Advice for next tool purchase : DF 500 or TSO GRS-16 PE v2 and parallel guide

[onocoffee]

I was just talking about this last Friday, with my helper/apprentice. If they had put that 100 logo on the actual machine, rather than just the Systainer, I would sell mine to him and get the new one. Since it is just the box......I'm out.
If/when they ever release that Systainer alone, I will definitely pick one up. There was a time when I avoided the special edition blue ones, because they didn't match the rest. I've gotten past that with the addition of some others that don't either, Woodpeckers, TSO, Shaper. Since then, I do have a few Festool blue ones, but I would still want the tool be different.
My first Domino was a 90th anniversary, and all that was distinctive about them was a sticker on the T-loc latch. I get it, it was only 90, but 100? It needs something. It's only March, maybe there are other things to come?
The 90th logo didn't get applied to every tool back then, so who knows....

I agree. I'm quite disappointed with the lack of the 100th logo on the tool. And so far, I'm a bit underwhelmed with the 100th stuff in general. At their influencer event, they showed off a bunch of legacy tools and have released some short videos. Wish they would do some longer videos showing those old tools in action and talk about their history and their place in the Festool pantheon.

100 is a significant milestone and seems like they're not hyping it enough.

 

[Crispy]

I don't know what pricing is like where you are but I would go with the Domino because it gives you greater/wider capacity. square cuts on sheet goods can be made very accurate with careful measuring, placement and lockdown of the tracks. The Domino expands on your capabilities. You can always get the TSO stuff piece by piece as you move forward.

Last time I checked, the full tso kit, parallel bar 30 and 50 in is 460$USD i believe, + square is around....( went to add them to a cart)

GOOD LORD, haha, never put them all in the sanme cart. its 732 USD + 120 usd for shipping! HAHAHAH
its 1107 cad + tx and/or custom
thats directly on their website.
[attachimg=2]

darn it!  [eek]

edit: I've converted usd to cad using 1.3, which was the case for the couples of last years.
Checked to make sure. Its now 1.44.

so 852 usd is 1226.88 CAD

I keep looking at the TSO rail stuff also - cept for freight to Aus keeps killing the dream....

I have a DF500 - that was almost my first shop purchase - also each year over here they seem to go up $50 on July 1st ( start of our new financial year).

I would like the TSO rail kit too, currently I have most of the UJK stuff and the festool version of the track square - which i am reasonably happy with..

Like someone else said you could drop the 30/50 kit down to just the 30" kit ( unless you need the length) that drops $150 from the overall price from your first list, whic would cover freight

 

[MikkelF]

Personally, I’d go with the Domino first—there are just so many use cases for it, and I end up using it on almost all my projects.

As for TSO (I own almost all their products), this setup covers 99% of my needs when breaking down plywood:

• 1x Rail Square – Great for quick precise cuts.
• 2x 50” T-Tracks – If you can buy just one, I’d go that route and skip the adapter below.
• 1x TPG Adapter – Only needed if you’re using two tracks.

 

[Cheese]

oh yeah definately, but tso are the only one, I believe, selling the systainer. So I added it in the cart to not pay 100$ to get it shipped in at a later date, but it would cost 100$ to ship the 20in parallel guide anyway.

I'd forget purchasing the TSO Systainer, just one more expense and one more box to lug around or dig through. The TSO squares fit nicely and are protected in the TSC 55 or HKC 55 Systainers.

[attachimg=1]

[attachimg=2]

 

[sebr023]

I don't know what pricing is like where you are but I would go with the Domino because it gives you greater/wider capacity. square cuts on sheet goods can be made very accurate with careful measuring, placement and lockdown of the tracks. The Domino expands on your capabilities. You can always get the TSO stuff piece by piece as you move forward.

Last time I checked, the full tso kit, parallel bar 30 and 50 in is 460$USD i believe, + square is around....( went to add them to a cart)

GOOD LORD, haha, never put them all in the sanme cart. its 732 USD + 120 usd for shipping! HAHAHAH
its 1107 cad + tx and/or custom
thats directly on their website.
[attachimg=2]

darn it!  [eek]

edit: I've converted usd to cad using 1.3, which was the case for the couples of last years.
Checked to make sure. Its now 1.44.

so 852 usd is 1226.88 CAD

I keep looking at the TSO rail stuff also - cept for freight to Aus keeps killing the dream....

I have a DF500 - that was almost my first shop purchase - also each year over here they seem to go up $50 on July 1st ( start of our new financial year).

