Thread: Domino for Hire

To use in your workshop or take home and use?

Be a good way to evaluate one, and maybe get sumthin made.

I'd love to have a look but being 300k's from Melbourne puts a dampener on it.

So what the deal with the domino anyway? Is it worth $1k vs $150 - $300 for a biscuit joiner?

Cheers

Pete

would it be at your place?
or
take home to my place for a few days (to several weeks)?

who supplies the cutters — you or me?

who supplies the joiners — you or me?

training?

Originally Posted by Flowboy

Hi everyone,
I'm thinking of making a Domino (the Dark Princess of Joinery) available for hire to members of the forum lucky enough to live in the fair city of Melbourne. Can't give specific details yet, but it won't be expensive (I don't think.)
I need to get an idea of who could see benefit in being able to use a Domino to satisfy their own curiosity, or to help in home projects, such as have been discussed in other forumbria and without having to buy the beast.
So if you're interested please fill in the poll attached. If you want to discuss the merits of the Domino, please use the Festool forum. Otherwise, I'd like comments as well.

Thanks

Rob

It could be a goer. I could certainly have used one this weekend. (pics of the coffee table coming soon) and I certainly can't justify purchasing one.

Hi all,

As I said, its early days, but assume;
1. charge for time taken to where you want to use it, broken up into hours, days etc.
2. Training takes about 15-30 minutes and I think I can do that.
3 All accessories including cutters would be included.
4. Domino dowels would be purchased as I don't know how many you will use and much as I admire the honour system....
A bag of Dominoes (about $25.00, not concrete yet) would be the minimum purchase, but bear in mind they can be used as floating tenons with a little bit of thought.
I can suggest to you the appropriate dominoes for your job or you could ask the question of the Festool forum. Quite often what you think you need is overkill, because you tend to think in terms of biscuits (personal experience).

My aim is obviously not to lose money and maybe make a small profit, but I genuinely feel this is a good way for people to try and use in real situations, a Domino, without having to bear the sudden outlay of $1200-1600.
As I also said, I don't want to get caught up in the Domino v Biscuit Joiner balderdash again. If you really want to see what you can do with this, then this may be your chance.
Jugglingogre asks about price differential. If you're renting and its somewhere about (and this is not concrete) the same price as a Biscuit joiner to hire from Kennards, what's the problem? Convienience, speed accuracy and reproducibility suddenly become the big issue.

Regards

Rob

Hi Rob,

I'd be a bit leery about that, as some ham-fisted individual could do some nasty things to a Domi.

Whilst I'm reasonably sure that most forumites would give the tool due care and attention, your hire rates would have to be the price of the tool/(20 x 8) - ie recoup cost from 20 days hire, plus a margin.

Hmm, that could be quite attractive for some.

Also, the hirer would have to put down a decent deposit, including on the cutters, and buy their dominoes, preferably from you.

Have you thought about liability insurance, etc?

Perhaps you should, ahem!, 'borrow' Lignum's Domi while he's away and hire that out

I would really love to have access to a domi for a while.
BUT
On consideration, and having had a coupla friends in the hire industry, I must agree totally with Steve. Some ham fisted twit could wreck your machine and leave you holding the bag

The concept of recovering some of your cost and letting others have the benefit of using Domi's is a good idea.


But only fools :eek: lend out expensive equipment without adequate protection so how about them coming to you with their work and paying you to use the domi to make the cuts. That way you recover your cost, the equipment is not damaged and the forumite has the benefit of it.


Peter.

Then someone like Z ed (not Zed) COULD COME ALONG AND IT WOULD NEVER BE SEEN AGAIN (bugger, thick fingers).

Hi all,

Certainly there are issues to be dealt with. The first order of business was to get a reasonably accurate idea of the number of people within the Melbourne area who are Forumites who would find access to a Domino at reasonable price useful. Steve, you and I both know that usage will increase almost exponentially and that (I believe) one will be insufficient within months if not weeks. Liability is something I will look into along with some other issues if this appears to be a goer.

