The real domino killer?

this is the Infamous Festival Domino that comes with a gut punching price tag of twelve hundred dollars but this is the brand new GSM pocket Mill Pro that appears to do everything that's more expensive cousin Ken at a fraction of the price so does the Domino finally have some real competition it's time to find out let's get this out of the way right now I asked jessum to send me this because I was so intrigued but with no strings attached they wanted to pay me I declined because I believe a review should be unbiased in fact my relationship with jessam started because they once emailed me saying we know you will tell us if you hate it which I greatly appreciate so one last time for the people at home this is not sponsored anything I don't like I'll tell you like these less than Stellar assembly instructions I mean come on can we at least get color photos if you aren't all familiar with GSM you know about their quality standards they don't make cheap looking or feeling products the pocket Mill is absolutely no different it's substantial in your hand and for the purest it's machined in Canada out of anodized aluminum in stainless steel unlike the Domino though you don't get the sustainer for storage you can decide if that's important to you or not but I happen to like my sustainers this is the optional workstation that utilizes the micro jig match fit system which you know I'm a fan of if you've ever watched my channel yes that's an added costs don't worry we're going to break all this down later I want to show you how this whole thing works first there are a lot of differences between a festal domino and this pocket Mill Pro for starters the mortise to accept the loose Tenon is not actually cut no it's drilled so unlike the Domino or the Domino knockoffs that use a router your drill will be the star of the show this is a carbide End Mill attached to a custom designed stainless steel drill extension once your piece is lined up the drill bit is inserted into these bearings and then the magic happens just them developed a step down process that allows The Jig to lower 50 thousandths of an inch after each side to side pass until the desired depth is hit okay I bet at this point you have so many questions and so do my Instagram followers when I teased this recently so let me do my best to cover everything I possibly can for instance it looks complicated how do you set it up like a domino or dowels I start with marking layouts on the work pieces but a minor disadvantage in this application is that line doesn't do you any good and it needs to be transferred down along the edge or end grain not a huge deal it's just part of the process you also need to strike a line horizontally to set the proper distance for the center line of the mortise well the Domino that's as easy as adjusting the fence height on the machine these are parts for a chair frame I'm building and I want extra strength so I'm doing two rows of mortises and need to strike a second line this gives me Center points for alignment you'll see why in a moment but those horizontal lines only need to be marked on one piece I can bring this over the workstation and get everything lined up for the top row of mortises using these guides clamp it all in place while making sure the face of the work piece is flush with the bottom of the jig pull this mechanism forward and then lock it into place I already have my side guides adjusted to cut a tight fitting mortise and the depth set to cut just barely deeper than 15 millimeters which is half the length of this 30 millimeter Tenon don't worry I'll show you how to adjust all this later and let you know if it's a pain or not you will want your bit spinning as fast as possible so Crank that sucker all the way up connect your vacuum and ironically this perfectly fits a Festool hose now it's as easy as popping your drill into place and doing the side to side chimney I found the key is to go a little slow during the first few passes as the End Mill enters the work piece this will leave the cleanest cut but once you're in have at it and don't feel like you need to finesse The Jig once the guide bottoms out remove the drill hit this really fun button to reset everything for later and your mortise is cut so what about the fit again I have mine set to a tighter cut for the width I can get this even closer but for what I'm doing that's just not necessary if you've used a domino you know how snug a Tenon can be in the mortise in fact they are so tight that I often find myself using pliers to remove them during a dry fit even after sanding off the side ridges the GSM is really good but definitely not as tight as the Domino at the top of the mortise but towards the bottom it's nice and snug with no play I'm guessing this has to do with deflection as the End Mill enters the work piece but the real test is does it keep these two surfaces perfectly flush and so far I'm not finding any issues and remember the tendons will also swell once wood glue is applied all right I have all the tighter fits done for these leg pieces time to draw some wider mortises for the opposing sides this is one of the major advantages floating mortise and Tenon have over dowels or the bead lock system you don't need to be dead on accurate when referencing your lines during the cut because the extra width in the mortise gives you horizontal adjustability during assembly does the joint lose a bit of strength potentially but there's still plenty of long grain surface area making contact if you misfire what the dowels are bead lock your joint will be all out of whack to change the width of the mortise use the supplied Allen key and adjust these horizontal stops I know from playing around with the pocket Mill that just flush with the inside of this face is a mildly sloppy fit personally