NiteWalkerGR
Member
- Joined
- May 7, 2014
- Messages
- 192
I bought my Domino 500 at the end of may, and have used it on a bunch of projects since then, paid and personal.
There's some things I think could use improvement/changes, so I figured I'd post my list to see if any of them ever come to the (eventual) next gen domino 500.
- The Body.
Maybe make the handle shaped like the 700, but to be honest, I don't have any comfort issues with the 500.
Maybe a rubber overmold like on the carvex jigsaws?
- The Motor.
A little more oomph wouldn't hurt; maybe 500-600 watts.
Another thing, make the clearance between bottom of the swinging portion and the inside of the fence a bit greater. The body on mine runs on the fence causing some heat and of course scoring. It's not from sawdust; I use my domino with a vac and give it time to clear the chips.
- Cutting Length.
Increase to 40mm (just over 1 1/2").
That would greatly improve versatility of the machine.
Maybe have it so the deeper cutting length only occurs with the 6, 8 and 10mm bits.
Festool could accomplish this right now with new, longer bits in those sizes. It would work like the 4mm bit and how you use it with the 20mm depth and get a 10mm mortise, just in reverse. [wink]
- The Fence.
Pretty much just adapt the 700 fence with the 6 pins to the next gen domino 500.
No complaints with the current fence though. Mine hasn't slipped and the paddles on mine were dead on out of the box.
Keep the bottom hole spacing so I can use my domiplate on it. [wink]
One more thing; maybe make the non-slip pads on the front a bit bigger.
- Adjustments.
Depth stops like the 700 has would be really convenient. I use a lot of 5x30mm dominoes and cut one piece at 12 and the other at 20. I have to do this because the side that gets cut at the 12mm setting gets a heavy roundover, so I have to leave enough material so the domino doesn't blow through. I'm not crazy about how the depth is set on the 500. The green part you move to adjust the depth sometimes snaps out of my grip. Here again, the way the 700 does it shines.
An odd complaint, but why isn't the spindle lock button green?
Lose the widest mortise setting. I know the 700 did, and I'm pretty sure it's because the widest setting is rarely used.
About the only thing the widest setting is useful for is cutting wider mortises for shop made loose tenons. But even then, you can accomplish the same thing by using the plastic indicator.
Paul-Marcel's excellent blog entry on doing so.
- Systainer.
A few minor gripes with the systainer.
There's no place for the wrench, so I store it big side down in the little compartment at the front left or right of the systainer. It fits perfectly.
There's no place for the 4mm cutter in the tray. Since I got the domino assortment too, I keep all the bits in the case, but if I ended up buying them all separately, the 4mm would be stuck in it's stock case, though that's not a bad thing.
A place to put the manual would be nice too. I got tired of moving the manual (and Rick's excellent supplemental manual, of course) every time I went to use the domino, so I placed them under the tray now.
Keep it in a Sys2! My stack witth the DF500 and domino assortment is nice and compact, and doesn't take a lot of space for storage.
- Price:
I'm one of the few who approached festool with an open mind, but still careful skepticism.
There's no way I'd ever pay $1300 for a miter saw.
The domino, however, is worth every penny. In the month I've been using it, in time saved, it's pretty close to paying for itself.
A next gen domino with the features/changes above, I'd pay $1000 for just the basic kit.
There may be more, but that's off the top of my head.
BONUS:
- Domino Assortment.
Make the bags the dominoes come in ziploc bags. I keep mine in the bags, in the plastic bins.
The assortment right before the plastic divider version (the one that came in a t-loc but had the baltic birch dividers) had 1255 dominoes. Now it comes with 1060. The festool video even still shows 1255 but in the plastic bin version.
Old description (and the one still shown on a few vendors):
4 x 20mm (450), 5 x 30mm (300); 6 x 40mm (190); 8 x 40mm (130); 8 x 50mm (100); 10 x 50mm (85)
Current description:
4 x 20mm (450), 5 x 30mm (225); 6 x 40mm (150); 8 x 40mm (100); 8 x 50mm (75); 10 x 50mm (60)
Why you take my dominoz festoooool? [crying]
The retailer I got my assortment from still has the 1255 version listed, but you get the 1060 version when you order. I didn't make a fuss about it.
Oh, and why not make the cutter assortment available at a bit of a savings separately? If one or two of my cutters get dull or broken and need to be replaced, I'd buy them individually; but three or more, and that's a substantial chunk of change towards an assortment.
Other random thought:
Ditch the 18 gauge power cords and ship everything with the 16 gauge.
