Domino 500 fence settings for connecting .93in bed rail to 1.65 bed post?

gearhound

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I’m making a bed frame from rough walnut and after milling to the widest dimensions I could with my stock I’m left with these weird dimensions. I made a mock-up of the bed out of construction grade pine (which I’m currently laying in and typing this while finishing the walnut one). I used the 20mm fence setting for rails and 40mm for posts....it’s close to having the rail centered on the post, but not perfect.

Is there an easy way to get these centered that I’m not thinking of?

Cheers,
Matt
 
If I am understanding the question correctly you just need to shim the domino plate with some wood or acrylic until you have it centered. 
 
Just cut a Packer the size of the offset that you need and then set domino on that. It will then be the same setting for all domino slots.
 
Having mortices not centred can be a good thing when it comes to glue-up. As in, you know if you're trying to put something where it doesn't belong.
 
GO METRIC.....

The domino is a metric tool. Mill your rails to 20mm and your posts to 40mm. Standard stops. Piece of cake.
 
VirTERM said:
You do not need to center it exactly.
Please see this old post for some tips:http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-tools-accessories/center-your-domino-height-easily/
Colinjm18 said:
Just cut a Packer the size of the offset that you need and then set domino on that. It will then be the same setting for all domino slots.

Thanks guys, that thread was confusing with the back and forth but sounds like I just need to experiment with different sized shims and placing the domino base on the top of the shim and not bother with the fence.

I'm not in front of my domino right now, but it being 10mm from the base would result in me then needing to add a 10.9mm shim I think to get the bed post mortise centered? (1.65" to mm = 41.91mm / 2 = 20.955mm minus the 10mm the cutter sits elevated) BUT then not sure how to tweak that when if I just go with a standard 20mm fence position for the bed rail?

Trosey said:
GO METRIC.....

The domino is a metric tool. Mill your rails to 20mm and your posts to 40mm. Standard stops. Piece of cake.

Agreed that I should've for this project now, but I've already created a jig to mortise the bed hardware based on these dimensions and based all the sizing on these dimensions....so I'm unfortunately too far in to turn back now! Some tinkering with shims should hopefully get me pretty centered.
 
Apparently I am missing something here.  Unfortunately I do not own a Domino.  But according to the description for the 500, it says "Quickly and easily accommodate a range of material thicknesses with seven different presets, and infinite adjustability in between."  So can't you just set the height to the center of your board and cut the Domino mortise?  Yes it would involve measuring and calculating and lots of adjusting and testing.  But making a shim would involve that too.

And for a bed frame, Dominoes would work for permanently gluing the bed frame together for ever and ever.  But usually you want to also use bolts or those special bed hook things for bed frames.  Are those somehow incorporated into your design so you can take the bed apart?
 
RussellS said:
Apparently I am missing something here.  Unfortunately I do not own a Domino.  But according to the description for the 500, it says "Quickly and easily accommodate a range of material thicknesses with seven different presets, and infinite adjustability in between."  So can't you just set the height to the center of your board and cut the Domino mortise?  Yes it would involve measuring and calculating and lots of adjusting and testing.  But making a shim would involve that too.

I am also struggling to understand the problem. Draw a line where you want the centre of the mortise and set the domino jointer to it?
 
My bed making experience is limited to one king size bed with a full sized head board. I used quarter sawn white oak. The posts were 2 X 2 inches and the rails were 2 X 4 inches. The bed had to break down for transport so I used a Festool connector for the 700 Domino at each joint paired with 1 solid 14mm by 100mm tenon.

The wood dimensions for your bed sound very thin, but my experience making beds is limited as I said above. Beds take a lot of up and down stress and a lot of racking stress and really put a lot of strain on joints.

Based on your plans, I would want the rails to center on the posts for visual reasons. I’d mark the center of the rails and the posts and adjust the Domino to drill the mortises centered on the center line being sure to always use the correct reference surface. I use a lot of blue tape when I have a lot of reference surfaces to keep track of.
 
1.65 - .93 = .72

.72 / 2 = .36 this is reveal on either side of the rail

All you need to do is slot the rails (use the 25mm fence stop) then raise the fence .36 inches (9.144mm) and slot the posts. Just use fence scale and move 9mm.

Or if you’re completely OCD, stack some feeler gages or gage blocks to .360 inches exactly and slide between the 25mm fence stop and the fence. Lock down at that spot.
 
I use these style connectors for leg to rail connection of beds:https://www.amazon.com/Woodtek-1605...teners/dp/B00887N7S4/ref=sr_1_21?keywords=bed+post+connectors&qid=1567628544&s=hi&sr=1-21
I have not used the Domino know down connector but I did look at it and I believe the part that expands into the mortise is zinc.  That concerns me because zinc creeps - changes shape under prolonged loading.  So the connector may be come loose over time.  I like steel hardware for beds.  My son and his wife sleep on a bed a couple decades old with the posted connectors and it shows no signs of an issue. 
 
More to the point which nobody has mentioned yet. The Domino 500 wouldn't be the strongest for this application. It doesn't have a plunge depth deep enough to accommodate the proper sized tenon. The Df 700 with the connector kit excels at this very thing. I made a set of bunk beds that worked fantastic.
 
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