Ode to Domino again....
Barry Irby
I have had a Festool Domino for a couple of years.
My friend bought a new trailer that has a high tailgate that turns into a ramp. Only needs the ramp occasionally and the rest of the time it's a PITA. I built him a tailgate the same height as the sides of the trailer, (14") and put a piece of 3/4" pipe top and bottom. The frame was a treated 2 x 6 ripped to two 2 x 3's and space apart with short 2 x 3 verticals. I looked at using mending plates to join them, but they were expensive and would have been "rough". The screws and mending plates and other parts would have been $50.
I cut four 10mm domino slots top and bottom of each of the five verticals. Two side by side and two above two. That's 80 mortises for 40 domino tenons. I did not have any rot resistant dominos on hand so I made them out of treated wood. Glued the whole thing together with epoxy. I just laid the parts out and drew lines side by side for the slots, used the sight on the domino and cut all the slots in two passes, one pass upper and the other pass lower. The part that impressed me was .....It Worked. It went together perfectly on the first try. Took about an hour and a half including changing the bit in the domino, ripping all the lumber, making the dominos, and assembling it. The cost was a couple of bucks worth of epoxy. I am impressed.