Domino 500 - Dining room table - joining table aprons to legs

[Milt57]

All - I am a newbie with a Domino 500 and am looking for some technical advice.

My project is a dining room table. The frame is approximately 2000 x 750 mm. Table legs are 90 x 90 mm and the apron rails are approximately 46 x 100 mm.

Ideally I'd like the depth of a 700, but only have the 500, so I'm wondering what the most effective tenon set-up to attach the aprons to the legs for overall table strength would be - ie. a simple, orthodox 10 x 50 mm two tenon arrangement or a four stacked tenon configuration per joint...or something else entirely?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in anticipation...

 

[narrowboatboy]

Hi I'm a long time DF500 user and have done loads of projects with it, I am now a newbie DF700 user and already it's paid for it self with garage doors, driveway gates and now and pair of offset french doors being made with it,

the table is going to have to withstand lots of pressure on the "leg to apron" joint and the restriction of only 28mm plunge of the DF500 is going to prove and problem for your joints I would have thought. I would probably go for a 4 domino in line config with pocket hole fixing hidden behind the apron

 

[mouppe]

I've built several tables using only the 500 and they're all rock-solid, including an 8' long outdoor table. I normally use two 50mm tenons- either 8mm or 10mm- per joint, so you have four going into each leg. The thickness of the tenon isn't as important as its length. Extra rigidity is added when you attach the table top to the aprons.

Once, I made a writing desk with almost identical dimensions to your proposed table (my legs were narrower though). I used 2 stacked 40mm tenons for each leg to apron joint, but added a hidden second apron flush with the rear of the leg behind the outside one. This was to allow for drawer runners but also makes everything very strong. All mortises were on the narrow setting except the lower of the two apron mortises. This allows for any wood expansion to prevent the apron splitting.

If the rear of the apron is flush with the leg you can also add internal corner braces for extra support, but it's hardly necessary.

 

[narrowboatboy]

another method is to make a long dom slot and make your own domino say 60mm wide at 10mm thickness, again unnecessary but just another option

 

[Milt57]

Thanks for the replies gentlemen - I appreciate it.

RL - My initial thought was that there would be more glue area with a four tenon arrangement making the joint stronger. But if you've had success with large tables like this that have withstood the test of time using only two tenons per leg/apron joint, then I'm happy to go with that.  I've included internal corner brace blocks in the design, along with a couple of stretchers spanning the middle of the two long aprons. Hopefully the two tenons per joint, corner bracing - along with the table top locking everything in place will do the trick.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply - much obliged.

 

[VirTERM]

How is your table after several years? I  am building a large dinning table from 8/4 (to start with) black limba and also only have domino 500. Would you change anything? Done it different way?
Thanks

 

[mcooley]

Good advice above. One note keep in mind a table is a fixed object, meaning, the amount of strain it will have to take is fairly predictable. Unlike a chair a table really can only be used or interacted with in a few ways. I have found the DF 500 to be more than sufficient. The 10 mm x 50 mm dominos used in pairs is a routine solution.

 

[ChuckM]

Same experience here with my table (used almost daily since summer 2016), using DF500, double rows of dominoes. If the table is gonna fall apart, the weakest link is not gonna be the joinery. Tons of furniture pieces including chairs in North America and Europe have been built with DF500 before as well as after DF700 was released.

 

[Tezzer]

I've made heaps of tables with the 500, and depending on the size, twin 8 x 50 (perfect for yours) or homemade  10 x 31 x 54 for larger tables, all with epoxied corner blocks. Rock solid.