Domino Trivia...

[Rob-GB]

I have had the chance to use the Domino on a couple of jobs now and today it struck me, not the Domi  ;D but that I am no longer having to take a hammer to the workpiece to centre a biscuit. You know when you cut the slots and then insert say a no.20 and it is a tight fit and see-sawed up the slot so that the two pieces will not close up. You then have to tap them to a central position, often bruising them or splintering them in the process making the job even harder. [sad]
With the Dominoes they slide in , a little tight in some oak I noticed, but my hammer remained cosy in the systainer, they don't slide about or get misaligned in their mortice. They are nothing more than a joy to use, but then most of you knew that anyway [big grin].

It is one benefit not mentioned to me before or that I'd read about, thought I'd share some Domino Trivia.

( Original thread title was "A Domino Benefit" but I like this one better [laughing] [laughing])

Rob.

 

[tiralie]

Rob:
I agree the Domino is a great tool and I love using it, but since I switched to using a Lamello biscuit joiner I haven't had the problems (misalignment of biscuits etc.) I used to have with my PC biscuit joiner. I love using the Lamello  Fixo to join/clamp face frames.
Tim

 

[grobin]

I borrowed a biscut joiner from a friend before I bought my domino?I was very unimpressed.  They are good for joint alignment particularly in ply bu don't add any significant strength to the joint.
I am experimenting with the domino gluing in the domino to the horizontal stringer but leaving it unglued on the vertical support (I am building open carcase cases).  I am running tests to see if this will make a strong joint that I can still knock down.  I am truing some leftover echinacea ointment (bees wax and peanut oil?I'm an herbalist and the batch didn't workout) to make dissembly easier.  I am using cheap pine for he mock-up and so far it looks good.  3 36 shelves supported on 3 sides by stringers, the shelves lift out) and I can put 100lbs on any shelf.  Now to get more weight and load it with 300lbs and leave it out in the rain and direct sun for a week.

 

[ccarrolladams]

In February 2010, before I bought the building which is now my shop, a good customer needed a set of six double-sided display shelf units 39" wide, 75" high with shelves ranging from 7" to 12" deep. All the shelves except the bottoms were LR 32 adjustable. All the units were to be on locking casters. Each shelf needed to support 150+ pounds. Worst of all, they needed to knock down and re-assemble quickly, with only a few simple tools. These were to be used in trade show displays.

Since the plywood was all 19mm, I used 5mm Dominos to keep each case aligned during and after assembly. I glued the Dominos into the mortises in the edges of the "Back" and the top and bottom edges of the sides. The mating mortises are not glued to the Dominos, so no piece is more than 19mm thick and flat during transport.

I used Hafele cam & bolt fasteners, familiar to Ikea customers. Having one OF1010 set up to drill the bolt holes and a second OF 1010 set up to drill the cam holes speeded-up the process. That project motivated me to buy a second Domino so one could be set for narrow mortise on edges of 19mm ply while another was set for maximum wide mortises on flat sides worked out very well.

Subsequently my shop has manufactured a couple of hundred more of those display shelves. Only 12 of those needed to have the cam & bolt fasteners. Some of the others were assembled with glue in our shop for use in the Western USA. The others are shipped with only the Dominos glued as in the KD versions. Those are assembled by cabinet shops in the location of the stores using the displays.

Until the Domino I would have routed a dado in the vertical sides. My testing shows the Dominos make stronger units because the sides are not compromised. Another advantage is fewer router cutters need to be ground and there is a lot lest dust generated.

 

[kfitzsimons]

Here's another use for the domino. Mounting a wall cabinet. I just put in a couple of wall cabinets in my garage. I used white 3/4" melamine for the case top, bottom and sides.  All put together with the Domino. I didn't put a back on the cabinets to save weight and the garage wall is fine for a back. To attach the cabinets to the wall, I bolted a 3" wide strip of melamine to the wall the length of the inside of the cabinet. Before mounting, I put 5 large dominos on the top edge of the ledger and cut matching domino slots in the inside of the top of the cabinet. All you do is "hang" the cabinet onto the ledger and the dominos keep it in place.  Sort of like a French cleat. After the cabinet is in place, install any vertical dividers (pre-located and pre-drilled for drywall screws). The vertical dividers have to be notched for the ledger at the top. I wish I did Sketch-up - a picture is worth a thousand words.
Note - if the cabinet is going to hold heavy items (mine is full of Festool Systainers), add another ledger under the to help support it.

 

[Rob-GB]

Things just keep getting better. [smile]
Cramped up some timber for stair stringers and set them out today, marked for Dominoes to facilitate edge jointing, then made all the mortises in one piece
on the tight setting and all but one on the other piece at the next widest setting. No dry fit; just titebond 3 everything and clamp up. The layout lines stayed in line, no thumping required. So much faster! The faces aligned dead on flush too as an extra bonus. ;D
I am going to use them instead of the traditional tongue and groove at the wall string joint, as the stair has a windered 90 degree turn.
I know I'm still in the honeymoon stage with this tool but it's affecting more than when I got my first router...and that experience was a close call between which I was more excited about, the router or my first wife! [laughing] [laughing] [laughing] [wink]
Rob.

 

[johnpombrio]

Ship table

This was an all domino project. Two things, no I did not domino tiny one inch blocks to make the grate (I was tempted tho- traditional half lap) and no, I did NOT build the ship (theRedSun- E-Bay). I did use dominos for pretty much the rest. The sides and breadboard ends of the table top grate were done with dominos. The teak legs were glued and fastened together. One thing I DID do with the dominos was to use them in  KD form, the side rails and support beam at the bottom are NOT glued in. The table is literally held together with the rigging and the dominos just keep things lined up and in place. I did hedge my bets with a couple of blocks of wood holding the top (and legs) in place just in case...
I just love them little suckers.

 

[tbellemare]

That's pretty cool, John...

Tom

 

[Rob-GB]

Very cool table John, and  [welcome] to the FOG.
I love the knock down (KD) aspect as it confirms some ponderings of my own with regard to designing easily transportable items.
Rob.