I picked up the Domino Friday from my dealer to test out and i was not disappointed. I build furniture and cabinets for a living and have a four man shop. We have quite an array of Festool equipment and use them on a daily basis. We used the domino on four different projects in place of mortise and tenon, pocket holes and bisquits. The machine was a dream to set up and we used all four different bits. I have read complaints recently about the documation not being up to the quality and cost of the tool. I found just the opposite with the Domino. Everything was easy and clear to understand. We use bisquits in our shop on all table tops over 1 inch and the domino is a clear winner in that department. Where the bisquit will do alighnment quite well the domino does a better job. Its a firm joint with zero flex. Monday we will be putting our name down for two units. A great tool that I expect to be the tool of the year.
Another Domino try-out
- Thread starter ohkipp
- Start date
clintholeman
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- Jan 22, 2007
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- 301
Kip Kussman said:
I certainly agree with your assessment. I have found Domino to be really intuitive to use. Like you, I have used biscuits alot and Domino is the clear winner. Also, I use a lot of m & t joints - which is where Domino is going to save me a good amount of time, which means time savings which means more throughput through my shop - and that will hopefully translate into more $$ in my pocket!
clintholeman said:
I have not had the oportunity to actually try the domino on a piece of wood. i have, however, had the oportunity to pick it up, turn it over, play with the controls, etc. I have never been interrested in bisquet joinery as i thought the busquets looked sort of weak. To me, the dominos have a much stronger appearance. From watching John Lucas's demos on it, I can see some advantages over busquet joinery that translate into stronger joints with an ease equal to busquet joinery. For me, the ease and efficiency of bringing the tool to the wood instead of having to allow double the space for operation when the wood must be brought to the tool and alligned so the wood can be moved. sometimes this means rearanging other tools and benches, along with whatever happens to be taking up verticle space above those benches. I am not in a possition where the use of this tool will mean actual $$$ in my pocket. It will save a lot of time. I have often planned for certain projects where I just do not have the time to complete certain operations within one day, or even one weekend. This means the project will get delayed until i can allot a period of time that I can set up and accomplish certain operations at one "setting". Sometimes, the project never even gets started because I do not have the space to lay out all of the pieces in such a way that i can carry out the operation. I do a lot of pocket screw joinery when i would like to do M&T as a result. This tool (Domino) will allow me to do my layouts within my crowded work space and leave the pieces in one place (scattered wherever I can find small spaces) without having to clear large areas. I feel i will be able to tackle larger projects within shorter time frames as a result.
Tinker
I did have something to add to my assement of the Domino. I did notice a lot of heat from the tool after several minutes of use. I dont know if this is normal but I did notice it. Seems to be down near the rails. Again It didn't bother me but I did notice it and was not sure it was normal or not. I would be curious if anyone else noticed this or not.
richard.selwyn
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- Jan 23, 2007
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Kip Kussman said:
Mine gets pretty hot too, although I have a feeling that it was worse at first (just a feeling). Maybe like cars of old it needs "running in"
richard.selwyn said:
I seem to recall hearing that the small Festool sanders produce less than half their rated output as delivered and need to be run in for about 10 hours to develop their full potential.
I could barely move the knob that shifts the action on my Rotex (old style) when I first got it. It's since become smooth as silk.
Wouldn't surprise me if the Domino mechanism needed break in.
John Stevens
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- Jan 16, 2007
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Kip, thanks for sharing your impressions. The reports we get from the "professional tool testers" are very well done, but it's also good to hear from someone who doesn't have a business relationship with Festool (other than as a customer).
