Last year, Festool launched a line of knockdown-style fasteners for the DOMINO XL DF 700 Joiner. In response to the popularity of those accessories, the company is now offering similar options for its original, smaller DF 500 Q DOMINO Joiner, too. With these new connectors, furniture builders, carpenters and other end-users can create furniture, casework and other custom constructed pieces that can be assembled and disassembled using only a hex wrench.
The Festool DOMINO DF 500 connectors make flat or corner joints in 3/4-in. material, providing simple and quick assembly without the need for templates or complex measuring. Here’s how it works: the DOMINO Joiner is used to form an oblong pocket in one or both mating workpieces. Then, depending on the joint, a custom drilling template fits into the pocket to register for drilling a hole that accepts a mating component for the connector. Once all of the slots and holes for a joint are cut, the connector components install in the workpieces and fasten the project together with a single hex driver.
Festool says its DOMINO DF 500 connectors are:
• Fast — Quick and simple machining processes with the DOMINO Joiner provide the basis for smooth and rapid assembly and disassembly of furniture and panel pieces.
• Stable — Based on the DOMINO mortise-and-tenon principle, joints made with the DOMINO Joiner benefit from the design of the oblong mortise and mating tenon. The knockdown metal fastener is robust with high connection strength.
• Flexible — Connect frames, panels, tops and other joints and pieces, then easily disconnect and reconstruct them as needed. This makes it possible to build larger projects in the shop, disassemble them for transport and then easily reassemble them on-site.
DF 500 connectors are engineered in two styles for making corner joints and two styles for center panel joints. The corner connectors sell for $90 (item 203168) or $110 (item 203166), depending on the style, for assembling 50 corner joints. The center panel connector options sell for $70 (item 203169) or $80 (item 203167) and include enough components for making 25 joints. Festool’s Drilling Template with dust collection port (item 203164) costs $78, and the Hinge Location Cutter (item 203165) — a specialized drill bit required for the Drilling Template — sells for $57. Four colors of plastic cover caps in brown, silver, white and grey (packs of 50 sell for $8 or $14, depending on color) are also available for hiding the exposed, drilled portion of the joint.
If you’re undecided about what you’ll need, you can opt for a combination kit (item 203170; $375) that includes an assortment of the corner and center panel connectors plus the drilling template, hinge location cutter, cover caps in various colors, a quantity of 8×36 Domino tenons and the hex driver. All of the components are packaged in a Systainer storage box.
“The new DOMINO connectors make knock-down joinery simple and stable,” says Leo Zirkler, vice president of marketing at Festool. “Now custom furniture makers and casework builders can break through the limits of shop-built pieces and on-site construction with the use of knock-down hardware.”
Learn more about Festool’s DF 500 Q connectors by clicking here.
