" wrote:
I think if there was any way at all I could justify buying a Domino, I
would. I have only used it to cut a test slot, but having seen what it
can do I wouldn't hesitate to buy one if I needed it. Having seen Leon's
use of it over the years as well as understanding how he uses it has
sold me. I don't know of anyone that has been more creative in that
tool's use. I have seen him use it for building great joints, as an
alignment device that gives great connectivity and even as a decorative
feature in a joinery.

The Domino reminds me of when I got my first "hole shooter" or drill that
was powerful enough to drive screws back in '75. You could buy a drill
to make a hole in general carpentry use, but a real Milwaukee "hole
shooter" along with long Phillips screws that were drivable changed
everything. In '75 a "good drill" was about $30. A Milwaukee drill that
could drive screws all day long was a whopping $90. Drivable screws were
expensive themselves and hard to come by, but after about 2-3 years the
screws were everywhere.

We soon found out in use you couldn't drive the longer screws with cheap
drills. More and more we were screwing things together as we found out
that you didn't need to clamp, you didn't need room to apply a mechanical
fastener, and they held very well. I was working in commercial then, and
we started screwing everything together. My screw driving drill was just
as important to me as my circular saw. Strangely, most of my carpenter
friends wouldn't invest in a powerful drill to drive screws. What a
shame.., my forty year old drill still works, so I would say it was certainly worth it.

I think another similarity is the fact that the more we screwed things
together, the more things we thought of we could do more easily by
screwing instead of nailing. We didn't need to clamp as much and the
joints still snugged up tight so that made their use much quicker to
connect wood, and even dissimilar materials. When we started doing all
steel framing, it required the ubiquitous "sheetrock screw" that you see
in all sizes now. Then suddenly, there were screwguns, screw shooters,
and we started to get details from architects that required components to
be screwed together.

I see the Domino that way, and if they ever get to the point where their
patents expire or the license out their technology, I would be that there
would be a slew of new uses for that machine, just like the old screwshooters.

And like the Fein multitool. Now that I have beat the living snot out of
my HF model, I would have bought the Fein model and gladly paid the
fortune they were asking for it had I known how useful it is. I had no
idea... but the longer I have it the more I find to do with it.

Robert

I have an old, relatively old, DeWalt 3/8 corded drill. It is a decent
drill and probably the best corded that I have owned. Swingman has a
Milwaukee hole shooter and I have used it. That will be my next corded
drill. Those drills simply spin the chuck and anything attached to the
chuck "or" it spins the operator. :-). There is no staling that drill,
pull the trigger and something is going to spin, the chuck or the drill and
what is holding the drill. It has a simple task and it does that better
than any drill that I have ever used.

And speaking of drills, here it comes, wait for it, there is something
similar to the hole shooter in the cordless drills. Four years ago I was
using the best brand of cordless drill that I had ever owned, Makita. It
was a 12 volt model and I also had its side kick the impact driver. That
was my first impact and as most know the impact is one of those tools you
don't really understand its versatility until you start using one. It
effectively replaced the corded DeWalt when extra grunt was needed. I
would say that 98% of what I needed to spin was done with the combination
of those two Makita tools.
Four years ago I was on my second set of batteries and in need of my third
set and after 7-8 years there were improved models out there. Last
Christmas 3 years ago my wife bought me the Festool T-15-3 cordless drill
set. Well I could have bought another new Makita drill, impact, charger,
and a pair of batteries for less than half of what she paid. It was at
least comforting to know that with Festool's pricing policy that she did
not have to shop the suppliers to get the best price.
So for the last 3-1/2 years neither of the Makitas, or the Bosch impact,
that mysteriously showed up on my door step several years ago, or the
corded DeWalt have seen any action. I thought surely I would have to keep
one of the impacts going but have not found that to be true. I went from
using the Makita impact for 65% of my driving needs to zero after getting
the Festool t-15 drill.
I'm not sure if it is the brushless technology or simply the Festool's
superior quality but it drives 3-1/2" deck screws with no hesitation. Now
most any drill will do that but I can drive the screw at most any speed,
even at a crawl, and stop 3/4 into the edge of a 2x4 and resume driving
that screw with just a slight pull of the trigger.
I was almost overjoyed to learn a few days ago that Festool warrants their
new replacement batteries with the same 3 year warranty as all of their
other tools. And equally as happy that they announced that they dropped
their pricing on their batteries. A little research with an on line
retailer indicated that I can buy a new Li-ion 5.2 amp battery for $55,
shipped.