$200 Domino Alternative - Everyone hates it, can I make it work? 

Just to help anybody that’s watching this video now, I have recently purchased the Triton machine and it’s clear that they have addressed the problems highlighted by many and have improved it. The rubber bumpers are now on springs and depress into the body. The springs have been changed also. The sliding movement is much smoother. I am extremely pleased that I bought the Triton. I hope this helps.

if you can remove the springs then no need to buy or look for a it online. Simply cut a little at a time at one end to shorten it and thereby reducing its spring tension.

If you could turn this into a series, buying maligned budget tools and bringing them into your spec, that would be really cool.

I have been watching your videos for quite a long time and I love them all. This one included. Stating the pros and cons in an unbiased way to let consumers make their own decisions on whether a little bit of work on the tool is worth it or not is very helpful. For a person like me, a couple of hours of testing and tinkering to make the tool work sufficiently is well worth the $600 savings that I could use to buy other tools or products. But for many others who may not have the patience or aptitude to deal with some of the downfalls and shortcomings staying away from this tool would probably be a good idea. I see too many reviews out there where people just say “stay away from this product it’s junk” or “this product is great if you know what you’re doing “ but don’t really go into any depth about how or why they feel that way. Keep producing the great content!

I'm very happy someone finally did an honest review on this. I had other problems with, the centre marking wasn't really on the centre and that wasted a lot of material and time. You're conclusion was spot on, I would just add that if you have the money to get an adequate tool, apart from the obvious Domino, you could get a Mafell duo doweller which is just an incredible machine.

For those with limited resources, and the time to spend (for many, tinkering is an enjoyable process), this is a great video. Assuming the problems remain the same across units, I could see this as a reasonable alternative for a lot of people with a home shop.

This is one of the best tool reviews that I've ever seen. Very thorough. Well done!

When I need to soften a spring, I've often had good success just heating the spring up. It loses some of its bounce. I always go that way first if I'm going to replace it anyway.

I really want to thank you for this video....I am building a Japanese style cedar gate from 1" stock...and wanted to use dowels, dominos etc. I purchased the Triton at Rockler yesterday---and was able to get the springs from McMaster Carr same day (there is one near here) and re-drilled replaced the index pins (I used much larger pins). Finally, I sanded and polished the tracks of the fence mechanism. The work took me about two hours--and only because of all the advance work you did--and info you shared. The machine now works great! The doors went together (6" cedar butt joints) perfectly and dowel pins were tight. If I had tried to do this project with a manual drill jig--I'd have been working all day. You really did a great service for those of us not able--or willing--to spend $1500 for a Festool. Kudos!!

Great video. Seems like a tool to avoid unless someone has some engineering prowess. I’ve often wondered why more companies don’t jump in and make a floating tenon or dual dowel machine to complete with the Domino.

I think that people who are comparing doweling jointers to the Festool are comparing apples to oranges. ANY time you have to line up two lines, you're introducing a tiny amount of human error. If you're dropping in 20 dowel pins, you're drilling 40 holes and you're bound to be be off in micro-increments all the way up and down the line. The Festool gets around this by making the slots bigger than the dominos. They market it as a 'floating tenon.' ("It's not a bug! It's a feature!") The excess space is filled with glue and the true alignment has to happen with clamps and the tap of a mallet - exactly as Andrew did with the dowels in this video. The ENTIRE planet has bought into this approach and supports Festool's game. But with dowels, people still expect 100% accuracy, then complain "Well, Festool pulls it off." No. They actually don't pull it off at all. The machine can be perfect, but you're never going to eliminate the operator. We are the fatal flaw in all of these systems. So why aren't we using dowel jointers the same way we use a Festool? The simplest answer is to use 1/4 inch dowels in 3/8th inch holes. I'd even keep the tool running as you pull it out to make the hole a tiny bit bigger than 3/8th. (It would go faster than waiting for the bit to fully stop anyway.) Then fill the hole with glue, set the dowel pin, and move on to the next one. Just like we would with dominos. Even though Festool has the 'floating tenon' bs, I haven't seen a loss of performance with the floating tenons in all of the domino vs dowel tests. Based on those tests, I don't think a tight fit vs a lose fit makes a huge difference. I can't do it any time soon, but I'll definitely be doing some tight dowel vs 'floating' dowel tests of my own in the future. If my theory is right, then almost any halfway decent doweling jointer would be a match for Festool - provided we use both machines the same way. Float the tenon, bro. The holes can be out of alignment, not perfectly 90 degrees, or off in any direction and it can still be clamped exactly right.

