Anyone made their own Dominos?

[scthornton]

Not talking about the game pieces.

Just curious if anyone has done this and how they did it.

Thanks.

 

[billybokay]

Just did this tonight.  Used the largest domino as a reference and set my table saw to the exact width for ripping some scrap 5/4 mahogony.
Then with the strips still long, I ran them through the router table with the correct size round over bit. I used feather boards to keep them tight and my fingers away.
Then with a stop set up on the band saw, I cut them to length. From tooling up to finish, took me about 10 minutes to make 35 10x50 dominos.
I will next make some larger dominos that will be used with the largest bit and the widest setting.
Great use for all that hardwood scrap that used to get burned. 

 

[brandon.nickel]

Could you list the "correct size roundover bit" that you used?  I'm sure it's different for each size.

 

[billybokay]

I am not sure off hand, I matched the profile to the domino. I needed to hold the wood on  edge rather than flat to have it roll on the bearing correctly. I can post tomorrow on the bit size.

 

[Les]

Why would you make your own dominos unless you are trying to match to a specific wood? The cost is too reasonable other wise.

 

[Lou Miller]

Why would you make your own dominos unless you are trying to match to a specific wood? The cost is too reasonable other wise.

You know, I thought the same thing until I read some posts over on the Australian Woodwork Forum. Apparently, there are quite a few over there that make their own. Probably the biggest reason I can see is that you can size them differently from what Festool does and take advantage of the slop that can be introduced. So the largest domino is what? (forgive me if my numbers are off some, mine hasn't arrived just yet) 10x24x50? You could make your own dominos that are 10mm wider and get 10x34x50. Or perhaps go one better and take advantage of the full plunge depth. Isn't it something like 40mm to allow for offset dominos? (I probably way off on that measurement, but I'm just going from memory, so don't hold me to an exact number there.) So you could make some that are 10x34x80. That's a pretty substantial tenon if you needed it for a certain project. I can think of a lot of projects that I could use a tenon that is over 3" (a little over 1-1/2" on each side of course) long on.

I'm also wondering if there is a reason why you'd even have to round many of them over? According to what I've read, the tool is designed to make the first mortise a snug fit. Festool suggests (or is it Jerry, or Rick, or whomever? sorry I don't remember) that you introduce slop into the other mortises to make assembly easier and to allow for any discrepencies. Okay. So if we're going to allow for slop, why does the tenon on the dominos, other than the first one (which should be rounded for registration purposes), have to be rounded? Most of the time, the round over would end up being in an end grain to end grain situation. (Well maybe I shouldn't say most, but a good bit of the time anyway) The end grain isn't going to make much of a difference in terms of strengthing the joint, especially if slop is introduced. So just make the tenons square and you'll have plenty of glue surface that isn't end grain. I'd think you'd end up with joints that are exactly the same strength this way. You'd just have to pick and choose carefully where you'd use simple square tenons.

Then of course there's the simple matter of now having something to actually use all that scrap laying the around shop on... Due to lack of space, I throw so many offcuts away that it almost breaks my heart. I just don't have the room needed to store everything and still be able to work in the shop. Sometimes I just like to go out in the shop and kill an hour by fooling around with something. No real purpose, just a way to enjoy woodworking without the day to day pressure of deadlines. Spending that hour throwing some home made dominos together would be worthwhile. At least it would be for me, YMMV.

Don't get me wrong, I plan to buy quite a bit of the Festool dominos after I start using mine and eventually exhaust the ones that come in the systainer. However, I think I'll probably end up making a whole lot more than I buy. As soon as my Domino arrives, I'm hoping its today, I plan to make some dominos out of white oak and mahogany scraps that I have laying around. I can use these for a few outdoor projects I have coming up.

Sorry for rambling, insomnia does that to me on occassion...

 

[mysterium]

Lou said...."Sorry for rambling, insomnia does that to me on occassion..."

That.... explains why you are up at this hour !!!

Go to bed... oh... and  "Sweet Dreams Lou"  ;D

jim

 

[Lou Miller]

Lou said...."Sorry for rambling, insomnia does that to me on occassion..."

That.... explains why you are up at this hour !!!

Go to bed... oh... and  "Sweet Dreams Lou"  ;D

jim

Nah, I'm up for the day actually. Work kicked my tail yesterday ( I fell off a one-story roof    :-[ ) and I crashed early. Slept for 5 hours and woke up. No way I can go back to sleep now. Besides, I normally get up at 5AM anyway...

Care to explain why you are up at this hour???  ;D

 

[Tinker]

Shortly before we started reading about Domino, i had started making my own loose tennons.  they were so much quicker than making solid tennons, and as others have noted, it is a good way to make use of scraps that would otherwise get burned. 

To the responder who questioned how to determine the roundover bit size, the radius of the roundover is one half the thickness of the tennon.  That is how i have been doing it.  however, a later respondent noted that it might not be necessary to roundover all of the tennons where they do not show.  That is a great idea.  Why didn't I think of that?

Nah, don't bother to answer that one :
Tinker

 

[billybokay]

I would only make larger size dominos and for 3 reasons. Kill some time in short bursts away from the world. Outdoor use dominos..mahogony, and to get rid of all those pieces of hardwood scraps. The smaller dominos might get dangerous to make and are not even a consideration.

