Domino Patent expiry

[smorgasbord]

A while back Triton who has decades of tool and machine R&D manufacturing experience, tried to create their own version of the Mafell Duo Doweller that was a dismal flop and couldn't even drill holes in a straight line or the specified distance.

I watched Peter Millard's review of that tool a while back - the engineer/product manager in me kept saying, "I could have the team fix that pretty quickly, with increasing the price of the resultant tool only slightly." There are a ton of affordable biscuit joiners with decent bases and plates already. As long as the two drilling axes are parallel to each other and perpendicular to the face of the fence, it should be a no-brainer.
The oscillating aspect of the domino does complicate matters, but I would think that a $600 version should be possible with decent quality, at least for non-constant-use-professionals.

 

[luvmytoolz]

Just my opinion, for what it's worth (about .02 USD). Some of us want precision, consistency, and ease of use, and are willing to pay for it. Others prefer to put time and effort rather than money into woodworking. It's all good.

This is so true, and it really baffles me whenever I see the really rabid (insert quality brand) tool haters moan and whinge about what a stupid waste of money these tools are, and how the labour and time intensive way they do it is far superior, as though using good quality and efficient tools to achieve the best results in the shortest time with the least effort is somehow elitism or fanboy'ism.

If you want to use a bit and brace to drill all your holes that's fine, ragging on someone else using a good drill is just ignorant.