I would like the TSO rail kit too, currently I have most of the UJK stuff and the festool version of the track square - which i am reasonably happy with..

Like someone else said you could drop the 30/50 kit down to just the 30" kit ( unless you need the length) that drops $150 from the overall price from your first list, whic would cover freight

freight is killing us too, and exhange rate, dont know if your dollard plumetted too, but canadian dollars ir at an all time low compared to usd. thats 175$ cad just to ship.

 

[sebr023]

oh yeah definately, but tso are the only one, I believe, selling the systainer. So I added it in the cart to not pay 100$ to get it shipped in at a later date, but it would cost 100$ to ship the 20in parallel guide anyway.

I'd forget purchasing the TSO Systainer, just one more expense and one more box to lug around or dig through. The TSO squares fit nicely and are protected in the TSC 55 or HKC 55 Systainers.

[attachimg=1]

[attachimg=2]

thats really nice, I just read it on youtubve checking video for the square! such a nice ''feature''
I'd have to admit I love the systainer, but probably not a ''need'' for now.

 

[ChuckM]

snip.

I have a DF500 - that was almost my first shop purchase - also each year over here they seem to go up $50 on July 1st ( start of our new financial year).snip.

In 2013, I paid about $900 Cdn (GST included) for the DF500 set (not including the cross stop and trim stop).

Previously, I sold my TS75 and CT26 with a small "profit", thanks to the annual price increases Festool imposes on its product (with the exception of the pandemic year(s), I think).

I have two PRO 5 sanders, and one day, I will sell one of them and I don't expect to see a "loss" from the sale.

 

[Michael Kellough]

snip.

I have a DF500 - that was almost my first shop purchase - also each year over here they seem to go up $50 on July 1st ( start of our new financial year).snip.

In 2013, I paid about $900 Cdn (GST included) for the DF500 set (not including the cross stop and trim stop).

Previously, I sold my TS75 and CT26 with a small "profit", thanks to the annual price increases Festool imposes on its product (with the exception of the pandemic year(s), I think).

I have two PRO 5 sanders, and one day, I will sell one of them and I don't expect to see a "loss" from the sale.

No doubt! Especially if you (in Canada) paid a similarly low price ($100 US) as we did in the States.

 

[sebr023]

Personally, I’d go with the Domino first—there are just so many use cases for it, and I end up using it on almost all my projects.

As for TSO (I own almost all their products), this setup covers 99% of my needs when breaking down plywood:

• 1x Rail Square – Great for quick precise cuts.
• 2x 50” T-Tracks – If you can buy just one, I’d go that route and skip the adapter below.
• 1x TPG Adapter – Only needed if you’re using two tracks.

thats a good advie for the tso product, the only thing I thought is havin 50in when you dont need it hanging, but maybe thats not a big deal

 

[bpbolde]

I picked up the DF500 a few years ago for a shelving project and aligning some glue-ups.  Now that I have it, I'm amazed at how often I use it. Highly recommend buying it. 

 

[Coen]

I don't know what pricing is like where you are but I would go with the Domino because it gives you greater/wider capacity. square cuts on sheet goods can be made very accurate with careful measuring, placement and lockdown of the tracks. The Domino expands on your capabilities. You can always get the TSO stuff piece by piece as you move forward.

Last time I checked, the full tso kit, parallel bar 30 and 50 in is 460$USD i believe, + square is around....( went to add them to a cart)

GOOD LORD, haha, never put them all in the sanme cart. its 732 USD + 120 usd for shipping! HAHAHAH
its 1107 cad + tx and/or custom
thats directly on their website.
[attachimg=2]

darn it!  [eek]

edit: I've converted usd to cad using 1.3, which was the case for the couples of last years.
Checked to make sure. Its now 1.44.

so 852 usd is 1226.88 CAD

I keep looking at the TSO rail stuff also - cept for freight to Aus keeps killing the dream....

I have a DF500 - that was almost my first shop purchase - also each year over here they seem to go up $50 on July 1st ( start of our new financial year).

I would like the TSO rail kit too, currently I have most of the UJK stuff and the festool version of the track square - which i am reasonably happy with..

Like someone else said you could drop the 30/50 kit down to just the 30" kit ( unless you need the length) that drops $150 from the overall price from your first list, whic would cover freight

freight is killing us too, and exhange rate, dont know if your dollard plumetted too, but canadian dollars ir at an all time low compared to usd. thats 175$ cad just to ship.