 

[MarkF]

One concern you may have with sloppy fitting loose tenons is telegraphing of the mortise on thinner stock.  My understanding is this happens when the stock swells due to moisture absorption from the excess glue in the mortise voids.  This swollen mortise area on the show surface gets flattened during sanding.  Once the wood dries and shrinks back to its normal thickness you're left with an area slightly lower than the rest of the surface around the mortise. 

 

[ejantny]

Has anybody given thought to using a small radius bullnose router bit to cut the sides of a domino. Fast, will do top and bottom in one pass. Then do the other side, then cut to lenght.

 

[HowardH]

What about the glue situation?  The factory dominoes come with embossed glue channels.  How would one duplicate that? Are they necessary?  Seems to me if one makes them exactly the same size and fit is that snug (I had to use a pair of pliers on one last night it fit so tight), there would be any room for glue and the joint would be starved.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Could you list the "correct size roundover bit" that you used?  I'm sure it's different for each size.

The radius of the round over bit should be the same as the radius of the Domino cutter (1/2 the diameter of the Domino cutter).  A bullnose router bit of the correct size (same radius as the Domino cutter) would enable rapid production.

Dave R.

 

[vkumar]

Or to put it another way use a radius 1/2 the thickness of the domino. 

Now where do you find 2.5, 3, 4 and 5 mm inside radius router bits --in the USA?
2.5 mm = .098, almost 3/32"
3mm= 0.118, almost 7/64"
4 mm=0.157 almost 5/32"
5 mm=0.197 almost 6/32"

Vijay

 

[Dave Ronyak]

I used my Domino the first time this weekend.  Given the ease with which it can be positioned and repositioned to make a wider mortise if desired, I can envision making larger tenons than 10X50 mm for certain projects, and creating through mortises for some of them by simply cutting from the backside of the workpiece.  Custom tenons should not be a major problem to make using a router table to round over the edges, possibly followed by a little hand filing to final profile.

Dave R.

 

[John Stevens]

Now where do you find 2.5, 3, 4 and 5 mm inside radius router bits --in the USA?

I agree with Lou Miller that rounding over the tenons to make an exact fit usually wouldn't be necessary.  But back when I was making my own loose tenons for use with router-made mortises, I put a radius on the tenons with "scratch stock" made from an old saw blade.  I roughed-out the radius on the scratch stock with a drill bit and fine-tuned it to its final radius with a round file.  Pretty quick work to make the tool and to use it to round the edges of the tenons.

 

[John Stevens]

Some pics--

First pic is a through tenon that was rounded with scratch stock to fit a mortise bored with a router bit.  The tenon is a "traditional tenon" rather than a floating tenon, but it'll work with floating tenon stock just as well.

Second pic is to illustrate Lou Miller's idea--it's a M&T joint that's been cut open to show the inside of the joint.  The tenon has square-corners, but the mortise was bored with a router bit, so it has rounded sides.  I forget where I read this, but somebody tested the strength of various joints and found that this type of joint was stronger than one in which the tenon filled the entire mortise.  I'll try to see if I can dig that reference out of my files tonight.

Regards,

John

 

[John Stevens]

Some pics--

First pic is a through tenon that was rounded with scratch stock to fit a mortise bored with a router bit.  The tenon is a "traditional tenon" rather than a floating tenon, but it'll work with floating tenon stock just as well.

Second pic is to illustrate Lou Miller's idea--it's a M&T joint that's been cut open to show the inside of the joint.  The tenon has square-corners, but the mortise was bored with a router bit, so it has rounded sides.  I forget where I read this, but somebody tested the strength of various joints and found that this type of joint was stronger than one in which the tenon filled the entire mortise.  I'll try to see if I can dig that reference out of my files tonight.

EDIT:  I was totally wrong about what I wrote above (now in italics).  In an article entitled "Testing Joints to the Breaking Point" (Fine Woodworking, March-April 2001, pp. 74-79), author Bruce Gray reported that a round-edged tenon sustains a slightly higher load before failure, and fails more gradually, than a straight-edged tenon.  Of course, it remains possible that a joint of the type in the second picture may be adequately strong for the application, even if it's not as strong as a joint in which the tenon fills the mortise.

Regards,

John

 

[Tezzer]

I'm also wondering if there is a reason why you'd even have to round many of them over? According to what I've read, the tool is designed to make the first mortise a snug fit.

Howdy Lou. I make my own tenons and its very cost effective. I havnt bought any for over 5 months and i have solved a big scrap wood problem.

The size i make most is 55 x 32 x 10mm and i dont bother with rounding over, instead i set the fence on the jointer at 45deg and set the scale to 1/8th and chamfer all 4 sides. The chamfer is  "perfect" for excess glue to escape and the small flat on the end locks into the rounded mortice just beautifully. And i usualy dock a bunch of 6 or 7 at a time on the cross cut sled, so its quick and safe.

The longer you all have and use your beloved Domi the more you will find unusual things to do with it. And that means using heaps and heaps more Domis than you would have thought. So it dose start to add up in the $$$$ so it makes perfect sence to save all those 10mm + strips you rip, and once a month spend a lazy sunday morning and rip up a few hundred tenons  ;D