Hi I liked your video very much, because I did the same with the Triton Planer / Thicknesser. Being a retired mech' eng' I'm time rich and money poor . The Planer's inlet / outlet tables did not line up (a pretty fundamental flaw!) but with a lot of time I modified the body with some cams and ended up with a machine that works well enough for my DIY use at a fraction of the price of a real one. I could never justify the cost of a commercial machine nor the time required to design / build from scratch, this way is a great alternative, the low end supplier put in most of the work and we upgrade to make it useful. Thanks for the video, good description and well presented.

I hope Triton takes note. I’m hoping they will and reach out to you. Simple fixes for them at the factory. 👍 Thanks!

shucking out the $900+ for a domino really sucks, but every time I need to use it I am so glad I bought it. Thanks for a great video!

I can say that the Festool domino joiner is well worth the price if you are joining regularly with dowels and don't want exposed screws like pocket hole joinery. A fellow woodworker purchased one and I thought he was crazy for spending over a $1100 for it and the accessory kit. Then I used it on a couple of custom projects that required strength and perfect fit. I now own one. The price was a tough bill to swallow but it makes the job so much easier and the quality is second to none. Quality tools make cleaner jobs, happier woodworker and satisfied customers which leads to more jobs. What turned me off to the triton machine was the non adjustable spacing to the dowels. I don't always need 2 dowels so far apart. The domino only needs a single plate for equivalent/superior strength and the alignment it provides is also awesome compared to other methods

Well done Andy. At a recent Woodworker's show, at Triton's booth, I noticed immediately that the plate wiggles which would prevent proper alignment between pieces. Great idea... crappy quality control. I almost purchased it but opted not to. I have a Dowellmaster which is dead nuts accurate but a power tool would be nice. I had the same issue with their 7" planer. I went through 4 of them before I got one that had a platen that was square to the blades. It's a fabulous planer but their QC sucks. Frankly, $1000 to $1400 for a Domino machine is absurd. Ditto with their tracksaw.

I'm happy with my Freud plate biscuit joiner and wouldn't switch to a doweling device. People don't all like biscuit joiners either, but I've had the Freud since they came out. Had used Lamello before that. Things line up well. I have found that if my biscuits have been in the cabinet for a long time, they get "fat" and hit them lightly with a ball peen hammer to initially reduce them. THen they still swell up firmly but don't make assembly impossible. Glad you found a fix for that spring problem. We did the same for our carbs on Ducati's as the throttle was way to stiff.

The number of times i had time, and no money led to the creation of my entire shop. If i had waited for the money, i'd be dead. Now, however, i have the shop. I've gone from cheap harbor freight tools, to one by one upgrading. I've not made it to the festool level(not sure i want to)but many of my tools now are working damned fine. Last night, i realized that my beloved tenon making jig, was not going to produce the accuracy i need for the current project, and now i have a new, simpler one. It took two hours to make. Thank you for this. I wondered about the reviews. Seems like they are accurate~!~

I used one to make two side tables, joining rails to legs no problem, also did 4 2x10x8 into a table top for outdoor table. I didn’t expect it to be perfectly flat using dimensional lumber but it was nothing a little belt sander couldn’t fix, it was a rustic table.

I love that you make it your mission to use a tool that is (apparently) universally loathed. (I don't have an opinion, I just learned it exists from your video). Thanks for sharing! Matt

Thanks for the update , these are generally good concerns. Not everybody is as good as fixing tools the right way like you. Allot of us would have to return the tool etcetera and end up with things not covered by warranty probably

A very interesting and honest evaluation of the tool. I’ve been wondering what the problems were for this machine. Now I know. Thanks.