Shipping from the US has always been insanely priced as far as I remember? Getting something worth $20 shipped from China... let's say $25 total. Getting something worth $20 shipped from the US... add $55.  [unsure]

In fact, I just took a look now. One TSO Drop-on adapter for the parallel guide system... $54 (=€60 after tax). Shipping to NL; $57.
We have one reseller in my country. They charge €79, up from €65 2.5 years ago, for that adapter. I now regret not getting a 2nd.

 

[sebr023]

Hey all!

So I pulled the trigger on the DF500 100th anniversary edition!  ;D
will ship next week as it was a prec order on missisauga tool. The kit was sold out at lee valley.

 

[SoonerFan]

[member=78111]sebr023[/member] enjoy the DF500. It’s a great tool which you will enjoy.

 

[sebr023]

Thank you!

i was also hesitant about the of1400, which i think would have been also nice, but figured ig snag the 100th edition before it was too late.

I will have to build 6 speaker in a mnth or two. Itll be a great first project!

 

[ReneS]

Congratulations on the purchase. I love my Domino 500. I use it for every cabinet build I do. I make my cabinets, doors, and drawer fronts with frames and panels. The Domino makes that very fast.

I have a TSO rail square, which was a step up, but I would recommend saving that money (in the future?) and putting it towards the MFT/3. Now that I have the table, I never touch the rail square. The table is much faster, and I can easily make repeateable cuts with it, which makes builds much faster and more accurate.

Here are a couple of pictures, if I can actually add them.  :-D

 

[sebr023]

[member=81880]ReneS[/member] wow! Those are super nice! Love the first one very much! Is this birch plywood?

About the mft table. A couple years back I build a bench, that I never really finished, that had dogs in it:
(Can’t add picture for some reason)

And recently (this week) I got to 3d print some dogs for it. I don’t recall where I took the info on the pattern,  it the holes seems to be 19.4 or 6 mm. And spacing is 101mm ish between holes. Anyway. I wanted to add a 8020 aluminium extrusion to the bench for this purpose (repeated cut)

Also, recently got 2 quick festool clamp and tso self aligning rail joining bar for longer rip cut.

Also also, just got the df 500 100y limited edition, but can’t post picture for some reason.
Pretty excited! 

 

[ReneS]

[member=81880]ReneS[/member] wow! Those are super nice! Love the first one very much! Is this birch plywood?

About the mft table. A couple years back I build a bench, that I never really finished, that had dogs in it:
(Can’t add picture for some reason)

And recently (this week) I got to 3d print some dogs for it. I don’t recall where I took the info on the pattern,  it the holes seems to be 19.4 or 6 mm. And spacing is 101mm ish between holes. Anyway. I wanted to add a 8020 aluminium extrusion to the bench for this purpose (repeated cut)

Also, recently got 2 quick festool clamp and tso self aligning rail joining bar for longer rip cut.

Also also, just got the df 500 100y limited edition, but can’t post picture for some reason.
Pretty excited!

Hey, thanks. I am still learning but have gotten to the point where I can do some decent work with basic designs.

The first one is pine and 1/4 inch maple plywood for the panels. The cabinets are light enough for one person to carry them fairly easily. The other is maple  and 1/4 inch maple ply for the panels. That one weighs a fair bit, but is still lighter than if it were built of plywood.

As far as the table, having the fence and guide rail square to each other is a game changer. And then having the stop on the fence adds even more benefits. It was pricey, but I am very happy with the MFT. It saves me a ton of time and adds accuracy.

If you have a very flat table and can add a fence, stop, and guide rail hinge that will enable you to make repeatable square cuts, I think you will find it is very helpful. Like I said, I have the TSO guide rail square, which was an improvement for me when I got it, but with the table, I don't use it any more.

Edit: I should say that the MFT works best for smaller pieces. So I break down large sheets of plywood on saw horses using a track saw and guide rail, cutting them into manageable sizes. 

 

[ReneS]

Here is one more example of a fairly simple cabinet that is nice to have and that the Domino and MFT made very easy to build.

 

[luvmytoolz]

[member=81880]ReneS[/member] I like it! Very nice design!

 

[ChuckM]

Here's a user tip since you'll be using this game-changing tool quite a lot once you get good with it.

Sand down some dominoes of each size for a snug fit and put them aside for dry fitting purposes. I use 8×50 a lot (for 3/4" solid wood) and have 20 of them sanded down.