dominoes to the rescue

[Chris Hughes]

I had a commercial project come through the shop a couple of months ago that required casework, solid surface counter tops, and these tricky little "ticket" bins.  I have built this setup two other times for the same customer but finishing this cubby unit is a pain in the arss to shoot finish on after it is assembled.  Prior to using the domino I tried to prefinish my parts, assemble, then refinish after I drilled holes and screwed the unit together.  Another issue I incurred before dominoes was positive placement of parts at assembly.

With the tricks I learned at one of the End User's classes I figured out how to place a domino exactly where I needed it to correspond to a tenon placed on a mating piece.  So on this build I precut all of my mortises, inserted my tenon, and prefinished my project to be assembled later.  This is definitely the technique I will use in the future for items like this.

 

[Jesse Cloud]

...
With the tricks I learned at one of the End User's classes I figured out how to place a domino exactly where I needed it to correspond to a tenon placed on a mating piece.  ...

Hmmmm.... do tell!  [popcorn]

 

[kev carpenter]

I sold my domino last year as i only used it for one job. now i need to buy another one because of stuff like this and making kitchen units, i could kick myself  [mad].
not never sell tools.
Nice job  [smile]

 

[Kevin Stricker]

Looks like you prefinished B4 inserting the domino yes?  With spraying the mortices should stay mostly finish free but it seems like the dominos would get covered.

What's your indexing system to get the dominos lines up perfectly?

 

[tiralie]

Looks like you prefinished B4 inserting the domino yes?  With spraying the mortices should stay mostly finish free but it seems like the dominos would get covered.

What's your indexing system to get the dominos lines up perfectly?

...yes, an what is the finish you used here.
Tim

 

[Chris Hughes]

I insert dominoes prior to spraying and put a wrap of tape around the tenon.  I have found that if I have to force the domino in after finish I stand a better chance at damaging the finish.  It just seems easier in process to do it before.

At class we learned an easy way to index both mortise cuts is to mark the edge of the that is being mated in the field.  Clamp the part along that line so that if the piece were stood up it would be aligned the same way as with the tenon inserted.  With the two boards clamped mark the center of your mortise.  Return the fence to the upright position and select the domino to the tightest width setting.  The first cut will be horizontal and aligned with the end grain.  Change the width setting to the middle selector and set the tool in the vertical plane.  Align the tool with the center line of the corresponding mortise and plunge.  Insert the tenon and align the two pieces.

As my Limmy friends say, "Bob's your uncle", it is pretty easy and really opened up the possibilities for me and my use of this tool.  I see projects like this more like "knock down" in it's application.

If my tutorial was not clear I would be happy to set up a picture sequence tomorrow.

 

[Chris Hughes]

Spected for paint.  Sherwin Williams Pro Classic.  Next time I want to shoot tinted conversion varnish.  My spray booth has a hard time staying warm and this year it stayed cool very late in the year.  Drying big panels takes time and space, something small shops have little of.

 

[tiralie]

Spected for paint.  Sherwin Williams Pro Classic.  Next time I want to shoot tinted conversion varnish.  My spray booth has a hard time staying warm and this year it stayed cool very late in the year.  Drying big panels takes time and space, something small shops have little of.

Thanks Chris. One more dumb question, was the Pro Classic waterborne or Alkyd?
Tim

 

[Chris Hughes]

Oil.  I try not to shoot water based paint.  I hate how it shoots though most of the time it lays fine.

 

[Wim]

I made something quite similar. It is a sort of pigeon hole for the mail. I used more or less the same strategy. For the edges is was business as usual. But for the holes in the middle of the surface I used the 10 mm offset of the router bit to the bottom. I marked the vertical dividers, drilled the holes (4 mm in 1/2" plywood) and used the vertical as a fence 10 mm from the centerline of the dominos and aligned the Domino with the marks on it. It worked much better than expected. The only thing is to put your marks at the right side of the pieces and don't get mixed up with the orientation. And you have to assemble in the right order, so I did a few dry runs before glueing up.
If have no pictures of the process, only a picture of a few minutes ago of the finished product in full use. The letters are carved with a soldering iron.

 

[Wonderwino]

Chris, nice work!

Do you stand the parts up, clamped between two boards on the dominos to shoot the finish?  Another possibility would be to drill a small hole though the tape on the domino to wire them up to a rack.

 

[Chris Hughes]

With most things I shoot, I hit them flat to minimize the chance of running.  It also allows me to hit my faces and edges, that are vulnerable to thin coverage, a couple more coats in process. 

 

[Chris Hughes]

I'll go to the shop and do a mockup today.

 

[Chris Hughes]

Well a week later...

I went to the shop and found my Domino and a couple little projects I started that would be great to demo the technique of indexing that I had mentioned earlier in this thread.  I am building three children's benches that are tapered and incorporate a lower shelf for book storage. 

I indexed the shelf's top at 3" and am using the domino itself both as a structural element for the glue up but also taking into account that someone in the future will use the shelf as a step, so the chances of the joint getting broke go down with that tenon.

figure one,  shows the line at three inches that will correspond with the top of the shelf

figure two,  shows the bottom shelf clamped to the side of the stool in it's proper alignment to use as a guild for the domino.  note the the face shown will be lifted 90degrees and so the shown is the bottom of the shelf.

figure three, my first mortise is on the smallest setting and will be in the horizontal plane into the shelf which will serve as a stretcher.

figure four, shows the Domino flipped 90 degrees and the setting changes to the middle width.  note that the shelf serves as the stop for the domino to index against.

figure five, shows the alignment of the holes before I push tenons and assemble.

figure six, shows the stretcher attached to the sides and standing free with perfect placement.

not shown here is that I will cut a dado that aligns perfectly with the shelf and the dominoes that will add glue surface area and give me just a little more shelf support. 

IMO, the use of the Domino on doors and furniture were blatantly obvious and warranted my purchase of the machine but once I saw how easily it could be use for casework and accurately indexing components in the field a whole new world of complex construction became so much more easy for me. 

 

[tiralie]

I went to the shop and found my Domino and a couple little projects I started that would be great to demo the technique of indexing that I had mentioned earlier in this thread.  

Chris:
Thanks for doing this. Much appreciated.
This is how I do my registration as well, (I usually domino the stretcher first and then clamp it) but I was wondering if there was a more efficient way to do it.
Thanks again for illustrating this.
Tim