Pricing up a job should I use domino ?

[joiner1970]

I'm about to price up a job for an old customer of mine and one part involves replacing stair spindles. I've done this sort of job plenty of times but now I have a domino.

The existing spindles are not morticed into the bottom rail or handrail. I will be fitting new base rails so the new spindles (chamfered) will fit in those no worries. The customer wants to keep the existing handrail which is flat bottomed with no groove for spindles. This is where the domino may come in , I'm thinking of dominoing the handrail for each spindle. I could use pocket screws or even just pin and glue but obviously dominos will be stronger. It may involve some sort of jig or something to help line up on the rail.

Any opinions ?

 

[Alan m]

it should work . i presume the hand rail is too wide for the fence to center .
i would make up a jig that holds the handrail verticallly adn raise up a platform to center the domino.
something like a strip of ply adn 3-4(maybe more) strips screwed on top of each other. the hand rail would sit against the rebate

 

[tbellemare]

On this page, is a series of videos about the Domino. The fourth one from the bottom of the list is "Balustrade". I think that's what you are wanting to do?

Tom

 

[joiner1970]

It's the low profile rail if you know what I mean. Not thought too much about it yet but I'm guessing I could make some sort of c shaped box that clamps under the rail with some sort of indexing to line the dom up with. Then to do the spindles, some will be square ended on the landing and the others with be angled to the rake of the stairs.

 

[joiner1970]

Tom , watched the video but I think this isn't quite as straight forward, similar though.

 

[joiner1970]

I got the job ;D

I'm now thinking of just using kreg screws and a dab of glue where the spindle meets the existing handrail.

 

[jmbfestool]

U going to just pocket screw it?!?  no no no dont want no fixing on show for spindles.  Use ur Domino!

Its dead easy to do all the dominos in the ends of the spindles  the only slight difficult bit is handrail.   

I would simply have a L shape piece of plywood which I clamp with a festool clamp and then have a cut out for the domino base so the domino sits going with the handrail  so it sits central to the handrail.     

I would using my Iphone app work out the spacings  then mark the offset to clamp the jig to.

JMB

 

[Deansocial]

I would glue and pin them.

 

[jmbfestool]

Just a rough idea it wouldnt be so rustic looking but its just to show what I am on about.  

the notched section underneath would be cut to take the domino base width to keep it central.

The upright section is to locate the jig against the hand rail.  You could do a U shape if you wanted  L U either will do.

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[joiner1970]

Cheers jmb

That's pretty much my original idea that you have shown there, then I thought am I over doing it. The spindles diminish as the go into the ceiling that section would have to be pinned anyway.

Another thing I would worry about hitting an old nail in the rail , those cutters aren't cheap .

The spindles are pre primed stop chamfered ones so its being painted and any screw/nail holes will be filled.

 

[joiner1970]

Change of plan ;D;D

I started building a domino jig like jmb's but then after thinking and advice from others I'm going to just use normal dowels. This will be fine as the bottom rails will stop any twisting. I've just knocked up a couple of quick jigs out of a chunk of oak and some mdf. I can clamp one on the spindle square off the cut edge then drill thru the jig into the spindle. Then I've got another block of oak that will clamp under the rail this also has a 10mm thru hole I can drill thru to make a matching hole in the rail. Job done ;D

Also this way if I do hit a nail its a £3 drill rather than a £30 domino cutter.

 

[joiner1970]

An update on this thread. I did the spindle job this week took a couple of photos before and also a pic of my jig for drilling the 10mm holes on the underneath of the old handrail. This was an oak block with a 10mm hole through it and 2 bits of 6mm mdf on the sides to centre it on the rail. I then had a bit of 18mm mdf with a 10mm dowel glued in it which was cut to length so when pushed into the last drilled hole the jig is pushed tight up to it and clamped. This gives you perfectly spaced holes ;D

It's actually finished now but I forgot to get more photos, if I remember I will take some tomorrow.

BEFORE

BEFORE

JIG

 

[jmbfestool]

On the before photos might just be my eyes but the spindles seem far apart more than 100mm

 

[joiner1970]

Yeah they were something like 200mm apart ;D

 

[joiner1970]

Here's the after shots all went very well. The old handrail was a bit of a pain as it was twisted. It had a bow in it which was easy to sort out by propping it down off the ceiling while I was fitting the spindles. The rail twist I left as there was no way to sort that, it just meant that when I cut the top cut on the spindle it was 45 degrees with a 3 degree bevel. The dowel jigs worked great .

As I say I've done plenty of stairs and spindle jobs in my time but this one was slightly different with having to dowel them. I've only done one like this before but I actually made round tenons on those ones.

In the first pic you can see some of the doors I just fitted too.