marty schlosser
Member
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2007
- Messages
- 28
I just wanted to share a technique I developed for joining curved panels, using the Domino. If you go to:http://martyswoodworking.ca/Chris and Lisa/ you'll see me mortising the centre curved rail I'm incorporating into a sleigh bed. I used this same technique on both the headboard and footboard and it worked extremely well.
A few notes on the technique:
1) the mortises for the headboard were quite simple. I first marked off the locations for the mortises on the concave side of the curved panels, taking them off the full-scale drawing I had made. I then laid the panel onto my bench, set the Domino's fence to 0 degrees and used it to register against the outside curve of the panel as I plunged the mortises. I used the narrowest biscuit width setting and had an 8mm bit in the Dopmino. For the footboard, (no photos uploaded yet), which had a compound curve in it, I ended out adjusting the depth of the fence to as I went along, to keep the mortises as close to the centre of the panel as possible.
2) the matching mortises for the centre curved rail were accomplished with quite a bit of measuring. I first set the curved rail on its edge, with the panel on top of it and oriented to where it needed to sit when attached. I traced the concave edge of the panel onto the curved rail, then transferred the mortise centre lines from the panel onto the curved rail. I then measured, one mortise at a time, the distance from the edge of the panel to each individual mortise and transferred that figure to the curved rail. Then, I merely had to draw another (this is the final one...) line exactly 1/4" back from those lines, to show me where to place the edge of my Domino's base. (Note: the distance from the edge of the base to the edge of the 8mm cutter is exactly 1/4", hence the reason for the offset).
3) I made a stand that was the same height as the centre rail (approximately 6") to help stabilize Domino while I was cutting the mortises. I then clamped the rail against the leading edge of the stand (I had drilled 1" holes in the stand's outer legs for this purpose). I was very careful to angle the Domino by eye, to correspond to the orientation of the mortises of the panel. To assist me in lining everything up, I increased the width of the biscuit to the middle setting on the Dmino, again, still using the 8mm bit.
I was quite impressed with the results obtained and had to adjust only 2 of the 84 tenons of the 2 headboard and 2 footboard curved panels.
The Domino paid for itself on that one job alone.
Marty Schlosser
Furniture Maker
www.martyswoodworking.ca
A few notes on the technique:
1) the mortises for the headboard were quite simple. I first marked off the locations for the mortises on the concave side of the curved panels, taking them off the full-scale drawing I had made. I then laid the panel onto my bench, set the Domino's fence to 0 degrees and used it to register against the outside curve of the panel as I plunged the mortises. I used the narrowest biscuit width setting and had an 8mm bit in the Dopmino. For the footboard, (no photos uploaded yet), which had a compound curve in it, I ended out adjusting the depth of the fence to as I went along, to keep the mortises as close to the centre of the panel as possible.
2) the matching mortises for the centre curved rail were accomplished with quite a bit of measuring. I first set the curved rail on its edge, with the panel on top of it and oriented to where it needed to sit when attached. I traced the concave edge of the panel onto the curved rail, then transferred the mortise centre lines from the panel onto the curved rail. I then measured, one mortise at a time, the distance from the edge of the panel to each individual mortise and transferred that figure to the curved rail. Then, I merely had to draw another (this is the final one...) line exactly 1/4" back from those lines, to show me where to place the edge of my Domino's base. (Note: the distance from the edge of the base to the edge of the 8mm cutter is exactly 1/4", hence the reason for the offset).
3) I made a stand that was the same height as the centre rail (approximately 6") to help stabilize Domino while I was cutting the mortises. I then clamped the rail against the leading edge of the stand (I had drilled 1" holes in the stand's outer legs for this purpose). I was very careful to angle the Domino by eye, to correspond to the orientation of the mortises of the panel. To assist me in lining everything up, I increased the width of the biscuit to the middle setting on the Dmino, again, still using the 8mm bit.
I was quite impressed with the results obtained and had to adjust only 2 of the 84 tenons of the 2 headboard and 2 footboard curved panels.
The Domino paid for itself on that one job alone.
Marty Schlosser
Furniture Maker
www.martyswoodworking.ca
