Festool Domino DF500 Q Review
It may sound like an extra-ordinary pizza chain power tool hybrid, but Festool are to be congratulated for the level of innovation achieved with this excellent piece of woodworking wizardry. At first glance the DF500 Q Festool Domino Joiner looks and works like a standard plate joiner, but the Domino makes use of a spiral shaped bit that spins and oscillates to cut a full mortise in a single plunge. The spiral bit features a durable carbide tip, so you can rest assured that the DF500 Q will get to work cleanly and quickly. Festool state that each bit can be used in the creation of 5,000 to 14,000 joints, depending on what materials you work with – frequent bit replacement is therefore not something that will be on your mind.
Instead of the “biscuits” used with a typical biscuit joiner, the Festool Domino DF500 Q Joiner uses beech slip tenons measuring 3/8 inches thick, 2 inches long and 7/8 inches wide. Together wide the uniformly cut mortises provided by the oscillating bit, the tenons make for extremely strong joints that can be used in all kinds of projects like cabinet doors, drawers tables and chairs. Let’s take a closer look at the Festool Domino Joiner’s technical specs and best features:
• Works with prefabricated Domino tenons to make joinery simple
• Makes it easy to control mortise depth and width
• Seven-stepped height adjustment for use with a variety of materials
• Set includes trim stop for narrow materials and cross stop for repeat hole spacing
• Mortise width adjustment with the turn of a dial allows for easier alignment when joining panels.
• Pivoting Fence allows mortises infinitely variable mortising angles from 0-90° with positive stops at 22.5°, 45°, 67.5°.
• Indexing pins for quick alignment against the edge of the workpiece for accurate placement.
• Powerful 420 watt motor drives the cutter spindle at 23,400 RPM
• Unique, patented cutting action that rotates and oscillates to create perfect, clean, and repeatable mortises every time.
• 11/16″ dust port extracts up to 95 of chips generated when used together with any one of Festools vacuum systems
The Festool Domino joiner makes adjustments a breeze. Settings for depth and width of cut are accurate and simple. As with a standard biscuit joiner, you reference off a movable front fence to get different slot locations and angles. The DF500 Q movable fence is nicely engineered too. But the real sizzle here is the speed with which the DF500 Q get things done. It’s entirely possible to assemble an entire table, complete with two slip tenons at each joint (comprising 32 mortises in all) in about half an hour. Let’s not forget that the Festool Domino practically guarantees the accuracy of your work, with perfect alignment of parts.
I can’t think of a way to do this faster with the same resultant joint strength and results – nothing comes even close in my experience. The Festool Domino Joiner was engineered with one goal – to deliver flawless mortises every single time. And they succeeded. It’s as simple as that. This review by Gary Katz is is worth reading and the video below is a great review.



