it's nitpicky but I do wish jessum had created a tool-less adjustment with milled stops at three nominal Dimensions like the Domino that feels like a bit of a Miss now that your jig is set to this position you can rinse and repeat by simply lining up your vertical line for the next mortise clamp a work piece down and you're back to Drilling at this point you might be asking can this actually do anything in Domino can if you spend more than 10 minutes on YouTube I'm guessing you've heard content creators justify the use of this tool by saying something along the lines of don't worry if you don't have a domino because you could do the exact same thing with dowels or screws and yes maybe that helps us sleep better at night but the truth is there are certain instances when a domino can perform tasks others simply can't try doing this with screws or dowels okay not exactly what I was talking about but the Domino is considered the gold standard for floating mortise and Tenon not because of speed but because of Versatility also a biscuit joiner is not a suitable replacement this is not a video explaining why you do your own research if you have questions that was a lot of words and cameos to Simply tell you no the pocket Mill can't do everything a domino can yeah but can the baconil even do miters good question let me be the first to say I don't use my Domino on angled pieces very often at all but if you want to do something like a waterfall mitered Edge for a coffee table and give it the extra strength of mortise and Tenon the fastest and easiest way for you to do that is with this tool for all the traditionalists I don't care about routers or anything hand cut just go watch another video and leave me alone when you purchase this workstation for an extra 120 your pocket meal Pro can do the same thing with angles from zero to 45 degrees you simply loosen these hold Downs adjust the miter attachment to your desired angle and The Cutting or I guess drilling operation is exactly the same as before but this brings us to an interesting point can you talk about the workflow beginner Woodworkers learn early on the idea of bringing a tool to the work piece versus bringing a work piece to the tool for instance you take smaller pieces of wood to a table saw to cut to size but for a larger sheet of plywood it's safer and more accurate to take a track or circular saw to the piece and break it down same idea applies to the Domino we need to cut a bunch of mortises into big heavy boards for a tabletop glue up grabbing machine and start plunging without having to move the work piece it's fast and easy this J can go mobile using the angle attachment that comes standard with the basic pocket Mill Pro then you can start to replicate the same scenario I described with the Domino but it's not going to be as fast don't worry I'll have a side by side speed test later but can also easily be clamped to the edge of your workbench and used just like the workstation in my limited testing I follow the workflow of the Json is actually more reliable than the Festool in a couple specific instances when working on small parts with a domino things can get sketchy there just isn't a lot of room to hold everything securely unless you purchase an accessory like this Domino dock for an extra 65 dollars additionally when working with thinner material like these chair arms it can be challenging to keep the Domino perpendicular to the work piece because it wants the tip as you apply pressure to the top plate when that happens like it did on the top two mortises here you can see what it does to the alignment of these faces and that's no good the pocket Mill Pro well yes a touch slower absolutely shines for smaller and thin Parts because you can clamp everything nice and secure to The Jig and nothing will tip while doing your side to side shimmy overall it's a nice and unexpected Advantage so again think about what you mostly build let's bring the Domino back to our workpiece and talk about mortises in the center of a board another situation where the Domino absolutely shines without adjusting the fence you can secure a shelf in the middle of a carcass in under one minute can the pocket Mill Pro even do that short answer yes but you do need another jig jessum will be selling this as an add-on but remember you should Factor this into the purchase price if it's a requirement for your needs the smaller panel shown here can cut into the center boards up to eight and a half inches wide and the larger panel up to 34.5 inches wide the process is reasonably easy figure out the center line for your mortises and then I would use something like a straight edge to keep it perpendicular and cut away and bring your shells back over to the workstation or side of your bench and cut the mating pieces now for me I can count on one hand the number of times I've done this in three years owning a domino remember we're all different one of my favorite features of the df500 are the stock UPS on the size of the cutter if you're unfamiliar these provide exact references without needing to measure and Mark if I'm being honest using these stops is the only time I feel really good about getting a joint to line up perfectly because there is occasionally human error when marking and referencing a line with the sites good news and I'm sure a lot of other people will think of better solutions for the pocket Mill Pro but my initial thought if I need to cut a bunch of pieces with the same mortise location and didn't want to measure like with a domino it's by setting up a stop block on the side of the jig will get you the same result let's rapid fire some additional questions before I let you know if this is a buy or sell situation if you already made up your mind and don't care what I have to say there's a link in the description