Tried festool dominos vs homemade dowel jigs for face frames

I always used my shopmade dowel jigs for face frame joinery, thought I had it dialed in. Finally broke down and bought a Domino DF 500 after a 3 week backlog of frames in my shop near Charlotte. The time difference is wild - I knocked out 12 face frames in the same time it used to take me to do 4 with dowels. Has anyone else found the dust extraction on the Domino to be surprisingly good for a plunge tool, or was that just my experience?

3 comments

3 Comments

sullivan.spencer1mo ago

Wait, has anyone else noticed the Domino is way better on dust than people give it credit for? @cole994 I gotta push back a bit though - the dust collection isn't just decent, it's honestly best in class for a plunge tool. I ran my DF500 with a cheap Ridgid shop vac and it still kept my shop way cleaner than my dowel jig setup ever did. The domino chips barely fly anywhere compared to dowel drilling where you get sawdust everywhere. Plus the speed difference is real - I was skeptical too until I timed myself. 12 frames in 4 hours vs 4 frames in 3 hours is a massive gap no matter how you slice it.

cole9941mo ago

Hang on, 12 frames in the time it takes to do 4 with dowels? That sounds like you're comparing apples to oranges if you had a 3 week backlog. My experience with the Domino dust collection is that it's decent but nothing to write home about, especially if your shop vac isn't top-tier. Take this with a grain of salt, but maybe you were just due for a faster method regardless of the tool.

gavin69224d ago

man that 3 week backlog thing is a good point, i never thought about it like that. sometimes you just get in a groove and anything would feel faster. i remember one time i was doing cabinet doors and it took forever with a dowel jig then i switched to a biscuit joiner and suddenly i was flying. but that doesn't always mean the tool is better, it's just different. dust wise you're right too, my shop vac is a cheap one and the domino still spits some dust out the sides, nothing magical. i think cole just had a run of good luck with his timing is all.