What tool would you give up for your Festool Domino XL?

[Dan Ness]

I have been seriously considering the Domino as my next tool purchase. It would add a whole new level of speed and accuracy to my joinery. Since I am only in the shop a few hours each week, this would likely allow me to complete a few more projects a year, not to mention proceed with more complex/bigger projects that I have been putting off.

But then again. . .$1200 is a whole lot of money, and if I don't get the Domino, I would most likely spend it on one of the following:

1. 17" Grizzly Bandsaw (my 14" is on its last legs)
2. CI Router table extension and new router (with money left over)
3. Drum Sander in the 24" range (used)

So to those who own the Domino (or faced with a similar decision), would you trade any of the three above tools for it? Not forever, but lets say until next years tax return, or yearly bonus, etc.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[Myk Rian]

None.
I would use the router table with a slot cutter and biscuits, M&T, or dowels.
Or, my garage sale PC joiner.

[Mike Henderson]

Why do you want to get the XL? The regular Domino does everything I want to do and it's a good bit less expensive. Unless you're building doors or some really big stuff I don't think you need the XL.

Mike

[Dan Ness]

I looked at the regular Domino, and it might be enough tool for me (I would just just multiple domino in larger joints), but at $900, I would still need to choose one or the other.

So if someone walked into your shop and demanded to borrow your Domino for a year. . .would you point to any of the other tools I mentioned and say take that one instead?

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Out of that list, the drum sander goes. Why? I prefer planes. :)

[johnny means]

I think the drum sander should go. IMO, it's one of those things that is somewhat over rated. Most the commercial shops I've worked in don't have a wide format sander. I've always found it intriguing how many hobbiest have them. They don't save too much time unless your dealing with commercial sized cutlists and they don't really add to your capabilities.

[Sam Murdoch]

Why do you want to get the XL? The regular Domino does everything I want to do and it's a good bit less expensive. Unless you're building doors or some really big stuff I don't think you need the XL.

Mike

I agree with Mike here, though I admit I have not used the XL. I certainly would give up on a drum sander in favor of the Domino. With the Domino I can build doors, panels, shelves or table tops with surfaces so well aligned that I don't need drum sanding!

[Rod Sheridan]

Well Dan, it's tough to answer your question because none of your alternate tool choices make mortises.

Do you presently make mortises? If so how?

I mostly make Arts and Crafts furniture, so lots of mortises, yet I don't own a Domino. I have a hollow chisel mortiser for mortises, and a shaper for tenons.

You do state that the Domino would allow you to complete more projects per year, and improve your speed and accuracy.

I think that's the relevant point, and probably can't be said for your alternate choices.

Would a hollow chisel mortiser be a suitable choice for you? They're less expensive..............Rod.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

I don't use my multi-router nearly as much now.

[Carl Beckett]

My situation (which might be different than yours - well, not 'might' - certainly is because everyone is different).

I make a lot of M&T. And use a variety of methods including:

Mortising bits on the Drill press - $30 on CL

Drill and then cleanup by hand - ($30? mortising chisel?) - this method I have abandoned

Wirth Machine - $550 on CL. My current favorite method of mortising. Just clamp it down and go.

WoodRat - $400? on CL. My current favorite way for making Tenons, especially compound angles (I put a digital readout on it and its a lot like a mill now)

Tenoning jig on table saw - my previous favorite way of cutting Tenons. I think this cost about $75 when I bought it.

Pocket screws - I use these more than I used to, for when I just want to put the thing together. There are a number of projects where I dont 'need' fancy joinery and this is a way to get it together more quickly. About $50 for the pocket hole guide.

Hand cut - I do this occasionally. But almost always I rough cut on the band saw and then clean up with shoulder/rabbet planes. Chopping mortises by hand isnt something I do much of - I dont get the clean edges I get with the power tools, but maybe I just need practice.


So obviously Im not against picking up another tool, and in fact had an option on the smaller Domino off CL not long ago for $500 (bad cable I was told). I thought it through and decided I just wouldnt use it.

I couldnt live without a bandsaw - so would have that high on my list (which doesnt mean an upgrade is essential). And my drum sander gets a lot of use - I put almost everything through it to final thickness and clean up any chipout/etc - its not just for large pieces.

$.02. YMMV and ATJ (All That Jazz)

[Mark Bolton]

I think the drum sander should go. IMO, it's one of those things that is somewhat over rated.

While Im not saying all hobby shops would benefit, I simply dont see how any shop moving a good bit of work could do without some form of wide sander. The increased production from even a small drum sander (that doesnt give more headache than its worth) is unquestionable. There is simply no way I can take material straight from the planer, give it a few quick licks with some 180 on the RO, and finish it. Thats what happens when it comes out of the sander. In my shop, with out a sander, we are left sanding every board off the planer, cabinet door, face frame, trim, anything, through multiple grits, all by hand. Its a phenomenal waste of time. The instant the sander hit the shop floor it was one of the biggest boosts to production of any tool we have. I would guess the quantity of RO paper we use dropped by 80%, and speed went up markedly.

And the time wasted isnt just in the sanding but shop cleanliness for us improved drastically. If all your sanding is RO your left either packing around hoses, fighting with inadequate dust collection at the tool, or investing in a downdraft table. My shop stays far cleaner with the sander doing the bulk work and just fine cleanup by hand. The wear and tear on your body of hand sanding is greatly reduced as well.

Its an invaluable tool for me but just my $0.02

I would take a wide sander, or any other in the list, over a 1200.00 hand tool any day. There are too many less expensive ways to do what the domino does. If its a production environment where it would earn you money, yeah, but based on the other tools in the list, the domino is the last thing Id be thinking about buying.