But let me lay this on you. Once I recoup my cost ( plus postage and handling), the tool could be used FOC except for the cost of dowels and replacement parts including cutters. Any damage would be payable for , with a minimum amount. A hefty deposit would also be required, but the figure needs to be on a scale of "merit" I believe. I would be happy to hold and maintain the beast but I'm not in this for the money, I want the people who do WW and who cannot afford this godsend to have access at as low a cost as possible.
What if a second instrument is bought and put through the same process and becomes free when paid for and kept somewhere else in Melbourne. And so the chain begins!!
I don't have all the answers yet, but lets be positive, this could really work.

Regards,

The man who built his castle in a swamp.

Rob,

You have a very generous and magnanimous attitude. For that I applaud you.

However, the reality of the world we live in is not quite so appreciative of the finer points of honour.

I'd suggest that you limit this scheme to bona fide members of this forum, and with the caveats of deposits, etc.

Perhaps Peter's idea of making a "Domi Studio" might be better, wherein a person wishing to take advantage of the Domi's capability comes to you and hires your skills allied with the tool?

I kinda like Peter's idea too - especially in the initial time when I would be inexperienced with the (very expensive) tool. But then you don't want to spend all your time on other people's joinery I suppose.

I am in the area and will be interested in how this pans out.

Kudos for coming out with the idea though!

Cheers,
Glenn

Hi all,

Steve and Peter, I think you may be right. My thought was that people could have 30 minutes with me then go for it. I would then take calls for support. Yes Steve, it is the real world, but I'm so sick of seeing negatives, that I'd like to try and give back something again. Having people work here initially is actually, I see now, a good concept as someone is available "on tap" so to speak to assist with issues and clarify reasons for certain procedures.
However, I still need numbers.

Thanks guys and regards,

Rob

Originally Posted by Flowboy

Hi all,

Steve and Peter, I think you may be right. My thought was that people could have 30 minutes with me then go for it. I would then take calls for support. Yes Steve, it is the real world, but I'm so sick of seeing negatives, that I'd like to try and give back something again. Having people work here initially is actually, I see now, a good concept as someone is available "on tap" so to speak to assist with issues and clarify reasons for certain procedures.
However, I still need numbers.

Thanks guys and regards,

Rob

Rob

may I make a few observations

As hobbiests what my father and I need most is occasional access to specialised tools that we don't have or don't have room for. Items like:
a wide belt (or drum) sander — for table tops and wide panels
a 16 or 18 inch bandsaw — for when I need to resaw thick material or cut sawn veneer from a stick bigger or tougher than my 14" BS will handle comfortably.
a wide jointer and/or thicknesser — to thickness 20" wide glued up panels
a vacuum press
morticing machine (but maybe not, now that the Domino is around)

I used a Domino to cut a couple of "play" joints last weekend. So I have some appreciation of it's ease of use and value.
In my view the Domino sells itself.

If your method of work involves machine cut joints, then the Domino is possibly the only tool you require for work pieces large enough to accomodate the smallest joiner. No more mortising machine or plunge router, no more tenons cut on a table saw, etc
I recollect that some years ago, FWW compared the strength of mortise and tenon joints vers biscuit reinforced butt joints for large doors and found that for most applications, a butt joint reinforced with biscuits was plenty strong enough for all but external doors. I suspect that a multiple Domino joint would be plenty strong enough for most applications.

So it comes down to an individual's perception of value and hence the affordability of the machine — and this has been debated ad nausium
Just let me say, if I didn't already have access to a bench top mortiser, a biscuit jointer, and a table saw tenoning jig, I'd skip all these and put the money into a domino.


I don't want to see you loose your shirt so my suggestion, for what it's worth is:
the client arrives with a sketch showing the finished layout of the pieces and each piece is clearly marked as to where it goes
you design the joint (joiner size, location, spacing)
people pay you to cut the joints
you only cut joints on pieces that have a clearly marked face side and fast edge
glue-up etc, occurs away from your place
you send the client home with the right number and size of joiner

you charge for the joiners like a wounded bull only joking

seriously, as your intent is to help out fellow forumites and to a lesser extent show off the versitility of the Domino, your fee needs to be high enough to discourage the frivolous (who would waste your shed time) whilst low enough to encourage fellow forumites to drop by

good luck


ian