Domino owners...any regrets??

[Rich Torino]

I recently had a chance to use one on a small project and was very impressed. It's fast, accurate and effective... and yes $$.
Before I pull the trigger and get one I was wondering if the folks that have them have any regrets???

thanks
Rich

[Bruce Pennell]

My only regret was I didn't buy it earlier. Could have sped up 4 other projects. I've built cabinets, shelving, face frames, work bench, and other projects with my Domino now and love it more every time I use it. Good Luck Bru

[Jesse Cloud]

First, to answer your question, no regrets. I'm into woodworking for the fun of it, and the Domi is great fun to use.

Having said that, I read complaints on www.festoolownersgroup.com from people who seem to have unrealistic expectations. Even with the domino, you still have to plan the joinery, pick the correct size and number of tenons, and carefully place them where they belong.

Particularly troublesome is the locator pin technique. Using this technique, you cut a mortise and then place the protruding pin in the very end of the mortise to locate the next mortise. If you use the same technique on the mating piece, the holes should match up. Where the problem comes is that any small errors are cumulative, so if you make 12 mortises and all of them after the first one is 1/2 mm off, you wind up with a 5.5mm (about 1/4 inch) displacement. I don't use this technique for more than 2 or 3 mortises. I usually just draw a line across the two mating pieces and shoot onto the line, comes out perfect.

If you are going to buy, do so soon, prices go up on April 1.

[Greg Cole]

If you are going to buy, do so soon, prices go up on April 1.

Geeze.... like I need one more reason to go on the list of why to buy one .

Greg

[Bill Wyko]

I like the facts. Every time I use it I save Time, Money, effort and I get a better quality finished product. There's just no other tool you can even set up in the time I can be on to multiple M&T joints. Money very well spent. You could easily save 1/2 the money in time on one project.

[George Oak]

No regrets whatsoever (or actually, to echo an earlier post, my only regret is not buying one sooner). The speed, accuracy and convenience of this unit is astounding. It has saved me countless of hours already, and helped me produce the kinds of quality joints I have not been able to previously accomplish.

One example: I just finished building a version of Norm's Miter Bench with Storage. His design calls for a 2X4 frame for the bench top, connected with lap joints. He makes his cuts with a dado on aradial arm saw (which I do not have), and essentially grinds several 2X4's worth of lumber into sawdust to accomplish the cutouts. My solution: butt joints with tenons and glue.

No grinding lumber into sawdust, no dicey fitting process, just easy-breezy tenon joinery. It was a piece of cake with the Domino. Without it, I would not have even attempted making the frame this way.

[jason lambert]

I love it , nothing like it but the troublesome locator pin thing does bother me I thk festool should recall them and remachine them I think the plastic flexes or something. But it is not a big deal I now just use draw lines and use it like my old bisket joiner but it is much stronger.

[David Arbogast]

Geeze.... like I need one more reason to go on the list of why to buy one .

Greg

I wonder how long it will take other mfgrs to produce their own versions of handheld mortising machines. The [Porter-Cable, DeWalt, Makita, etc.] version would probably work fine, or even great, and cost a lot less than Festool's Domino. Anyone have any theories or inside info regarding other mfgrs jumping into the handheld mortising machine market?

[J. Z. Guest]

I wonder how long it will take other mfgrs to produce their own versions of handheld mortising machines. The [Porter-Cable, DeWalt, Makita, etc.] version would probably work fine, or even great, and cost a lot less than Festool's Domino. Anyone have any theories or inside info regarding other mfgrs jumping into the handheld mortising machine market?

Well, my theory is that the bigger companies you mention make more money off of contractors who dont' require this kind of machine. Woodworkers, compared to contractors and cabinet builders, are a small market, which may partly explain why Festool charges so much. Lower volume requires higher profit per unit for it to make good business sense.

If anyone will bother to make it, it will probably be a company that makes woodworking machines, such as Delta or Jet.

[J. Z. Guest]

Rich - If price is an issue, you might consider Dowelmax. You also won't have to "settle" for the weaker joints created by Domino. (Just teasing, no flaming please!)

[Brook Duerr]

Love it and have no regrets. I still use my Leigh FMT jig, but nowhere near as much. I can slam out a cabinet door (mission style) in under 5 minutes and have joints that will not come apart for any reason.

[Matt Meiser]

Hard to say, but it took Dewalt and Makita quite a while to copy Festool's saw and rail. It wouldn't surprise me at all if that had to do more with patents than a desire to make the tool.

BTW Jeremy, Delta, Porter-Cable, and Dewalt are all the same company--Black and Decker.

[Joe Jensen]

I won my Domino machine in a drawing so I didn't have to pay for it. I've used it on one big project so far, 13 book cases for my church. With the design I selected, I had to either use biscuits or the domino. My design had 1/4" offsets between the sides, shelves, and kickboard. Between the two, I am glad I used the domino as it made alignment during glue up easy. But, I find glueing the tenons as more time consuming than doing biscuits (they are smaller, so I was more precise in getting glue on both surfaces). Also, doing a glue up with 56 tenons was really time consuming and tough with one person. I used a slower setting PVA glue, but I still had joints set partially before I could get clamps on them. In hindsight, I should have used dados for this project. I would have ended up with a less elegant design, but it would have taken 1/4 of the time between cutting the tenons and glueing up.

The machine is incredibly well made and precise. I think as a replacement for where tenons would typically be used, it's awesome. Next time I do a batch of book cases, I'll be dadoing...joe

[Rich Torino]

Thanks for all the feedback....Sounds like the answer is .... Buy it!!.
Now I have no excuse....

[William Nimmo]

I love it , nothing like it but the troublesome locator pin thing does bother me I thk festool should recall them and remachine them I think the plastic flexes or something. But it is not a big deal I now just use draw lines and use it like my old bisket joiner but it is much stronger.

I love the locater pins . One of the best features of this machine. Like Marissa Tomei said
"Dead on Balls accurate"