Mafell DDF40 Duo Doweller - Domino now has some competition

[Eric Arnsdorff]

Mafell Duo Doweller.jpg
Mafell DDF 40.jpg
Jess Em Dowelling Jig.jpg
Festool Domino DF 500.jpg
Festool Domino DF 700.jpg

I only included the Jess Em doweller but there are others. My bias (because I own one and dang it is made well) may be why I only included the Jess Em Dowel Jig. I'm very impressed with the precision and usability of the Jess Em dowel jig. But clearly not as fast as the Festool Domino. I also really like my biscuit jointer.

My personal preference is the dowels because of the wider range of applications. As mentioned before they can also be a decorative element along with an alignment tool in addition to providing a strong joint.
Since woodworking is my hobby I struggle with buying the Festool domino. But it definitely appears to be a good tool and a versatile joining method for someone wanting to make some money with their time in the shop I can see some advantages. It's also hard to beat my biscuit jointer for the applications it is good for.

I'm surprised at Mafell's offering. I like dowels but at that cost I don't see the Mafell advantage. It appears much less versatile than my Jess Em doweling jig and doesn't appear to offer any significant advantage over the Festool Domino. Maybe I'm missing something but the marketing I looked up sure doesn't point it out.

I noticed most of this thread got into what the beliefs are for joint design and strength. When I read these it makes me think how glad I am that structural building codes as well as material science, strength of materials and mechanics of deformable bodies do not rely on this belief system. I know that may strike some wrong but there is a lot of science behind what strength is along with how to predict such failures with tons of empirical data backing the science. I've seen case studies with nothing controlled and comparison of much smaller dowels compared to larger mortise and tenon joints with a conclusion that mortise and tenon is "stronger". The fact is a dowel can be made many times stronger than a much smaller tenon. Additionally, if stronger is the only thing that matters then steel of the same dimensions will be stronger and tungsten will be stronger than that, etc...

However, even though I really like dowels for my workshop, I would buy the Festool Domino well ahead of the Mafell Doweller.