I've used a morticer for many yrs, hate the Festool snobs but bought the 700 with all the bits. £1000+ !!!! sick of spending a few hrs morticing , this reduced it to a fraction of the time, is very accurate & no messing about trying to cut tenons to fit, absolutely no regrets buying it. admittedly bought the Kapex 120 to get spot on sq clean cuts, no regrets with that either, it compliments the domino.
What a great video!, I've used the 500 for a while now but have just bought a 700 as I have a big oak door to make, and I found your video to be really helpful as you explained everything in a straightforward way which I found easy to follow. You have yourself another subscriber. All the best to you from the UK.
GREAT PRESENTATION! I own the 500 and love it. I think you have sold me on the big boy! From a production standpoint your work is really well presented and very thorough
Yup! It is just a loose tenon and that can be done with a variety of tooling, including hand-tools only as has been done for centuries. However, the Domino excels at creating these tight joints extremely quickly (and accurately). Unless you're doing a lot of the same ones (production style), I'd argue there's no faster way than a Domino.
Great informational video, thanks. FYI you can buy the XL 700 adapter from Seneca that will allow you to use the smaller cutters that is used on the 500. Here is what you’ll need: RTS-500 Cutter Adapter for Festool Domino DF 700 × 1 from Seneca Woodworking $69.95
I am a time served joiner and cabinet maker of 50 plus years, and a DF700 was very much a luxury for someone who only makes anything as a hobby as I have been a full time minister for some 24 years, but as my wife didn't mind, I went ahead and bought it. It worked great until it was out of guarantee (remember very limited use and kept in its case) and then of course it broke down. It was a case of either writing it off or having it repaired at about £260. It's limited use did not make a blind bit of difference to Festool. The bottom line is, don't buy one as every time I use it now, I use it with a degree of trepidation as I am hoping it will not break down again. My dewalt biscuit cutter is about twelve years old and done 5000 times the amount of work as festool and it is still going great.
It seems everyone says “you can do most things with the 500” but my question is; if you could only have one, which one would you pick? Can you still do relatively small stuff with the xl?
For the price of that thing that .050 thick plastic container complete with styrofoam inserts looks disposable. I would build it into a dedicated drawer. Looks like a well thought out tool and it should be by now. How long has morticing been a thing?
Great insight on the Domino. I guess the only downside about the product is the price. Now all you have to do is make the decision on if you want the price trade-off for the ease-of-use
I agree they are fantastic, the ease of a biscuit jointer & the strength of a tenon but would it pay for it self? as I said over £1,000 for the domino & loose tenons
Very nice job on the video. I have a question that I hope you can help with. I started working with live edge slabs. My current project is to make a low bench for a foyer. I want to joint large legs to the bottom of the slab at 15 degrees. My concern is how do I line up the machine to the bottom of the slab? I don't have a straight edge on the slab to use as a reference. Have you ever created a mortise on the bottom of a large flat surface? Thanks.
I would only like to buy one, would you suggest the 700 or the 500? I was thinking the 700 and if I needed to have smaller joints than the 700 could handle I could use biscuits or something else. I would like your thoughts on the matter.
+paulluna45 The main reason why I bought the 700 was that as night follows day; if I bought the 500 I would get an order for something that needed the bigger model soon afterwards. Beside that, I love my biscuit cutter for small work, why duplicate, even if you could argue that the 500 is better than a biscuit cutter.
lifeshort I'm a moron because I am new to woodworking and have never done joinery before, so I asked a question before buying any equipment?! Really, that makes me a moron?
Festool makes some great tools but like others have mentioned, you really need to weigh their cost against what you gain. I love their tools but I was not able to justify the use of the Domino in my shop. I have a biscuit jointer for some joints, a custom mortiser, and either a router or table saw to cut tenons. I am old school so using screws or nails is not something I tend to build with. M&T's are a strong joint and the Domino is a nice solution; just not for me. Great video presentation and product review! Thanks for taking time to share your time with us. It is appreciated.
The Festool is a little more versatile but for 98% of what I use them for (jointing table top boards), the biscuit jointer works just fine. Some argue that the tenon and mortise is stronger, and they would be right, but with today's glues, it is rather a mute point. The wood will split before the glue gives way at the joint. I use them strictly for keeping surfaces flat while gluing up to reduce sanding\planing work later.
