Mexican Train Domino Hub
Instruction
Mexican Train has become a very popular domino game. Making or selling customized train hubs let's you make the game unique to your game night!
Measure your domino width and measure your train's length. My domino is 25mm x 60mm. For the train start we'll the opening 27 to give it a little wiggle room and the center piece will be 27 x 64. For the train it will need about 25mm x 14mm for a little wiggle room.
To make the initial octagon make a square in XCS. If you hold down the shift key while creating it this will ensure that the length and width are the same. Set the size to 200x200mm.
Create another rectangle at 25x13 for the trains spot. Put this at the bottom of the larger square and center it. Put another rectangle of the same size on the other 3 sides and center them as well. Subtract the 4 little rectangles from the larger one.
Copy the square and use the rotate function to rotate the copy 45 degrees. Select both squares and align them vertically and horizontally and then Unite at Overlap. You now have an octagon. Make a copy of this so you have 2.
Create a rectangle that is 64x27mm, align it vertically and horizontally to the first copy, and subtract it. Set both of the octagons to Cut.
Add 4 rectangles that are 25x14mm and set them in place to be the engraved train spots. Select the 4, group them together, copy it and paste a new copy, and rotate it 45 degrees. Select these two groups with the original octagon and align them vertically and horizontally.
Optional: use a few rectangles to make a little train track at 14mm high. Rotate it 22.5 degrees and place it between the train spaces. Set it to engrave, copy it to the other 8 spots.
Add any other embellishments you want for your set. You can add the name of the game, add a family name, etc.
You have two options for cutting.
I created one that takes 2 sheets of wood and just two pieces. Alternatively, there is another that can be cut on a single sheet of wood with a hollow base (this is what I did).
Choose your style and line it up to your machine. I used the default settings for the MDF.
Engrave and Cut your board.
Assemble with some glue and paint fill if desired.