I think I will stick to my biscuit jointer. However the Festool Domino just uses a thing called floating tenons. I make up the tenon and cut it to length and cut the mortise with my router. Gives round ends and the floating tenons I made work just fine. I do not need a $1000 tool to make this joint. I have been doing this for years. I cut my tenons a little narrower so there is a bit of slide to adjust the joint. The joy of floating tenons is that you can install the tenon in either side or just put it in one side and assemble the joint.

I have the Domino and while it was expensive, it makes it so worth it on the times you want the joint perfect with no issues.

I am not sure what to do, unlike most videos, you did not trash the item. I was prepared to make some negative comments, instead I will subscribe and leave my cynicism at the door. Thank you, you content added to the general knowledge of a people with much to share

A major issue with dowel systems is that they require exact alignment. Dominos are deliberately loose, to allow movement before clamping. Biscuit joiners are (horizontaly) loose by design. This can be overcome, but it requires an accurate jig to place the tool along the join line. Pencil marks will not do. The cost of such jigs are usually more than the cost of this tool, ( a domino version is £360) but is essential if the system is to work.

For the mis-alignment of the drill deck and the fence you could not use one of the drills. Of course that would mean twice as much plunging, but if you are a hobbyist and not doing large projects or a production shop it might be ok.

I probably wouldn't but this based on the issues it has , but if I did , I might try fixing parallel bit to fence alignment by applying bondo to the entire fence and sanding in a tapered fashion until parallel. Just a thought .

Thanks a lot for this non advertisement. Truth is the improvements can be applied to similar tools. Regards.

A first-class review. You confirmed that I was absolutely correct in choosing to buy a Festool Domino. Sir Henry Royce is often quoted in these situations, "quality will remain long after the price is forgotten" Thank you.

Okay, so I bought the Triton and was completely disappointed by - among others - is the lack of forethought regarding safety. There is no trigger lock and it's high up so I end up turning it on when I rotate it for face holes - scary. The other thing is the right bit creates a larger hole than the left and the dowels on the right end up being loose. Everytime. THEN, I found out Grizzly now carries their version. The thing is, it's the EXACT SAME THING as the Triton other than the trigger having a lock and it was down lower. Another thing, the right side doweling bit produces the same problem as the Triton. That's how I know they're the exact same thing. I'm going to be returning the Triton but, before I do I'm going to replace the right-side drill bit on the Grizzly with the lefthand from the Triton. Other than that, it's a nice tool to have. Stronger than biscuits, yet cheaper than the domino.

I like to tinker but not on a new power tool. I do my best to not reward poorly made products with my money. I use loose tenons, but I do it with a router and simple fixture. Thanks for the review, Andy.

Forty years ago Fine Woodworking carried a readers' dialog about both Asian-built and American branded tools essentially being a kits the owner might be able to accurize. In my shop almost all the stationary machinery is well-worn industrial spin-offs which were also kits to try to make accurate. Jim Krenov recognized that acute perception is among the most valuable assets to the craftsman. This Triton presents an opportunity to make something valuable out of what is essentially crap. Thanks to you for explaining how to do that.

You could probably find a plunge router spring that works, which might be cheaper on erplacementparts. But then again maybe that's what they used in the first place to save on logistics costs.

Most of us are woodworkers and tinkerers so I'm not sure why most slam this after seeing the video and knowing what it takes to make it work decent. I get that there are quality control issues but sometimes you appreciate using a tool more when you know you've made it better than it was originally. This goes with cheap tools as well as expensive tools. I agree with Andrew on this one 100%.

I got mine to work perfectly. The main problem was slop between the base and the motor... Milled a piece of corrian to fit between just on the tight side, added silicone oil. Cut and stretched the spring, sorted out the alignment and the clear viewing panel. Dumped the rubber pads as it somehow became very square , checked with a pair of dummy drills I made. I can't remember if the corrian is stuck to base or the machine but after a few pushes it went fine. The best technique is to have both hands on the motor, great for 12mm dowels. Never buy shite on Ebay when you come back from the pub....

