Domino registration without reference points

[moremetalthanmadera]

Hey all, new to the forum here.  I spent a while searching for how to register an existing mortise without being able to to have a firm registration point for measure and couldn't find anything.  So I thought I would share the solution I came up with. 
I am working on a cabinet that has four individual corner pieces that mate with the bottom, top and side panels.  These pieces have a 1" rounder over and then flat mating surfaces.  I used the domino round stock attachment to cut the mortises, then I realized I didn't have a way to ensure a perfect alignment for cutting the mortise on the bottom panel.
I ended up making a domino version of a dowel transfer. Can't imagine I am the first to do this.  But I cut a domino down so it sat flush with the bottom of the workpiece, then drilled a few holes to accept the cut off ends of finish nails and a wood screw for easy removal.  I put a dab of glue on the finish nail cutoffs to hold them in place, then it was just a matter of lining everything up and giving it a tap.  After a couple of practice attempts, it worked really well for my situation.  Hope this is useful to someone out there. The chip out you see is because I wasn't holding the domino securely enough when I oversized the mortise.

 

[ChuckM]

Thanks for sharing your method. The use of brads as markers is interesting.

Another way to do the mating mortises is to lay out the placement lines on the bottom, top, etc.

- Transfer the domino placement intersecting lines from the corner pieces (lines A & B in the sketch, not to scale) to the bottom/top pieces.
- Then draw a line 10mm* from line B to form placement line C.
- Now position your DF500 based on lines A and C to plunge, and the mortise will be dead-on with the one on the corner piece.

*The baseplate's edge is 10mm from the center line of a cutting bit.

There's another way to mark the placement lines on the bottom, etc. using the outside round edge of the corner piece as reference. But the above illustration shows the basic approach.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

That's how I do it ChuckM. A simple line drawn through one of the parts relying on the 10mm spacing you get from registering from the bottom of the base plate works for me.

 

[moremetalthanmadera]

Thanks Chuckm, I will remember that method. The domino came into my possession by dumb luck, and I do more steel work than woodworking. So I have only really used it in place of my biscuit jointer for table top glue ups. That 10mm centerline reference is key.