Home made XL domino tenons?

[mreza Salav]

I am finishing our basement and like the rest of the house i am going to make the doors out of maple (some of you might remember the threads i had for those 31 doors and everything else i did for the house).
This time I will be using Festool for joining. I have the 12mm bit and with the glued panel and 7 tenons on eash side of the door i think it should be plenty strong. Don't think gain much by getting the 14mm bit.

Ok to the question: i suppose i can mill and make my own tenons given that i need custom lengths ( I know i can buy 750mm enghts but kinda $$$).
has anyone tried using 12mm Baltic birch ply instead? Is it a bad idea or does that work? It might not be as strong as wood, so probably i simply make them out of solid.

[Jamie Buxton]

You might look closely at the 12mm plywood you get. In the Baltic Birch I get, there's more variability in the thickness than I'd want in a Domino. I've been making Dominos for a piece I've been building, and find I want them about .003" less than the bit diameter. That lets the shop made domino about the right slip-in characteristics. If you have a thickness planer, it is easy to sneak up on the right thickness.

[Greg Quenneville]

Edited : After buying a few hundred dominoes for a big door project I now make my own dominoes after buying a universal domino shaper cutter from Whitehill. I believe that for structural joints the dominoes should be a snug fit in the mortice like the factory originals.

[Keegan Shields]

For loose tenons, you want the wood grain running perpendicular to the joint as that is what provides the strength. Solid wood would be my choice. I used 10mm dominos on a solid maple door with maple dominos and a stained glass window. It’s really heavy by has held up nicely.

[Jared Sankovich]

I've made them from BB, but I still ran it through a planer for sizing. It's just as fast to make them from solid.

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[derek labian]

I wouldn't use plywood for dominos, as other said you want the long grain inline with the mortise. If your going to make your own dominos, I'd make them out of the same material as the doors (maple). You probably have some long rip offcuts from the rails that would be perfect for dominos.

I made white oak dominos for my white oak doors, the milling was easy, it was the sanding to ease the ends that was a pain; I haven't made any since.

I'm sure you know the Festool dominos have channels along the edges where-as my shop made were more traditional loose tenons. Other than the obvious benefits, glue seems to squeeze out easier with those channels; depending on your tolerances for shop made dominos, make sure you avoid hydrostatic lock.

[Jim Dwight]

I made hundreds of domino joints but have yet to buy a single domino tenon. I got some 12mm with the used XL machine I bought and they worked fine but so do my home made ones. So I would make them and I would use scraps of the same material as the doors or any other hardwood scraps that are handy.

I would not, however, just use narrow little dominos in a door. It is far too easy to plunge multiple times to get the correct width for the tenon and then make a tenon to match. This is one of the reasons I do not buy them. I don't want multiple little narrow beech tenons where the project really needs a 3 inch wide tenon. There is no reason to do this. Overlapping holes cut easily with the machine and the mortises are correctly sized. It's also less time consuming to make larger tenons, of course. Less rounding over to do.

Sometimes I just cut tenons to size on the table saw and round over the edges on the router table. That works but with my table saw skills the thickness of the tenon stock is a little more variable than I prefer. So I usually cut slightly thicker tenon stock than I need and then put it through the planner to get to final thickness. Then rip to width and round over the edges. I cut to length on my bandsaw and have a little sled marked with common lengths just for this purpose. Whole process takes only a few minutes and I like using up scrap. It seems to build up exponentially in my shop.

I agree that 12mm tenons will be OK but I also recommend an Amana 14mm cutter. I also do not buy Festool cutters. I have CMT and Amana cutters. The smaller CMT continue to work well but the bigger ones seem brittle and I ruined a couple hitting metal (inadvertently). I've hit metal with the 12mm Festool that came with the machine and it dulled it but it didn't fracture it. I haven't hit metal with my Amana cutters yet but I think they may be more durable than the CMT, at least in the large sizes.

I like Festool items, I just think they are overpriced. So I buy from others at more reasonable prices when I can. But the domino machine is a game changer, especially for a little 1 car garage shop like mine. Even a bench top hollow chisel mortiser didn't fit well and the domino does a better job and takes less time doing it.

[mreza Salav]

Thanks everyone. Will make my own from solid, a bit wider than standard and make wider mortises. Don't see the need to round the edges. That will create glue escape space.

[Joe Calhoon]

I don’t think the edge profile is critical. I just use the XL for oddball joinery on doors and windows. The Sipo ones are expensive so a couple years ago I ripped up several hundred feet of mahogany and ran it on the moulder with a close radius on the edge just making sure the fit was good. Works for me. I will say though the quality and fit of the Festool Dominos is better than I can achieve with shop made ones.

[Prashun Patel]

While not critical, for a door they can offer a little bit of mechanical stability in that dimension.

You can cut them to width and then bevel if you don't want to roundover.

[Jared Sankovich]

I will say though the quality and fit of the Festool Dominos is better than I can achieve with shop made ones.

That's surprising to hear.

I've been making them a bit oversized .005" - .010" and shrink (super dry) them in a microwave right before use (sort of green wood chair esque). They should swell back to equilibrium and be a interference fit. It may not make a big difference but I like to think it helps.