Kudos on getting decent results out of it, but seems to be similar to the guy who bought a suit where one sleeve was too long and one leg was too short. The tailor suggested he shift his shoulders and his hips until it fit properly. He hobbled down the street this way when a couple saw him. The wife said "That poor man!" and the husband said "Yeah, but doesn't the suit fit nice?" I don't expect any tool to be perfect, especially right out of the box. But I also don't expect to have to rebuild it to correct obvious design and quality issues.

I honestly hope to be as good at anything as you are with tools. You've literally reached a point of mastery where your knowledge of tools and remedies is so great that you can use _any tool as a challenge_ . Added to that, you're not showing any sort of real frustration because you know what is wrong or at least have a clue on how to drill down to what is wrong. *Absolutely amazing.*

Setting whether it was worth it aside, I like the analysis and problem solving. I enjoyed just going for the ride and watching.

Actually a really good video. This tool has potential when you sort out the issues with it ( I have one), but it is a $200 tool. It has a good motor, gearbox and bearings. It uses cheap off the peg dowels. It is not going to give you the out of the box precision of a domino, but only a fool, or a very positive optimist would expect that it could. Either save the $$$ and buy the domino, or spend the hours needed to sort it. I cant afford a domino, but I do have a shop full of tools, so.....

I went to our local big box store (Menards) and found two weaker springs the same length, tried both of them and picked the best of the two, I also took out the rubber pads, and I feel this helped this particular piece of equipment work great work great, love it.

I don't have this tool and I don't know the dimensions of the springs he used, but you should be able to find Radio Control car springs giving you a wide selection of spring tension to chose from. RC Cars come in different scales. If you want to use three springs like in the video, look at spring kits for 1/10th scale touring cars such as Team Associated. If you want to get by with two or one spring, look at spring kits for 1/10th scale offroad buggy or trucks such as Team Associated. Off-road vehicles have longer springs than on-road vehicles. You can also consider 1/8th scale vehicles, but as the scale of the vehicle increases, the spring tension in the shock springs increase so 1/8th scale spring tension may be too much. I wouldn't bother with 1/12th scale shock springs; they're diameter is likely too small to use.

I'm not in the habit of buying crappy tools from a lazy/incompetent manufacturer and fixing them myself. This only encourages the manufacturer to keep making crappy tools and wastes my valuable time I could be doing something productive with. If you want my business, make something decent. I'm willing to pay good money for quality tools.

Had one delivered yesterday and was sent back today, casting lines completely out from the drill bits, window lines completely out from the casting lines and drill bits, measurements from the face plate sides to the drill centres were different from the right side and left side by 4mm also the drill bit centres were different by 2mm in terms of hight to the adjustable plate and the slop was bad it was almost a domino jointer. I wanted it for doing waterfall legs on coffee tables, completely useless for that purpose, been trying to get hold of a dowelmax 45° jig but they are never in stock here in the UK, so I'm making my own jig.

Thanks for the review, and what you needed to make it perform better. Unfortunately for the company, I have no patience to fiddle with the tool to get it to work well enough to consider using it.

I like the conclusion; it's really refreshing amongst all those DIY type of channels that have turned into home shopping TV.

So this Triton is a copy of Mafell's Duo doweller DD40/DDF40m - rather than a budget version of a domino. The difference between the Mafell and Triton is night and day. The new Mafell DDF 40 is a supreme tool. And it should be for £900! That said, there should be no excuse for a budget brand making tools that aren't fit for purpose out the box. Really liked what you did to the Triton though. You gave it a fair go and seemed to get it performing OK. Man after my own heart.

Buy Cheap, Buy Twice... best advice given to me 30 years ago.

I had the freud version of this "HAD" (Was robbed a month ago). I found it to be a useful tool. First thing was to remove the side guide pins as you can never get them aligned. Calibrate the center line so that it is exactly centered. After that the tool is great.

