Brad Olson
09-07-2007, 8:34 AM
Even though I have Neanderthal leanings, I decided to bite the bullet and buy a Festool Domino. Yes it was expensive and yes it is overpriced, but it does promise a lot. One of the nice things about Festool is that they give you 30 days to see if you like a tool, if not you can return it no questions asked.
BTW, the Domino only cost 1.5X what I have previously spent on one handtool. However, I spent more on the domino than I spent on my table saw and drum sander and planer combined, so this was a huge investment for my shop.
So I picked one up with a systainer full of dominos and decided to put it through its paces.
The result? The machine is fantastic. Not only does it save a huge amount of time, the accuracy of the machine is quite amazing. It is nearly brainless to make a loose tenon joint.
As an acid test, I decided to make a near replica of a table I have made previously with the exception of using Purple Heart and Michigan Cherry.
So the big promise of the domino is twofold. First it promises wicked fast M&T joints and in this regard it is a success. In my original iteration of this table, the M&T joinery was done with a Tenon jig and Mortise machine. The huge difference in the projects is that the M&T joints on the original table took about 4 hours to complete from start in the shop for the day, to setting up and tuning the machines to fine tuning the tenons with a plane to the glue-up.
With the domino, the M&T production part took approximately 30 minutes and this time could have been cut down considerably if I was more familiar with the machine (these were some of my first cuts with the machine). Add in another 20 minutes for glue-up and we have an approximately 75% time savings.
Now what about the accuracy. I have to say that I am VERY impressed with this part of the machine. One of the things I absolutely hate about machine cut joints is all the time you spend setting up machines and not handling wood. With the domino, I literally pulled it out of the box, plugged it in, set the depth of the wood and mortise and started cutting with the index pins. 30 minutes later I was assembling a table that was near dead on 90 degrees perfect throughout.
The strength of the joints didn't seem to be any different than a regular M&T joint. I used a handplane to do some light trimming before putting on the top and not only were there racking forces from the plane but I also sat on the leg/apron assembly to keep it in place. Unlike biscuits, I had no qualms about strength.
Now a few minor dislikes. First, the machine is metric, so you do have to convert to inches. I just did the conversion for the numbers the domino uses on a card and put it in the systainer. Also when it is humid (like 80%) the dominos fit a little bit tighter than I would like. It isn't a huge issue and the effect is more that it is hard to disassemble a dry fitting and doesn't affect assembly. Since the dominoes themselves have glue recesses I am not too worried about a glue starved joint.
Overall, I am pleased with the purchase. It is definitely a luxury and the only reason I could afford it was because I wrote a book chapter that I got paid for.
BTW, the Domino only cost 1.5X what I have previously spent on one handtool. However, I spent more on the domino than I spent on my table saw and drum sander and planer combined, so this was a huge investment for my shop.
So I picked one up with a systainer full of dominos and decided to put it through its paces.
The result? The machine is fantastic. Not only does it save a huge amount of time, the accuracy of the machine is quite amazing. It is nearly brainless to make a loose tenon joint.
As an acid test, I decided to make a near replica of a table I have made previously with the exception of using Purple Heart and Michigan Cherry.
So the big promise of the domino is twofold. First it promises wicked fast M&T joints and in this regard it is a success. In my original iteration of this table, the M&T joinery was done with a Tenon jig and Mortise machine. The huge difference in the projects is that the M&T joints on the original table took about 4 hours to complete from start in the shop for the day, to setting up and tuning the machines to fine tuning the tenons with a plane to the glue-up.
With the domino, the M&T production part took approximately 30 minutes and this time could have been cut down considerably if I was more familiar with the machine (these were some of my first cuts with the machine). Add in another 20 minutes for glue-up and we have an approximately 75% time savings.
Now what about the accuracy. I have to say that I am VERY impressed with this part of the machine. One of the things I absolutely hate about machine cut joints is all the time you spend setting up machines and not handling wood. With the domino, I literally pulled it out of the box, plugged it in, set the depth of the wood and mortise and started cutting with the index pins. 30 minutes later I was assembling a table that was near dead on 90 degrees perfect throughout.
The strength of the joints didn't seem to be any different than a regular M&T joint. I used a handplane to do some light trimming before putting on the top and not only were there racking forces from the plane but I also sat on the leg/apron assembly to keep it in place. Unlike biscuits, I had no qualms about strength.
Now a few minor dislikes. First, the machine is metric, so you do have to convert to inches. I just did the conversion for the numbers the domino uses on a card and put it in the systainer. Also when it is humid (like 80%) the dominos fit a little bit tighter than I would like. It isn't a huge issue and the effect is more that it is hard to disassemble a dry fitting and doesn't affect assembly. Since the dominoes themselves have glue recesses I am not too worried about a glue starved joint.
Overall, I am pleased with the purchase. It is definitely a luxury and the only reason I could afford it was because I wrote a book chapter that I got paid for.