Domino design flaw???

[MCASE]

Let me make this very clear - My domino joiner had the same slippage in the height  adjustment  described by many on this site and it had it  RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX.  The slippage was not due to over tightening or any other user abuse.  With the lever fully engaged JUST AS IT CAME FROM THE FACTORY  it quietly slipped while in use.  Unfortunatley for me the  FIRST use was commercial project .  It was employed to join a  complete set of full height screen frames in meranti and this Festool flaw cost me dearly.  Now meranti is a very hard wood, it is also fairly expensive, but Festool never published any disclaimers about using their domino joiner to join hardwood.  I cured the slippage by adjusting the factory  tightness settings on the lever.  This took two tries and in the end I had to set it so tight to keep it from slipping that that I feared for the lever itself, but not before lots of  meranti was wasted.    So lets get this straight -  ITS NOT THE FAULT OF THE USER that  the Festool locking device as adjusted at the factory allows the height adjustment to slip ITS FESTOOLS FAULT.    Also The plastic centering guide is  misaligned on my Domino  joiner.  So does this make Festool garbage?  No! Festool is a good tool, But it falls far short of the hyperbolic praise one hears so often on this site.  I have had similar  problems with other reputable brands such as Dewalt  (though  never with the Bosch tools I now typically buy).    Festool is a high-end tool maker that tends to have impressively progressive designs.    However, their products have a considerable amount of flaws, possible due to the progressive and revolutionary designs they employ.  I  admit the are a good  company,  but they not anywhere near perfect.    So lets stop blaming the users for Festool's  design flaws.       

 

[talltree]

Hi MCASE,

I agree. 1) A tool that leaves the factory should be inspected for accuracy, 2) it should have a stable and foolproof design, and 3) It should not be "finicky", requiring workarounds on our part. My point of view is the same as yours - my source of income is on the line. The tool has to work for me out of the box, and it has to work for anyone else I delegate a job to. The Domiono is a wonderful new idea for a tool, but in the back of my mind I still don't trust it. Sooner or later, their competition will design a less expensive model along the same lines which resolves these issues. I think Festool ought to beat them to the punch.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

I'm new to Festool and my new Domino. My slippage was corrected by tightening the snot out of the lever. This method was confirmed by Festool tech. today. He knew nothing about roughing up the clamping surface. Maybe the stop should have been designed to limit the travel in the fence loading direction?