Andrew, this is by far my favorite tool review this year. I have never seen someone take "hated" tool and make it work or at least improve it to work well. I was wandering about this and dowelmax tool which both cost about 200$. I think when I have time to play in my workshop I'll make a homemade dowel jig and then eventually settle on dowelmax. Which I have a feeling is worth the money. I say that because most people already have a drill and dowels are cheap. Again thanks for sharing this great video !!!!

I have used the mafell version and I find it a bliss to use. It's sturdy and well built, and I find it more comfortable to use then the domino since it's just a straight drilled hole and there is no side to side movement. But it is very expensive

I agree completely about buying and managing this tool. Especially if it's a tool you use occasionally. The other argument would be "time is money." Which is a good point, however, you said it perfectly; the the extra $800 could be better spent elsewhere in the shop. Great review 👍 thanks.

I really wish they'd fix this product. It's a good idea and there needs to be a more budget friendly alternative to the Domino - if they'd spent just a little bit more R&D time or even upped the price a little I'm sure they could make a dowel jointer that works well out of the box.

I wonder why one would use this over a biscuit joiner. For me is the great thing about the biscuit is that they give me a little wiggle room on one axis so I can align work pieces. With dowels if you miss by a hair everything is off and re drilling is a mess.

I’m not sure if would be a big hurdle to have 3 or 4 drill bits plunging, thus not infringing on Festool patent but with a little chiseling for waste it would still be a floating mortise.

I'm amazed after the so many negative reviews of this product, how come Triton did not address them and come out with a new fixed model. From what I see here the corrections they need to do into their product manufacturing wise are easy to be fixed. This makes no sense to me, because if this product was accurate as it should be, it would have sold lots. Nice fix Andrew !!!!

I think woodworking has reached it's limits, tool wise. Every year and ever catalog has the newest, super wazoo, tool, jig, clamp or gadget to make your life easier. I bought a biscuit cutter about 10 years ago. Mostly, it collects dust. I'm sure many people are very happy with their Dominos. Good for them. To me, the best thing that ever happened to woodworking, as a hobby, is the availability of hand held routers. With a router and a bandsaw, along with an assortment of hand tools and jigs, you can build, just about, anything. I do admire the shop that has every tool that Festool offers or the 25,000 dollar Snap-On box, full of matching tools but, I also admire people, like Mathius or Izzy. Need a tool? Make a tool.

I love this video! After watching, I decided to buy the triton and see if I could duplicate your modifications. It arrived today and I’m a little disappointed. Everything worked fine right out of the box! It’s great! I just hate I didn’t get to mod it!

Time still the most precious commodity.. great honest integrity filled video.. thanks..

Awesome video! I too was much wondering what was SO wrong with this tool. Thank you for not only showing what was wrong but how you went around those issues. Huge thumbs up!

I had it for a week and sd 200$+tax no thank u it was a pain to push the cutters especially in oak or maple, it cut un-even like urs did, and mine didnt have the pads...man u pretty much remade the damn thing they should pay u for the upgrade.im happy with my 80$dowel jig kit I got from rockler.

Amazing that somewhere between $200 and $1,000 there isn't a better made intermediate option or that Triton haven't corrected the spring and alignment issues at least. I saw a video of somebody using it and thought he was putting excessive force into pushing the tool in. Didn't occur to me that he was fighting the springs.

You have to look at it as an assembled kit that you may have to adjust and do final assembly. and if your just getting dowel holes the a dowel jig and your drill is a whole lot cheaper.

As a professional, I did put out the money for the domino... It paid for itself in 2 projects. Been going strong for 4-5 years now, medium usage. If you're a pro, it's the way to go. If your a hobby man, I get it's pretty expensive, but hey, how much are you really gonna use it anyway? A decent lamello might be a better (cheaper) option for you. The makita 18V is only 180€ (without batteries) (don't know the price on your side of the pond). All my corded equipment is festool. All my cordless makita. Once you got the batteries the machines are pretty cheap

Love this video. Almost bought this myself until reading the reviews. I hope Triton sees this and puts some work into what seems like a good idea.

