I have a Domino and do not have a bench top mortiser or mortising attachment for a drill press or biscuit joiner. I use my Shopsmith as a drill press, and used to make mortises using it and an upcut spiral bit. I also have a "Dowel-It" jig which I purchased many years ago, and have used a lot, mostly for face frame construction before upgrading to Domino. It enables precise placement of one or two parallel dowel holes that are exactly centered relative to the thickness of the stock. For off center holes, a shim is used.
I am a hobbyist. Although I don't have to factor in time in terms of what a customer would be willing to pay for, my time for woodworking and other interests outside of my regular work is limited, as is that of everyone. My general view is that I will consider jigs and other tools according to my own cost-benefit analysis. Dowel-max is not of much interest to me. I'll stick with Domino and my Dowel-It. IF I need or want some other relative precise positioning of a group of dowel hole, I would probably make up a jig from a block of hard wood.
Yesterdayt I saw the new "hand-rail" jig attachment for Domino at Hartville Tool's Fall sale which always includes demos by many factory reps, including one from Festool. He said that more items to complement Domino would be coming out, including an XL or LX version (I forget which is the correct terminology that he used), and that dominos for use with other materials, i.e. solid surface would soon be available.
Dave R.
