Diagram for adjustable guide fence.
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Woodworker Charles Mak shows how he made an octagonal frame with his new Domino joinery table
Loose-tenon joinery – executed through a Domino joiner – is the joinery of choice for most of my furniture projects these days. The machine itself is well designed to handle loose-tenon joints using its fence for registration, but it can be difficult or sometimes impossible to register accurately on the workpieces in the following situations.
Photo 1 – The Domino fence needs to rest on a flat surface for proper support.
The solution to the above challenges is to use the Domino joiner’s bottom, or the base plate, rather than the fence as the reference tool for the machine. With my Domino machine installed in the Domino joinery table, I can do exactly that, ensuring that the mortise is milled precisely in mating locations on either side of the joint.
The Veritas Domino Joinery Table is supplied with a right-angle guide fence designed to do butt joints and miters. In this article, I will show two ways of cutting angled joints other than at 45° or 90°.
Milling Mortises in Angled Pieces With a Custom-Made Guide Fence
In the first method, to cut mortises at a specific angle, simply make a custom guide fence at the desired angle. In this example, I made a guide fence at 22.5° for an octagonal frame (Photo 2).
Photo 2 – A 3/8" dia. hole is drilled on the custom guide fence with the center point located 1/2" from the base and 1 1/2" from the angle corner for the offset gauge.
The milling procedures for the octagonal pieces are identical to those for cutting mortises in miter joints. After making the necessary reference marks on the first octagonal piece and installing the Domino joiner in the table, simply follow these steps to cut the mating mortises.
Photo 3 – Align the reference mark with the center-line mark on the face of the Domino.
Photo 4 – Ensure the custom-made fence is also tight against the fixed fence before clamping.
Photo 5 – Always use dust extraction when operating the Domino joiner.
Photo 6 – Tighten the thumbscrew to lock the offset gauge setting.
Photo 7 – Remove the offset gauge once the custom fence is clamped in position.
Milling Mortises in Angled Pieces With an Adjustable Guide Fence
If you plan to work on many projects, such as another triangular or hexagonal frame, that call for mortising pieces at different angles, it is worth making an adjustable guide fence like an adjustable drafting square. I made my adjustable fence from scrap wood and hardware (Photo 8).
Photo 8 – Refer to the diagram for the suggested measurements for making an adjustable fence.
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Download diagram for making an adjustable guide fence.
DOWNLOAD DIAGRAM (PDF) |
To set the adjustable fence to an angle, you can use a protractor or one of the workpieces that have already been cut to the desired angle (at 22.5° in this example) (Photos 9 & 10). Once the adjustable guide fence is mounted in position on the table, the mortising procedures are exactly the same as those described in the previous section using the custom guide fence (Photos 11 & 12).
Photo 9 – Set the guide fence with a protractor and lock the arm on the fence.
Photo 10 – You can also use one of the angled workpieces to set the guide.
Photo 11 – The adjustable guide fence works no differently from the fixed angle fence.
Photo 12 – The hold-down in the center ensures that the work does not move during mortising.
Armed with the supplied right-angle fence and one of the shop-made fence options illustrated here, you can now produce precise mating mortises in a rapid and accurate fashion for any angle of joints in narrow members. Time to go and make some challenging angled joinery, and show off those Domino joints that are supposed to be quite difficult to handle freehand!