For the record the domino xl doesn't get the surface flush every time. Biggest difference I see is one puts in a dowel the domino does a loose tenon much more strength in the extra 2 flat glue surfaces provided by the tenon

“There’s always something to spend money on in the shop” the truest statement.

Thanks so much for your in-depth review Andrew! This was an insightful video and high-quality content coming from a highly intelligent RU-vidr who’s opinion I trust and respect! Should you have interest, Triton and other tool brands would do well to tap you as an influencer.

Have you had a chance to play with a Dowelmax? It's a similar price point to this, except for that you get very highly precise tools. Obviously it being a classic dowel jig and not a whole machine in one, it's going to be a tiny bit more work to use each time, but it's really very quick to use once you practice it once or twice. Just throwing that out there as an alternative -- if you're willing to spend in this price range you could get a dowelmax and not have to screw with it at all vs having to tweak and spend more money to make this triton thing work. Not that I don't appreciate the video, in fact these kinds of videos are some of the absolute most valuable sort on youtube. Thanks much for posting it!

I just received mine after watching this video and want to report that Triton has addressed the first two issues. The springs are softer and the rubber pads are now on springs as well and recess flush with the fence. My issue is that there is tons of play in the rails. The groove in the base plate that the doweler rides in is bigger than the fins that slot into it. Hard to keep square to the workpiece when the drill bits are just loosely associated with the fence. Don't know how to fix this as it would mean ADDING metal somewhere which is way outside my skill set.

Seems like a fantastic solution to an issue that shouldn't have been there in the first place.

I have the smaller Triton router and it is so different than my other routers that I only use it as a last resort. It just seems to me that Triton tools try to be more than it needs to be but don't engineer the manufacture of them to work as they might have hoped.

You can buy a similar one at Grizzly's for under $100 ,is on sale now

if you are wiling to tinker a new tool to to achieve 2 dowel holes, by all means go ahead but it would mean its not worth the time and buying cheaper dowel sets makes more sense. if you are looking at a tool that makes you work faster, get 32mm spacing consistently, look into the details/accessories and accuracy of the other tools before passing it out. different offsets etc and then you know that paying that much more is to save time and time is money.

$200 for an unfinished product? Sounds like a delayed kickstarter pledge promise. Rockler's cheap acrylic dowel jigs are still my favorite

Great fixes! Why haven’t they addressed these issues already? They should hire you as a consultant!

Watching this video made me glad I bit the bullet and bought a domino.

I really liked this video. I liked how you saved $800 or whatever, and still made it work, but with a lot of time and work, but still. That's a lot of money saved. It's a shame it was made wrong.

best tool review on youtube! I feel the same about alot of tools.. they just suffer from design flaws and requires the user to "ticker" with them

Good tools like quality cars, cost money. You pay for what you get. Good idea informing potential buyers about theses problems. Good Video!

After watching this video I'm ready to buy it, maybe I'll be a few. I know I always love it when the stuff I buy involves a science project and a few days of screwing around to get it working.

Well done vid, thanks for posting it! It also serves as a great reminder about our own woodworking: We each have to come up with a good design and then execute it well.

Damn is like people never include the cost of extra parts and labor when making decisions like this. How many hours did you spend modifying it and driving to buy those springs? How much are you worth hourly? How much did all that labor come up to? And finally what do you value in life? The process of learning and journey could outweigh everything making diy a better route. But time is the only true currency we have and it's amount is unknown. How does this factor in? But really cool you took the time to investigate and make it better. Never heard of dowel joiners like this

Excellent video, really contains all you need to determine if this is for you IMO. If you get to the end, just before the office debrief, and say to yourself "Triton should be embarrassed about his product, but: I could do what Andrew just did" then it could be for you. If you get to that same point and think "you have got to be kidding!" then its time to look to another product. I had a similar experience about 10 years ago with a HF biscuit jointer; it was so misaligned that using it was worse than skipping biscuits (it forced my joints out of square. I tried to fix the misalignment but failed at the time. Looking back, and having seen many videos like this, I think I could fix it today... if I still had it.

