Use of Domino with curved and small parts

neolitsia

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Joined
Jan 4, 2009
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2
I am considering buying a Domino, I have read lots of reviews and they are all good. There are two things that concern me. I can see how the Domino is fast for regularly shaped joints but what about curved parts? Is it practical to make a curved support piece to fit on the front of the Domino and fit to the curved part? Is there a better way?
When tenoning for chair construction high precision is required the the parts are generally small. The process of simply lining the front of the Domino with a mark on the workpiece strikes me as being prone to small errors, which may be significant on some work. Is this an issue?

Many thanks

Murray
 
Murray:

If I understand you correctly, I think this Handrail Fence will hold your work. It works on round or curved pieces and centers them.

Tom
 
Murray are you talking about having to butt the domino against a curved surface?  Hence, the domino would only register at one or two points as opposed to an entire flat surface????  I've been thinking about that one as well.  I think there was a thread about it (someone building a bed with a curved rail). 

JGA.
 
If I remember well about the curved rail, This person drill with the domino deep and they cut the curve shape,  Same can be done with the chairs.
Draw the chair leg keeping the part that will need the tenon next to an edge, then make the cut with the deepest setting.  Then route, band saw, jig saw away.

Fidel
 
Here's a few options for mortising curved pieces and comments on how Domino would apply....

1)Do the joinery while the piece is still square, then shape the curve, the best in my opinion.  BTW, even most chairs have flat spots where pieces join.  No problem with the Domino.

2)Build a custom fence/support that corresponds to the shape of the leg.  Works as well with the Domino as other methods, but lots of hassle.  May be work doing if the piece is never square (e.g., a bent lamination).

3)Build a mortising jig with a 90 degree fence.  Mortise template on top, and a wide fence for clamping.  Clamp the workpiece so that the workpiece is located flush with the top fence and under the template hole for the mortise.  Works well with routers, but Domino would be challenged by the relatively small dept of cut.

Personally, when I'm making chairs, I use #1 or #3 for the curved surfaces and save the Domino for the rectangular parts.

BTW, if the joint is angled, as many on a chair are, when you cut the workpiece to length with the angle on it, save the cutoff.  You can use it as a wedge to bring the workpiece to 90 degrees to fit up against a fence.

Hope this helps.
 
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