Hi Captain
I have been deep into looking at joints, jointing methods, the different ways to produce different joints and loads of videos and opinions. The one conclusion that could be drawn is that a skilled, timeserved and experienced woodworker can produce good joints and in a reasonable timescale without using any of these so called systems, but these systems allow the lesser skilled to produce the same results. I assembled my oven unit today, well the two sides and used 10mm by 100mm dowels set 60mm into the end grain and 40mm into the side grain with five in each joint. The dowel holes were all done with a Dowelmax and is a slow but very accurate method that aligns and assembles well, you need some Besssey clamps to apply the pressure to fully close the joints. The dowels cost £10 per hundred compared to say 10 by 80mm dominos that would cost £40. To be totally fair I would say you need two dowels for each of these Dominos but the cost is still double. Looking at the Mafell doweler it has some good points but has a plunge depth of just 40mm which for Dowels i think lets it down although it is comparable to the Domino 500 at just 28mm.
I agree that having both is a luxury and for some people they don't like the extra weight of the 700, but what is an extra 2Kg, especially if you have come from metalworking and there are views that this makes the 700 more stable in use. The other aspect is regarding using the 700 on narrow stock, the cutter centre is 15mm from the machines base, so using the base you would just need to raise the workpiece 5mm to centre the cutter on 20mm stock.
I am not a woodworker who makes dainty or delicate items and like things robust so tend to use heavier than required wood, the biggest thing that stops me thinking of the 500 is that 28mm plunge, it seems so shallow compared to the 70mm plunge of the 700 and I can get that depth on the dowelmax.
Then I saw a video where a guy has aligned two pieces of wood for joining, using the 700 he cuts mortices through both pieces all along its length and then glues up the dominos and knocks them in flush before finishing, the outline of the Dominos becomes a feature.
When you
I have the adapter to use the smaller cutters and it's fine but it does feel like a sledgehammer to crack a nut when weilding such a hefty tool to cut a 4mm mortice.
do you have the full 70mm plunge or does it limit it to the 500's 28mm? I am not saying that there is any reason why you would want a 4mm Domino mortice cut to 70mm! The main sizes I would use are 6, 8 and 10 but having the option of 12 & 14 could be handy.