Angles with Domino

[flair woodworks]

Last night, I helped a friend cut some joints for a hand rail using my Domino.  The rail ran parallel to a flight of stairs, then leveled out at either end so we cut bevels at each end of the 2-1/2" x 1-3/4" hard maple at 17 degrees.  I thought I was being smart referencing directly off the stock to set the angle of the fence, but when I cut the mortises, the angle was out by a bit.  I attached the right-angle support for greater registration, readjusted the fence, tried again, and was still out.  On the third try I got it.  Does it take this trial and error to get odd-angled joints, or should I have used the fence scale?

The joint turned out good - nearly perfectly aligned and tight, with a good-fitting Domino.  I used the trim stop and it worked beautifully.

 

[Jesse Cloud]

Hope someone has a better answer than I do, but in my opinion, making precise angle cuts is not a strength for the Domino.  The angle scale on the fence is pretty crude and setting the fence is a little awkward.  I use two workarounds for angle work with the Domino:

1.  By far the best if you think ahead... save the offcut when you make the angle on the matching piece.  Use it as a wedge under the Domino to position it to the appropriate angle.  No measuring needed and it is very precise.

2.  Use a good digital protractor such as this one to measure the angle (do it a couple of times to ensure you got it right) and use that to set the Domino.  I think bevel gauges are useless as it doesn't take much to move them off the angle and there is no obvious visual cue that that has happened.

Like I said, I hope I'm missing something and someone has a better mousetrap out there.

 

[flair woodworks]

Jesse,

Thanks for the ideas.  The biggest downfall I see is the minimal registration of the mouth (where the bit comes out) - the digital protractor might be the way to go.

I've seen the off-cut trick done in the videos with 45s, but the trick is that it needs to be the complimentary angle.  That means for the 17 degree cut, I would have needed a 73 degree cut (73 degrees from square), which isn't easy on a miter saw!  Maybe it would have been worth the time though.

 

[Uffe Kaagaard]

Domino i 1 3 11 0001

 

[flair woodworks]

Gee, he made that look easy.  Maybe my mistake was trying to set the tool right side up on top of the stock, rather than having the tool inverted and bringing the stock up to the tool, as he did in the video.  Thanks for posting the clip.

 

[grobin]

The domino is not easy to get your head around.  But check out Rick's improved manual there are others there as well.
I had a lot of problem in realizing that the domino mortise could be relative to the bottom of the domino or to the top and that it's not necessary for the bottom of the domino to rest on a surface.

 

[waho6o9]

RonWen, a member here, makes a plate to use the domino upside down. I haven't used mine yet, but I  hear it's very helpful.
[big grin]