Masterful job of turning that machine into a more accurate doweling jig! Great Work! Liked !!

I appreciate you explaining your experience with this tool. I wanted one but really doubt I'll get one after seeing your video. I enjoy your channel, keep up the good work...

I have a few tools from triton. The first thing i bought was a belt sander , the one that stands on its own, and i have to say that the tilting table its not straight and it's kinda annoying , i've tried a few things to make it straight but being built out of a aluminium alloy i didn't wanna brake it , so i just left it the way it is, not very precise ,but i can work around it. Then i found out about the saw /router table modules and the table they sit on, and i bought them without knowing much about them , but just knowing that the idea by it self was awesome, and i have to say that i'm really happy with the purchase , they're not perfect , like a festool tool, but considering that i bought 4 components for the price of one festool with accessories, and even tho they didn't think of all the issues like festool does , i really like them. you can always adjust a few things by yourself and make them work, and when i think about the money i've saved ,i'm so proud . If i knew about their 2400w router before i've spent almost 800 pownds on the 2200w one from festool, i would've saved so much money, considering i've payed 207 pownds on it, and it has so many awesome features on it. So in my opinion, they worth the money, because they are relatively cheap and you can get some work out of them by making a few adjustments , and if your at a starting point it's definitely the better choice out there. One thing would've been great if they made the tools spot on, even if they had to increase the prices , because their ideas are quite good, and it's a pitty.

Fantastic video. "You get what you pay for" meets "let's not build garbage"

Do you think the heavy spring is a longevity issue? After that heavy spring gets continual use for a year, maybe it will get broken in. Where as the lighter springs you used may not work properly once they're broken in. Granted, you're talking a couple bucks for springs so for you it's worth replacing. But from a manufacturer's point of view, do you think they were worried lighter springs wouldn't hold up as long? I have to believe there is some logic behind using such heavy springs. On the flip side, perhaps two lighter springs would have been a better alternative but it would have added to the cost of production. One heavy spring and guide bar is cheaper to produce that two guide bars and springs.

I'm guessing the rubber stops are there to allow air and dust flow. Kind of why you route a chanfer on the bottom of your cross cut sled fence

It seems like I could create a jig and stops to use a plunge router, since I have to take time to figure it out anyway.

This is a good and helpful video. Overall, however, I am inclined to use a good quality doweling jig -- which is simple, accurate and inexpensive. I hasten to add that mine is is a hobby shop, not a production shop. That might change the equation.

I don't think I should have to fix a brand new tool multiple times. Especially the alignment part. Using a proper assembly jig in the factory to ensure alignment does not substantially increase costs. Thanks for the video.

I really don't understand why people keep calling this an alternative to the domino, two different joints. But do appreciate the video :)

Have you tried sending this to Triton? It might make them pay attention. I liked their old stuff when it was an Oz company. These days I have no idea who owns them or where they're made.

I think JessEm's Dowler jig is only marginally slower but much more accurate. This will be much better for production if one can make it consistent though.

I had two Triton dowell joiners. Both didn't work well. So I bought a mafell dd40. Expensive. But worth every penny.

Great video..... Your looking at a $200 tool vs. $1000 for a Domino The $18 for the springs and a couple hours in time to tune it correctly isn't bad. Most budget friendly woodworking tools come with issues..... buy a Grizzly or even Jet jointer and lay a Starrett straight edge across the beds.... then get ready to buy some shim stock and start the process of fixing the money you saved.

It saves you $800 Plus $340 or the dominos that you have to buy separate = $1,140 IF you want to go that way. Biscuits and or dowels are still the way to go unless you are in some kind of production work that can pay for this big boys toy.

It looks like you bought a $200 domino kit... Some assembly/modification required. I don't know, with my list of projects, it will probably sit in the corner for a long while. I guess I'll wait & see what Triton does.