Built-in Bookshelf Progress

[Bill_de]

Looks good. Though it was incredibly expensive, I find the Domino also incredibly useful. Overall very much worth it. But how did you do dry fitting? Storing the loose tenons in the shop, I still have problems fitting them into the smallest mortise. I have had a little more luck microwaving them first, but there's no way I would be able to do an easy dry fit. 

It seems like this is a common problem as well.

When using multiple Dominoes you often only need one for accurate alignment. The rest can go into slightly wider mortises. It makes dry fitting a lot easier.  I think I read this in one of the Festool manuals.

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[lincmercguy]

"Looks good. Though it was incredibly expensive, I find the Domino also incredibly useful. Overall very much worth it. But how did you do dry fitting? Storing the loose tenons in the shop, I still have problems fitting them into the smallest mortise."

For this dry fit, I only put about half of them in. I could do less, but this is the most complex domino fit I've done yet. I can usually get them back out of the narrow slots, but sometimes I have use a pliers or vise. I'm also on the high plains, so humidity is lower than the Eastern US.

I also winced at the price, but I'm glad I got it. I made up for it a little bit by selling my old used biscuit jointer and using it on a couple of small commission projects. It was much faster for this than the dowel jig. The carcass and face frame assemblies were all dominos too. I could have done biscuits for the face frame alignment/attachment of course.

[measurecutcurse]

nice progress! What size Dominos are you using in the project?

Jason

[lincmercguy]

All of the dominos joining 3/4 solid wood are 6mm, but the ones used to attach the front and back to the carcass and the ones used to join the plywood carcass peices are 5mm. I read somewhere that dominos for plywood should be sized down a bit so that less "meat" of the plywood is removed. Using the 5mm for the front and back attachment also means that I don't have to stagger the depth since they're 30mm long instead of 40mm.

[Gary G™]

Been meaning to say, Looking good.

[lincmercguy]

More progress.  I could have planned the base placement a little better, but it will be fine.  They are square and level.  So far, it's looking good.  This isn't the best lighting for pictures though.

   

   

   

[FS7]

"Looks good. Though it was incredibly expensive, I find the Domino also incredibly useful. Overall very much worth it. But how did you do dry fitting? Storing the loose tenons in the shop, I still have problems fitting them into the smallest mortise."

For this dry fit, I only put about half of them in. I could do less, but this is the most complex domino fit I've done yet. I can usually get them back out of the narrow slots, but sometimes I have use a pliers or vise. I'm also on the high plains, so humidity is lower than the Eastern US.

I also winced at the price, but I'm glad I got it. I made up for it a little bit by selling my old used biscuit jointer and using it on a couple of small commission projects. It was much faster for this than the dowel jig. The carcass and face frame assemblies were all dominos too. I could have done biscuits for the face frame alignment/attachment of course.

I tend to use a wider mortise on one side, as Bill suggested - the side with more material. But even so it is quite rare that I would be able to get a tenon out of a tight-fitting slot. Generally speaking I have to hammer them in since they swell significantly in that dimension. I'll have to assume the humidity is to blame - ours here is generally very high. Good for breathing and saving money on lip balm, but bad for packaged loose tenons.

[FS7]

But back to the work, it's looking really nice. I'm a big fan of functional storage wherever possible. 

I will be curious to see if the "handrail" portion flexes or moves at all. Newel posts tend to be quite thick and straight and the balls on top (or rails) do often see some stress from pulling and turning, especially from kids. I would guess the "L" attachment to the wall and the floor combined with the overall depth will make it stable. On top of that it won't have the shape of something kids can grab onto and spin around. Or it may never see the destructive power of children.

[lincmercguy]

But back to the work, it's looking really nice. I'm a big fan of functional storage wherever possible. 

I will be curious to see if the "handrail" portion flexes or moves at all. Newel posts tend to be quite thick and straight and the balls on top (or rails) do often see some stress from pulling and turning, especially from kids. I would guess the "L" attachment to the wall and the floor combined with the overall depth will make it stable. On top of that it won't have the shape of something kids can grab onto and spin around. Or it may never see the destructive power of children.

Thanks!

It seems stable so far.  I still need to run some screws into the wall, so that and the top should help as well.

The old newel post was extremely unstable.  It was held in with four smooth-shank toenailed nails and an angle bracket someone added later.  It was stable pulling towards the stairs, but not away.  The one in the background is very stable, but I will be redoing that railing at some point just for the aesthetics.

[lincmercguy]

When using multiple Dominoes you often only need one for accurate alignment. The rest can go into slightly wider mortises. It makes dry fitting a lot easier.  I think I read this in one of the Festool manuals.

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I read this as well.  Since the front and back have both horizontally and vertically slots I made all of the carcass side dominos on the middle width setting.  It also gives a place for any excess glue to go.