Exotic timber dominos thanks to an idea knicked from HiMagic

Hi DD,
Here's a couple of 5mm Red Gum domis into radiata pine in a small drawer.
These are really easy to make using the little router table you can get for Dremel tools for rounding the stock.
The stock I cut using the TS75 and rail system. You can easily make 5,6,8,10,20,30mm... whatever width you want and even use them as splines!

Regards,

Rob
 
Rob McGilp said:
Hi DD,
Here's a couple of 5mm Red Gum domis into radiata pine in a small drawer.
These are really easy to make using the little router table you can get for Dremel tools for rounding the stock.
The stock I cut using the TS75 and rail system. You can easily make 5,6,8,10,20,30mm... whatever width you want and even use them as splines!

Regards,

Rob
Click to expand...

Rob,

Very nice drawers.  I haven't tried domi-drawers yet or making my own dominos yet using a TS saw and guide rail.  How did you setup for the rip cuts?  I am thinking that a couple of Festool dominos could be used as a setup gauge blocks to precisely position a backstop under the rail (assuming you don't have an MFS to use).  Then for the repeat rip cuts your stock would be inserted from the right side of the cut line and the ripped strip would be trapped under the guide rail and with its far end abuted against the MFT fence under the rail.

Eli and Overtime.

I, too, am slowly coming around to use of a brad nailer to aid assembly.  (Had to begin using that PC brad nailer I bought a couple of years ago for something to keep the Missus happy.)  Does anyone offer brass or aluminum brads for these nailing machines?  That would mitigate the risk of damage to a router or Domino bit.

Lastly, has anyone done any strength testing of Domi-drawers?  Compared to dovetails and interlocking joints, I am concerned that when pulling out the drawer, and when it is slammed home using the drawer front as the stop, that the sides if made of solid lumber may tear out at where the rounded edges of the dominos are due to shear loading.  In contrast, in a dovetail joint, during the same drawer motions, the contacting surfaces of the tails and pins of the joint are wedged against one another.  And in a lock joint, the load is spread out across the entire width (height) of the side and front members.  So far, I have stayed with traditional dovetailed joints, which are self-aligning, too and don't need any brads to hold them in position until the glue dries.  Still, I like the appearance of Domi-drawers when contrasting woods are used.

Dave R.
 
I'd say unless you store your collection of old pharmacy scale weights or bronze ingots in the drawers, the joint will be much of a muchness. I made one kitchen drawer set quite quickly with a rabbet, glue and brad back and never had a worry, even in the really big dry goods and pan drawers. Certainly they can be ranked by strength, but your wife will make you remodel the kitchen before you will be able to kill a drawer most likely.
 
Eli said:
I'd say unless you store your collection of old pharmacy scale weights or bronze ingots in the drawers, the joint will be much of a muchness. I made one kitchen drawer set quite quickly with a rabbet, glue and brad back and never had a worry, even in the really big dry goods and pan drawers. Certainly they can be ranked by strength, but your wife will make you remodel the kitchen before you will be able to kill a drawer most likely.
Click to expand...

Amen

Tinker
 
Eli said:
I'd say unless you store your collection of old pharmacy scale weights or bronze ingots in the drawers, the joint will be much of a muchness. I made one kitchen drawer set quite quickly with a rabbet, glue and brad back and never had a worry, even in the really big dry goods and pan drawers. Certainly they can be ranked by strength, but your wife will make you remodel the kitchen before you will be able to kill a drawer most likely.
Click to expand...

Eli,

You and others have persuaded me to try a few domi-drawers.  I may make a few different designs (varying thicknesses of the material and offset of the domino relative to the ends and edges of the boards being joined, and do some very unscientific (caveman quality) testing of their durability.  My hunch is that the sides of the drawers will withstand the push-pull loading without tearing out around the domino joints provided they do not get cracked by allowing the drawer sides to rack relative to the drawer front.

Dave R.
 
Hi Dave,
Typically I use stock that is of a depth suitable for the domino to be made. So I use 3/4 for standard single width cut, 32mm for 3 width cut. If you want to make deeper dominoes, use appropriate stock. I then cut the stock to the desired width using the rail and saw. So I will cut to 5,6,8,10mm, so you end up with stock like that in fig. 1. This is 20x6mm.
It's important to remember that when you are cutting stock measured from the right hand side of the saw, you need to include the saw kerf in your measurement.. So for a 5mm wide domino blank, you need to measure in 8.5mm.
After I create the stock for the dominoes, I use the smallest router table in the world (fig 2.) to round off the edges. I use either a beading bit or a roundover bit. The beading bit (when set properly) allows for a groove for glue to move within, while giving a rounded edge. Hopefully you can see what I mean in fig. 3, which shows both the roundover on one side and a poor bead cut on the other.
Fig. 4 shows a 10x32mm red gum domino, rounded and ready for insert. Fig. 5 shows the fit.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Rob
 
Thanks, Rob.  Your explanation is very clear.  Cute router table.  Thanks for the emphasis regarding allowance for the thickness of the saw blade.  Recently I needed to cut backs for a pair of hollow doors for a storage cabinet.  Did the first one correctly.  Had to leave the shop to do something else for a couple of hours.  Came back, forgot to re-engage my brain, and messed up the second cut because I switched my reference edge and forgot to allow for the kerf! 

Dave R.
 
Rob McGilp said:
Hi Dave,
Typically I use stock that is of a depth suitable for the domino to be made. So I use 3/4 for standard single width cut, 32mm for 3 width cut. If you want to make deeper dominoes, use appropriate stock. I then cut the stock to the desired width using the rail and saw. So I will cut to 5,6,8,10mm, so you end up with stock like that in fig. 1. This is 20x6mm.
It's important to remember that when you are cutting stock measured from the right hand side of the saw, you need to include the saw kerf in your measurement.. So for a 5mm wide domino blank, you need to measure in 8.5mm.
After I create the stock for the dominoes, I use the smallest router table in the world (fig 2.) to round off the edges. I use either a beading bit or a roundover bit. The beading bit (when set properly) allows for a groove for glue to move within, while giving a rounded edge. Hopefully you can see what I mean in fig. 3, which shows both the roundover on one side and a poor bead cut on the other.
Fig. 4 shows a 10x32mm red gum domino, rounded and ready for insert. Fig. 5 shows the fit.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Rob
Click to expand...

Rob, you mentioned beading bit or rounding bit. Are these metric with the proper radius? Are these available in the US?

Vijay
 
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