Domino 700 vs mortise and tenon

[Tazio]

Hello there I have a traditional joinery so have not delved into the domino or mafell DDF territory..however I am now considering a move towards construction using dominos .
How many of you on here use the 700 for joinery work doors windows ect ?
I am currently considering the mafell duo dowler for cabinet / panal work . We currently use biscuits !.
And the domino 500/700 for general joinery .
I suppose the main reason being to speed up and training is easier for apprentices as it looks as though traditional jointing methods are slowly being eroded by these portable machines .

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I have for years. It is a definite improvement in speed. I still do stub-tenons on cabinet doors, just to speed up the machining step, but I reinforce them with a 6mm Domino too.
I have also built much heavier duty things using multiple larger Dominos, because they simplify/speed up construction.
I use Dominos for panel joining too, often along with a Zeta P2 connector.

 

[Birdhunter]

I am fortunate to have the 500, 700, and Mafell. Each has a sweet spot and the all overlap a little. The Mafell is beautifully built and extremely accurate. It’s damn hard to push into wood and going too fast burns up very expensive bits. My 500 gets 90 percent of the work. The 700 is perfect for bed frames, benches, and other big stuff. I never use biscuits anymore.

 

[Stone Message]

I sold my Lamello in order to buy my DF500. That revolutionised my woodworking but when the DF700 came into the workshop the revolution was complete.

I have done door, frames, benches and more with the DF700 and have never once considered doing any of the traditional M&T work. Here is a 2.2 m x 1.1 m dining table with matching benches which only have DF700 joints for the supporting legs and frame.

For the purists the pieces of the top of the table have dry biscuits to aid alignment during gluing but the strength comes entirely from the Cascamite glue.

Peter

 

[Tazio]

Thankyou for the reply’s …. Yes I am considering both the 500 and 700 domino for future purchase but in the short term I have a large cabinet job coming up both bedroom cupboards and a kitchen ..normally the biscuits would have been broken out but I have decided to bite the bullet and purchase my first jointer as mentioned the current project is cabinetry so would you advise the ddf 40 mafell of simple get the 500 and forget the dowler ?… I am both a festool and mafell user so aware of both quality’s !

 

[Tazio]

I sold my Lamello in order to buy my DF500. That revolutionised my woodworking but when the DF700 came into the workshop the revolution was complete.

I have done door, frames, benches and more with the DF700 and have never once considered doing any of the traditional M&T work. Here is a 2.2 m x 1.1 m dining table with matching benches which only have DF700 joints for the supporting legs and frame.

For the purists the pieces of the top of the table have dry biscuits to aid alignment during gluing but the strength comes entirely from the Cascamite glue.

Peter

Hello peter would you mind telling me why you sold your lamello ? as that was one mechine I was considering the knockdown fittings are very expensive though !… hence why I am considering the DDF40 as well as dowling I can use the much cheaper haffle knockdowns although I am aware I will need to slightly drill out the extra 5mm for the knockdown .
As the question above would you purchase the DDF or 500 for cabinets ?. Many thanks for you input …

 

[Stone Message]

Hello peter would you mind telling me why you sold your lamello ? as that was one mechine I was considering the knockdown fittings are very expensive though !… hence why I am considering the DDF40 as well as dowling I can use the much cheaper haffle knockdowns although I am aware I will need to slightly drill out the extra 5mm for the knockdown .
As the question above would you purchase the DDF or 500 for cabinets ?. Many thanks for you input …

I bought the Lamello long before I even knew about Festool and used it to create a new kitchen from scratch making all of the cabinets, extractor hood and so on using French oak, oak veneered MDF and melamine coated MDF. The finsied job was excellent.

However, at that time I was using a morticing machine to create that half of the M&T joints and doing the tenons by hand. I built a barn and used those joints for all of my hand made roof trusses and other parts of the framing. It was a nightmare as getting the long pieces of wood into the workshop and onto the morticing machine was very tricky.

I then decided that the DF500 would make M&T work so much easier and the DF700 would mean that I could take the machine to the job rather than taking the job to the machine. Anyone who buys a lot of Festool kit does have to dig deep into the pocket and so I decided to sell my Lamello. I have not regretted this for one minute and have made all sorts of cabinets with no compromises at all.

If the prospect of break-down joints is important to you then yes the Lamello options are very tempting but hugely expensive. If you are a professional cabinet maker producing cabinets to assemble on site then it may make sense. I am not sure that the DF500 connector system can compete with the various Lamello option but the DF700 connector system is fantastic for the larger jobs.

Peter

 

[Doug S]

I use my DF700 for building things like furniture and cupboard doors but for something like a house front door I still use a traditional through wedged mortise and tenon, it just feels like the proper way to do it.

I generally also use mortise and tenons for windows and sashes but will use the Domino if they are a complicated or strange shape.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I am fortunate to have the 500, 700, and Mafell. Each has a sweet spot and the all overlap a little. The Mafell is beautifully built and extremely accurate. It’s darn hard to push into wood and going too fast burns up very expensive bits. My 500 gets 90 percent of the work. The 700 is perfect for bed frames, benches, and other big stuff. I never use biscuits anymore.

I gave up on biscuits a long time ago, in favor of the DF500. The Lamello Zeta P2 came along a few years later, realistically for one specific job. It has come in very handy ever since.
I have been wanting a DF700 for quite a while, but is hasn't been the need that it takes to buy it yet.