Festool Domino Machine Instruction Manual - page 22

by one or two Domino placed along the 

thickness of the edge, it is good practice 

to stack Dominos using multiple sets in 

the same joint. 

This photo (supplied by Festool) shows 

one example.  The leg to base joint uses 

eight Dominos stacked in a 2 x 4 array 

while the leg to stretcher joint uses six 

Dominos stacked in a 2 x 3 array.  

The more Dominos you use the greater 

the glue surface area, the greater the 

Domino surface area, and the greater the 

strength.

Joints like this try to fail by the racking 

load applied.  As the table is pushed side 

to side the joint edge closest to the point 

of force is placed in tension while the side 

of the joint furthest from the point of force 

is placed in tension.  The shorter the dis-

tance between the edge of the leg (in this 

example) and the edge of the Domino, 

the less bending stress there is and the 

more pull out stress is applied to the 

Domino joints on the other side of the leg.  

With this many Dominos and this much 

glue surface it would take a lot more rack 

pressure to fracture this joint than would 

ever be applied to a table in normal use.  

The same technique also allows the 

construction of very strong doors.