[Myk Rian]

So if someone walked into your shop and demanded to borrow your Domino for a year. . .would you point to any of the other tools I mentioned and say take that one instead?
Demanded? For a year? I'd say "take a hike".

[Alan Bienlein]

I just built my own domino for less than $100 and I really don't have a use for it. Ido mortise and tenon joinery but have several other methods for that I feel are more cost effective for that. I wouldn't even give up my biscuit joiner for one let alone another tool.

[Erik Christensen]

I'd give up drum sander also.

I do not have the XL but the original domino - got it soon after it was introduced. I have found i use the 5mm cutter more than all the others put together - mostly for cabinet case construction & face frames. there is no tool equivalent that I know of that lets you put mortices in the center of a panel quickly & precisely - if I was making a lot of doors or large structures where I needed a tenon > 10mm I would get the XL but that has yet to happen.

[William C Rogers]

Well it really depends on what you are doing. I am making cabinets at this time and wouldn't even think of giving up my sander. I also wouldn't even think of buying a Domino. The sander allows me to make my materials flat and to the dimension which speed up assembly and makes cutting the cope and rails much easier, starting with like thickness. That said, my second highest priority is the router table, following the bandsaw. I can surly live without a Domino, but the other three are most important to me. However someone else may flip the order depending on what they are doing. No right or wrong answer here, just depends on the type of woodworking you are most interested doing.

Bill

[Chris Rosenberger]

I would not give up anything, not even money. That tool costs way too much for the limited use it will get in a shop.

[Sam Murdoch]

I would not give up anything, not even money. That tool costs way too much for the limited use it will get in a shop.

Another perspective Chris - I use mine every week if not every day. It is one of my favorite tools and as I wrote earlier it allows for building with such precise alignment as to make sanding nearly unnecessary- at least for the kind of work I do.

[Chris Fournier]

Your question is not entirely answerable but given the list of equipment and the Domino that you give I'd be fleshing out a solid wood, furniture making shop with some primary tools first - say the bandsaw. A router and some simple jigs will do what the Domino does albeit more slowly. A slot mortiser on a Euro combo machine has been my choice for years. Of course jigs and routers are used too when they are more efficient.

As an instrument builder I can say that my drum sander has paid for itself many times over. If you want to make shop sawn veneer it is almost indispensable as well.

I'll never own a Domino because I feel that this kind of money is better spent in other places. Many folks would disagree.

[Chris Rosenberger]

Another perspective Chris - I use mine every week if not every day. It is one of my favorite tools and as I wrote earlier it allows for building with such precise alignment as to make sanding nearly unnecessary- at least for the kind of work I do.

Sam, I should have added that I do have a Domino 500 & I love it. I just have not found a reason or need to get the 700 XL.

[Chris Padilla]

As an instrument builder I can say that my drum sander has paid for itself many times over. If you want to make shop sawn veneer it is almost indispensable as well.

Yep...I picked up a used Delta 18/36 drum sander just for sanding veneers. It is a mind-numbing, boring, slow process but the results were fantastic!

I have the smaller Domino and it is a wonderful tool to speed the M&T process along. It is hard to say what you really need. There are many ways to skin a cat in the shop...some are faster than others...some are slower...some are easy...some are hard.

Good Luck!

[Dan Ness]

Thanks for all the replies. . .this is going to take some more thinking on my part, but I think I have almost narrowed it down to getting the Domino 500, and wait till later to get the other tools. It is mostly going to be used for solid wood furniture & some cabinets, and will remove a lot of the alignment issues and time constraints I have been facing using pocket hole screws, M&T (using table saw jig), biscuit joiner, and even some hand cut M&T.

I think what most attracts me to the domino is the simplicity & speed of one system vs. using multiple machines/techniques to accomplish the same thing.

If I had more time in the shop, I don't think I would be inclined to spend the money, but if I can shed even a few minutes a day on cutting joints, it would go a long way to completing more projects in the hour or so I get make sawdust.

As for the rest of the list, I think it will be Bandsaw--> Router Table-->Drum Sander.

[johnny means]

Mark, it sounds me like you are talking about a shop where sanding is pretty much a daily job. How much time does a drum sander save a modestly successful custom builder who may be turning out one kitchen or major price a month? How about the hobbiest who builds a kit,hen over the course of a year. Of course, Wide format sanding can save gobs of time and money, but Ibet your aversge creeker struggles more with getting strong, accurate assemblies than with production lost from sanding.

[Mark Bolton]

Mark, it sounds me like you are talking about a shop where sanding is pretty much a daily job. How much time does a drum sander save a modestly successful custom builder who may be turning out one kitchen or major price a month? How about the hobbiest who builds a kit,hen over the course of a year. Of course, Wide format sanding can save gobs of time and money, but Ibet your aversge creeker struggles more with getting strong, accurate assemblies than with production lost from sanding.

Johnny,
Well like has been said here, hobby or professional, so much of it depends on how one works, the type of work, price point, and so on. But I know one and two man shops that dont turn out a kitchen a month. I am in that custom builder column but moving to the shop full time and I can of course only speak for myself but as I said, its an invaluable addition. Even at that level of production I dont see how one could operate without one unless it was some sort of high end market, hand scraped, or something to that extent. I could easily see a modest sander paying for itself in a single kitchen or two. A hobby shop, of course, I would think a drum sander may be low on the list though it would be my guess that the instant one landed in the shop the hobbyist would wonder why they didnt get one sooner.

Spot on though, regardless of hobby or pro, each has to make a decision of what takes priority for their individual work. But I stand by the fact that if your moving any quantity of material through your shop that requires sanding its an invaluable tool. A tool thats a ways down the list for most? Of course.

Also, Im not talking about some two head orbital here, I'm talking about anything from a Jet 16/32 on up.