may have additional ideas.  Many of the above a typical Festool Owner would already own

Peter

I was thinking a T-square would be use as a reference.  It’s too bad Festool has never designed an indexing system for the domino similar to Mafell’s.  Given the sheer number of jigs and tools with indexing systems, I doubt they could secure a patent for that concept.

 

[jacko9]

I'm not quite sure what "so called problem" your might be referring to when you talk about alignment of domino joints?  I've been using both Domino machines for several years making furniture and frequently use rows of dominos across a wide side of a cabinet with no issues whatsoever.  I have observed over a 50 year career of furniture building that dowel joints are the most frequent type of joint to fail over the long term due to moisture cycles and end grain mismatch.  Yes I agree that dowels are great for "production furniture" but I have seen way too many failed dowel joints over time to worry about an alignment issue that doesn't exist (in my humble opinion).

Jack

 

[Steven Owen]

I'm not quite sure what "so called problem" your might be referring to when you talk about alignment of domino joints?  I've been using both Domino machines for several years making furniture and frequently use rows of dominos across a wide side of a cabinet with no issues whatsoever.  I have observed over a 50 year career of furniture building that dowel joints are the most frequent type of joint to fail over the long term due to moisture cycles and end grain mismatch.  Yes I agree that dowels are great for "production furniture" but I have seen way too many failed dowel joints over time to worry about an alignment issue that doesn't exist (in my humble opinion).

Jack

I’m not referring to any issue with the Domino or Domino joints.

I’m interested in learning different techniques people are using to align their Dominos across the wide side of a board.

I wish Festool would have “cough, cough, borrowed” an idea from Schmidt and Mafell to make the process quick and painless with indexed guide for the Domino. That’s me tossing a penny in a wishing well.

Like everything in wood working, there’s more than one technique that can be used to accomplish the same thing.

 

[Gregor]

Seehttp://festoolownersgroup.com/festo...omino-in-middle-of-board/msg238162/#msg238162 for a jig that uses a festool guide rail to keep the domino in line.

You should also be able to use a handfull of #491582 FS-RSP limit stops (inserted 180° with the body being outside of the rail) to turn your FS rail into a story stick for the domino (referencing the side of the machine fence/base against them)...

 

[Birdhunter]

Interesting issue. I just finished a bed for a king mattress. The headboard was joined to the frame using 8 Dominos across an 80” span. Narrow mortises on the frame and wide on the headboard. Perfect snick fit. Just used a tape measure and pencil marks.

 

[Naildrivingman]

1st:  I don’t understand why this is necessary.  If it’s “just because”, that’s fine with me.

2nd: Why can you lay out your boards/sheets and measure, make tick marks and connect the dots.  Now there is a registration point on the edge of every board.

I think any jig (or even the method I laid out above) is fraught with error if the machine is on setting one.  If you want all the dominos in line, then use a line and setting two and align each domino off the witness mark.

 

[tjbnwi]

Guide rails with tick marks and a stop. Its all that is needed to place Dominos in the face of a sheet.

You can also use the piece that is going where the Dominos are going. Plunge the face, plunge the edge. Done.

Tom

 

[sancho57]

I do what Tom said

 

[ear3]

Large Woodpeckers square (18" or 26" for wider boards) and trigger clamps.  The narrow mortise referenced off one of the edges takes care of the alignment.  For all the others, you just have to be in the ballpark when using the wider settings.