below that will get you 10 off and free shipping through the end of March just enter promo code pocketmail at checkout are the drill bits metric or imperial Now The Jig comes standard with a six millimeter End Mill other sizes available for purchase are 5 8 and 10 millimeters additionally quarter and 3 8 of an inch for the Imperial folks those range in prices from 44 to 86 dollars whereas the Domino Cutters are all around fifty four dollars for the comparable sizes the main difference is the Festool or carbide tipped and the GSM are all carbide so theoretically it should last longer and it's unlikely you ever need to replace one what about the depth of cut the pocket Mill pro has a max depth of 26 and a half millimeters and the df-500 has a max depth of 28 millimeters for the people at home who prefer a complicated and outdated standard of measurement like me that's right around 1 1 32 of an inch and 1 1 16 of an inch respectively time difference between the two machines these are both set up so you don't need to sit through the full experience the first series of cuts are four mortises on the tight setting and the Domino got it done in one minute and 15 seconds the pocket Mill 3 minutes and 15 seconds but rather than show you best case scenario for the pocket Mill let's cover worst case because now I need to adjust the jig for a wider cut the Domino is as simple as a flick of the dial and back to work the pocket Mill requires the Allen key and once it was all said and done the Domino took 45 seconds on the last round for a grand total of two minutes to cut all six mortises and the pocket Mill Pro an additional 205 for a grand total of 5 minutes and 20 seconds with a real world example like these chairs you're looking at a difference of six to seven minutes of extra work per frame now you make your own determination if that's a big deal or not in the grand scheme of a project what does it actually cost the basic pocket Mill Pro with one cutter comes in at 3 349.99 if you had the workstation which includes the miter attachment that brings the price to 469. the Domino df-500 Joiner has an opening price tag of 1199 now neither come with tenants you're on the hook for buying your own or making them I'm sorry it's not a j poppy can I just use a router of course David pachuto and Brad Rodriguez recently published videos breaking down router jigs but they do have some major limitations that the pocket Mill Pro doesn't I'll leave links to those videos below personally I avoid using routers at all costs because I just don't like them and I really wasn't a fan of how exposed the bits were when those two showcased them being used should I just wait for the Domino patent to expire best case scenario the Domino patent potentially ends at the end of 2024 early 2025. now I've asked privately but even the people who work at Festival can't really tell you because there is a lot of smoke in mirrors worst case scenario to find folks in Germany have been making improvements to the design and have filed additional patents which happens all the time it would mean it will be years before they are competitor dominoes out on the market point being don't listen to the internet no one confidently knows do you need the workstation if you do not have a big workbench with a vise or clamping abilities like this one on the side you might struggle with the 350 dollar basic unit or if you want to make a lot of miter cuts the workstation is a must what I do find a bit confusing is you lose this angled attachment when upgrading from the basic unit to the workstation now it's not a deal breaker it's more annoying and quite frankly seems a bit unfair is it worth it let's make a couple things very clear this is not an item targeted at professionals or anyone that wants to get rich selling their work in fact I'm not even sure why those people watch this type of content but I digress however if you're a home hobbyist or occasionally sell your work to fund a tool addiction and can't stomach the 1200 price tag of the Domino this might be more palatable now I can already fill the comments section heating up especially from the festival owner saying just save your money and get the Domino you won't regret it and they're right very few people regret buying a domino if they have the means but think of it from this perspective at a savings of 700 or 850 if you opt for the basic jig it leaves a lot of budget for another more important purchase like a DeWalt planer or a new table saw two tools you will use infinitely more than a domino I remember it like it was yesterday when I learned that you could secure two ports together using only a drill with pocket holes it was empowering as a beginner woodworker now I'm not saying this is a one for one existential experience but the idea being able to create a completely hidden joint like a mortise and Tenon was something as accessible and safe as a drill it's encouraging for our craft and if you want to tell me the art of woodworking is dying because no one knows how to cut traditional joints without modern tools I quite frankly don't care go ask the Egyptians if they would like a pyramid do-over with the assistance of modern day cranes look you won't be disappointed with the versatility of this jig I already own a domino but I can see myself opting for the pocket Mill Pro in certain situations going forward if I were at a different stage in my woodworking career I would no doubt purchase this without much hesitation again none of this was sponsored it's just my own thoughts we'll see ya

Channel: Lincoln St. Woodworks

Views: 1,177,793

Keywords: festool domino, mortise and tenon, domino alternative, domino joiner, dowel joint, woodworking, woodworking tools

Id: eK0C95NkeyY

Length: 15min 23sec (923 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 19 2023