Joel's Blog

In Which We Get To Play With a Domino XL (Your Turn May 11) And A Contest Announcement

04/21/2012

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.

In Which We Get To Play With a Domino XL (Your Turn May 11) And A Contest Announcement 5

In Which We Get To Play With a Domino XL (Your Turn May 11) And A Contest Announcement 5

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.

In Which We Get To Play With a Domino XL (Your Turn May 11) And A Contest Announcement 6

In Which We Get To Play With a Domino XL (Your Turn May 11) And A Contest Announcement 6

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:

In Which We Get To Play With a Domino XL (Your Turn May 11) And A Contest Announcement 7

In Which We Get To Play With a Domino XL (Your Turn May 11) And A Contest Announcement 7

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:

In Which We Get To Play With a Domino XL (Your Turn May 11) And A Contest Announcement 3

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.

Join the conversation

04/21/2012 CT Kelly

You mean after dropping 900 on the Domino, now they want me to drop 1200 on the XL, which you know damn well they had in the plans from the get go? WTF, why not have both ready to go at the start and then I would have had a choice? I have always thought Festool as overpriced but really nice, but i will never even cconsider them after this.

04/21/2012 Joel https://toolsforworkingwood.com

Don't panic. The XML is not a replacement or an upgrade from the 500. It only handles large dominos, not the smaller ones you need for sheet goods. I suspect some shops will have use for both machines but for lots of shops, that only work in sheet goods, there will be no incentive to get the second machine. For people doing furntiure the later machine is more appropriate but since it cannot do small dominos it's more of a special purpose machine than the earlier device.

04/21/2012 Steve

@CT Kelly,

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.

04/23/2012 Mike O'Brien

I have the original Domino acquired when released and at a lower price than it is now. The Domino XL is likely a response to requests for a Domino machine that would make larger and deeper mortises for loose tenon joinery in bigger projects. On rare occasion I have thought a larger mortise and tenon would be better, but I will just stick with my original Domino and use my Delta mortiser and tenon jig for my tablesaw for the occasional larger project. I agree with Joel, this is a case of apples and oranges, not small and large apples.
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.

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The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the blog's author and guests and in no way reflect the views of Tools for Working Wood.

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