Yeah I just bought the XL 700 and connector set along with two other domino sets of the 12&14 and smaller set and the adapter for the smaller cutters to use on the 700XL $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ OUCH! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 haven’t used it yet but am anxious to. Before getting this sweet tool, I used to make my mortises using my SMith n Wesson 500 MAG 10” barrel. Had to clean up the mortises a little afterwards though 🤣🤣🤣🤣💥💥🤣🤣🤣🤣🤙🏻🤙🏻🤙🏻🤙🏻
For sure -- everyone needs to make their own decision on the cost/benefit tradeoff! That's a different equation for each person. Good keeping it real ;)
Mike Morton agreed. A person can make the “price vs. convenience vs. benefits” argument about almost any consumer product. “...why drive a Camaro when a Yugo can get you from point A to point B?” Of course, now that I’ve ordered an XL 700 for myself, I can no longer afford a Camaro. But we have to have our own priorities, right? :)
About the price guys, time is money. Unless you use this tool , you don't understand just how fast it is. An extra project will pay for the tool in no time.
Pause the video at 15:07 and notice how far out of alignment that "flush across the top" joint is. Is that crap tool or a crap carp? Either way, a mistake like that is just not on. I am chalking that mistake up to operator error looks like a fantastic tool.
the presentation is awesome was wondering if festools tools are already in africa.... if not pass me one of the domino jointers since u have two..... tito all the way from kenya
Why did not you edit out (just mute) the 12-meter mistakes @ 2:30 & 4:25? And also the drumbeat at 1:43? Otherwise, great demo. If I ever have the $$ to splurge, I will buy the XL DF 700 I wood probably make my own dominoes, which wood let me name any wood type they're made of.
I have been a carpenter for 27 yrs & ran my own business since 2000, every tool has to earn its keep, unless you are just playing at being a carpenter, like most on here
wow read the comments after I posted my d handle comment, what are you guys even doing by commenting in here, I'm a pro with a whopping 30 years experience and love this tool, keep it clean cause your "stops" will fail. holy crap its a piece of wood. get a life
David Chambers can you not read? The header of the presentation is “ on the ...Domino xl “ the clue matey, is in Domino, it’s only you waffling on about something unrelated - Best Skip to a Chanel that’s more on your level!
For all that money, I would think Festool could at least include the machine screw that holds the fence depth index bracket securely to the fence. It is clearly missing and it's too bad Mr. Morton didn't notice.
Avoid using the indexing pins. I have cut in excess of 14,000 mortises with the 500 Domino and always use a precise fit mortise mated to an elongated mortise. this gives you wiggle room. And the video shows that the two pieces of wood were NOT flush at the top. I would not give up my Domino, I use it a lot but the indexing pins are not as good as they would appear. You cannot count on the travel of the bit to always be perfectly centered between the indexing pins and you don't want to be adjusting every time you turn around.
@@JonDunnmusician yes, until it does not. This was the advise the Festool repair facility gave me. The oscillation can shift left or right of center over time.
I'm gonna "go ahead" and give you a tip on improving your review: go ahead and purge the narration of every "go ahead". Don't "go ahead" and do something, just do it! That's 20% time saved, plus one viewer.
Hey Luka - yeah, that was just a "demonstration joint" - how the mortises+floating tenon works. It was definitely loose: those blackened tenons are my undersized (sanded down) test dominoes so the joints are loose for testing. The Domino definitely makes nice+tight joints and I should have showed that better!
nice presentation but it looks lie expensive router for idiots, nothing more, why they not have option for normal 8mm holes for normal cheap dowels? or just other holes for screws? because they want you to buy the custom dowels !!!
Wow, you managed to get to 4 minutes without saying "go ahead." Nice job. Sadly, you forgot to keep a handle on the verbal tick after that, and said it 4 more times in the next 45 seconds. It's a shame, I was enjoying it up to that point, when I had to go ahead and stop watching. It's all VO, you could do a re-edit :)
+David Chambers I would say generally biscuits are much thinner and lighter material. Festool Dominos go in pretty deep and are thicker chunks of wood. Analogous to slip or loose tenons.
+David Chambers I find the biscuit joiner to be faster for certain things (shelfes comes to mind). The biscuits will not be as strong though. Also, biscuits may be to wide for small frame constructions (the 500 has a 4 millimeter bit). Another bonus for the biscuit joiner is that usually is much cheaper, in sweden you typically will find a used bosch or makita biscuit joiner for something like 100-150 $. A used domino 500 is likely 3-4 times that prize.
+David Chambers I have been a joiner and cabinet maker for going one 55 years and I have used all sorts of mortice machines beside cutting more mortices by hand than I care to remember. Therefore I would argue that the domino machine cuts a mortice, but what goes into the mortice isn't a tenon but an oblong dowel. By the way, I normally cut a light mortice into the end grain and a loose mortice in the styles as I have found that this works best.