I bought a 16 gauge cord since I'll soon have a dust extractor (CT 36 most likely) with boom arm and will strap the power cord to the vac hose like I see a lot of the guys do.
There's some things I think could use improvement/changes, so I figured I'd post my list to see if any of them ever come to the (eventual) next gen domino 500.
- The Body.
Maybe make the handle shaped like the 700, but to be honest, I don't have any comfort issues with the 500.
Maybe a rubber overmold like on the carvex jigsaws?
- The Motor.
A little more oomph wouldn't hurt; maybe 500-600 watts.
Another thing, make the clearance between bottom of the swinging portion and the inside of the fence a bit greater. The body on mine runs on the fence causing some heat and of course scoring. It's not from sawdust; I use my domino with a vac and give it time to clear the chips.
- Cutting Length.
Increase to 40mm (just over 1 1/2").
That would greatly improve versatility of the machine.
Maybe have it so the deeper cutting length only occurs with the 6, 8 and 10mm bits.
Festool could accomplish this right now with new, longer bits in those sizes. It would work like the 4mm bit and how you use it with the 20mm depth and get a 10mm mortise, just in reverse. [wink]
- The Fence.
Pretty much just adapt the 700 fence with the 6 pins to the next gen domino 500.
No complaints with the current fence though. Mine hasn't slipped and the paddles on mine were dead on out of the box.
Keep the bottom hole spacing so I can use my domiplate on it. [wink]
One more thing; maybe make the non-slip pads on the front a bit bigger.
- Adjustments.
Depth stops like the 700 has would be really convenient. I use a lot of 5x30mm dominoes and cut one piece at 12 and the other at 20. I have to do this because the side that gets cut at the 12mm setting gets a heavy roundover, so I have to leave enough material so the domino doesn't blow through. I'm not crazy about how the depth is set on the 500. The green part you move to adjust the depth sometimes snaps out of my grip. Here again, the way the 700 does it shines.
An odd complaint, but why isn't the spindle lock button green?
Lose the widest mortise setting. I know the 700 did, and I'm pretty sure it's because the widest setting is rarely used.
About the only thing the widest setting is useful for is cutting wider mortises for shop made loose tenons. But even then, you can accomplish the same thing by using the plastic indicator.
Paul-Marcel's excellent blog entry on doing so.
- Systainer.
A few minor gripes with the systainer.
There's no place for the wrench, so I store it big side down in the little compartment at the front left or right of the systainer. It fits perfectly.
There's no place for the 4mm cutter in the tray. Since I got the domino assortment too, I keep all the bits in the case, but if I ended up buying them all separately, the 4mm would be stuck in it's stock case, though that's not a bad thing.
A place to put the manual would be nice too. I got tired of moving the manual (and Rick's excellent supplemental manual, of course) every time I went to use the domino, so I placed them under the tray now.
Keep it in a Sys2! My stack witth the DF500 and domino assortment is nice and compact, and doesn't take a lot of space for storage.
- Price:
I'm one of the few who approached festool with an open mind, but still careful skepticism.
There's no way I'd ever pay $1300 for a miter saw.
The domino, however, is worth every penny. In the month I've been using it, in time saved, it's pretty close to paying for itself.
A next gen domino with the features/changes above, I'd pay $1000 for just the basic kit.
There may be more, but that's off the top of my head.
BONUS:
- Domino Assortment.
Make the bags the dominoes come in ziploc bags. I keep mine in the bags, in the plastic bins.
The assortment right before the plastic divider version (the one that came in a t-loc but had the baltic birch dividers) had 1255 dominoes. Now it comes with 1060. The festool video even still shows 1255 but in the plastic bin version.
Old description (and the one still shown on a few vendors):
4 x 20mm (450), 5 x 30mm (300); 6 x 40mm (190); 8 x 40mm (130); 8 x 50mm (100); 10 x 50mm (85)
Current description:
4 x 20mm (450), 5 x 30mm (225); 6 x 40mm (150); 8 x 40mm (100); 8 x 50mm (75); 10 x 50mm (60)
Why you take my dominoz festoooool? [crying]
The retailer I got my assortment from still has the 1255 version listed, but you get the 1060 version when you order. I didn't make a fuss about it.
Oh, and why not make the cutter assortment available at a bit of a savings separately? If one or two of my cutters get dull or broken and need to be replaced, I'd buy them individually; but three or more, and that's a substantial chunk of change towards an assortment.
Other random thought:
Ditch the 18 gauge power cords and ship everything with the 16 gauge.
I bought a 16 gauge cord since I'll soon have a dust extractor (CT 36 most likely) with boom arm and will strap the power cord to the vac hose like I see a lot of the guys do.