[Jim Becker]

Edited : After buying a few hundred dominoes for a big door project I now make my own dominoes after buying a universal domino shaper cutter from Whitehill. I believe that for structural joints the dominoes should be a snug fit in the mortice like the factory originals.
Greg, can you provide more information about that tooling?

[Richard Coers]

I've made my own stock for decades for use with my Multi-Router. I bevel the edges to fit. I prefer using my thickness sander to achieve the best fit. Really easy to take a few more thousandths off for a perfect fit.

[Jared Sankovich]

Greg, can you provide more information about that tooling?

Not Greg, but it's been on the white hill main page for awhile. https://www.whitehill-tools.com/cutter-heads/domino-dowel/CBS047V2/

[Greg Quenneville]

This is the one that I have: much cheaper…

https://www.whitehill-tools.com/profile-cutters/domino-dowel/132126C/

On edit, the one that Jared linked is carbide which might be a better value if running more than a few hundred feet of tenons.

Greg

[Joe Calhoon]

That's surprising to hear.

I've been making them a bit oversized .005" - .010" and shrink (super dry) them in a microwave right before use (sort of green wood chair esque). They should swell back to equilibrium and be a interference fit. It may not make a big difference but I like to think it helps.

Thats a good idea Jared. I do that with dowels sometimes if they are tight. The factory dominos have that embossed type surface. I don’t know it they are pressed somehow so as to expand a little when glued. I ran mine on the moulder for a tight fit edgewise even though the radius was not exact. And did as someone else suggested final thickness on the calibration head of the WBS. A chambered edge would work as well. I think I have a lifetime supply after one run!

[brent stanley]

Greg, can you provide more information about that tooling?

Hi Jim, Jared and Greg have it covered, but Whitehill makes HSS knives for limiter heads that will make miles of dominos for you (including the ridges along the edge) but also a dedicated carbide insert block for even more miles. 🙂

The knives/block will produce the full range of thicknesses for standard and XL.

[Derek Cohen]

Greg, can you provide more information about that tooling?

Jim, in my case:

I have been making 100mm wide x 10mm thick tenon stock. The basics is easy enough to plane to thickness to 10mm on a planer, then cut to width on the table saw.

What I do to round the ends is not for everyone, but in my opinion far, far easier than setting up a router table. I simply use a block plane to chamfer each side, and then run a hand beading plane along the top. It is possible to get close enough with just the block plane as the faces of the tenon are the important focus, not a tight fit at the ends. In fact, I leave the tenon a little narrower to have some wiggle room.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Albert Lee]

This is how I made my Domino a couple of years ago.

Didnt want to buy a router table and I didnt have my digital spindle moulder at the time. so I made my own "router table", bought a cheapo Festo OF900, utilising the accessories from Festool OF1010,

Think I made 3000-4000 of 14mm x 100mm. I have also made a couple of thousands of 14mm x 75mm

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real easy stuff to make.

[Ken Krawford]

Albert, that may be the first time I've every heard the words "cheapo" and "Festool" used in the same sentence. :)


This is how I made my Domino a couple of years ago.

Didnt want to buy a router table and I didnt have my digital spindle moulder at the time. so I made my own "router table", bought a cheapo Festo OF900, utilising the accessories from Festool OF1010,

Think I made 3000-4000 of 14mm x 100mm. I have also made a couple of thousands of 14mm x 75mm

490057490056490058490059490060

real easy stuff to make.

[mreza Salav]

This is how I made my Domino a couple of years ago.

Didnt want to buy a router table and I didnt have my digital spindle moulder at the time. so I made my own "router table", bought a cheapo Festo OF900, utilising the accessories from Festool OF1010,

Think I made 3000-4000 of 14mm x 100mm. I have also made a couple of thousands of 14mm x 75mm

490057490056490058490059490060

real easy stuff to make.

Cheapo Festool?! :-)
That's quite a load of dominos!!!

[Greg Quenneville]

I think he meant it was a cheap second hand Festo that he equipped with attachments from his OF1010. Festo was the original name 22 years ago

[Albert Lee]

I think he meant it was a cheap second hand Festo that he equipped with attachments from his OF1010. Festo was the original name 22 years ago

that is exactly right Greg.

bought it for like $100 USD. it runs, thats about it.

[Patrick Irish]

Albert What bit? I just tried making a through tenon/domino for an 8mm cutter. I used I think a 1/4” roudover. It worked ok, not as perfect fit in the radius of a 8mm mortise as I’d like.

Overseas has a set of bullnose bits that match perfectly to 6-10mm dominoes. Pricey set of bits though.

[Jared Sankovich]

Albert What bit? I just tried making a through tenon/domino for an 8mm cutter. I used I think a 1/4” roudover. It worked ok, not as perfect fit in the radius of a 8mm mortise as I’d like.

Overseas has a set of bullnose bits that match perfectly to 6-10mm dominoes. Pricey set of bits though.
8mm is close enough to 5/16 to not care about the .002 difference.