 My Festool rep came by last Friday to give us some training on the new Domino XL. I started selling Festool about five years ago because of the original Domino 500 and the new XL is the next logical step up.
A Domino machine is in essence a portable slot mortising machine with the indexing ability of a quality biscuit joiner and the joint strength of a floating tenon. It has changed the way joinery is done on a professional basis, and I know a lot of part time builders are building more, faster because of the Domino.
 The Domino XL allows you to make bigger tenons - 12, and 14mm, and much longer dominos in all sizes. While in theory with the original Domino 500 was you could join together a chair or table and in most cases it would be fine, now with the larger tenons there is no doubt.
 The new Domino XL will be available on June 1 and if you pre-order we will do our darnedest to make sure that no matter where you live in the country you will have your Domino delivered on June 1.
However if you want to see the machine in action and try it out yourself come by our showroom on May 11 between 11:00 and 3:00, we will have coffee, snacks, and at least one Domino XL you can play with. We will also have the a "Green" linseed oil finishing kit (SurFix Finish Applicator Set) and the SysLite LED Worklamp.
I also want to announce a contest - full details and rules coming later - but we want you to get a head start:
Contest Rules:
 We want everyone to give some thought on how useful and quick building with a Domino and the Domino XL is. However since the XL won't be available until June 1 the contest only requires a design.
The requirement for entry is simply a drawing or sketch of anything that can be built using only the following materials:
1 - up to 20 running feet of solid construction grade lumber .
2 - one piece of sheet goods - measuring up to 4' x 4'
The only method of joinery can be with the Domino or the new Domino XL.
Deadline for emailed entries 9 AM May 31 2012
Deadline for in person entries 3:00 PM May 31 2012
Winners will be decided by a panel of judges based on the following criteria:
Elegance of execution.
Usefulness of the finished piece.
If two entries are judged similar the winning entry will also take into account the least amount of material used.
First prize:
 CXS Drill with right angle attachment
Second Prize
Festool SurFix Finish Applicator Set.
If you show up with an entry on the demo day May 11th you will get a t-shirt or a hat
The contest open to everyone except Festool or TFWW employees.
Next week or earlier I will release more information and the boiler plate, I but I wanted everyone to get a head start. Some of you might wonder about the fairly short time to make a entry - our thoughts are that since it's only design what you need is a good idea and a few minutes to sketch it out. For sketching remember you can download all the isometric drafting paper you want.
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Your comment reminds me of something that happened a long time ago, when I was in grad school: We had just gotten a new floppy disk drive for the computer in our lab (an 8" double-density drive--that tells you how old I am). I mentioned to my adviser how the new drive used a new data encoding method and therefore could store twice as much data as the old drive. His response was, "Why didn't they just think of that encoding method in the first place?"
I think you can rest assured that if Festool had had a practical Domino XL a few years back, they would have sold it then. It's a very long journey from coming up with a concept for a product to making it real.
Festools are pricey, but last and last. For sure , one has to be selective in a Festool purchase as it is not an impulse buy.