Review: TSO BigFoot v2.0

TSO Products DBF-45 BigFoot v2.0 Base System for Festool Domino
Cost: $94.95

This is a review of the TSO BigFoot.  The BigFoot is intended to provide a larger surface to stabilize the Festool Domino when cutting mortises in the face of a workpiece than the OEM stock support bracket provides.  It does that very well.

Just to set a baseline, here's the OEM support bracket:

The TSO doesn't replace this; it supplements it.  I'll explain later.

Here's a shot of the TSO:

The extra stability for doing mortises into the face of a board is clear.  I didn't do a side-by-side photo, but it has several times more surface area than the OEM bracket.  The handle adds even more to that stability.  The points you see milled into the plate are at specific distances allowing very precise mortise location.  The center points are obvious, and the side points are 50mm from the base of the Domino.

Pop Quiz—If the point is 50mm from the base, how far is it from the center of the mortise?

I'll wait.........................

If you said 60mm, you're right.  The Domino base plate is 10mm from the center of the mortise.

Here is a shot showing what the BigFoot looks like in action:

Let's move on to other features.  The most interesting (although I haven't tried it yet) is the ability to attach a fence to align long strings of mortises.  That's made possible by the elongated holes you see in the next photo (the specks are dust, not flaws in the anodizing):

With the screws where they are in this photo, the BigFoot attaches flush to the Domino the same as the OEM bracket. 

The elongated holes are to allow attachment to that jig.  Plans are available on the TSO web site for a jig for long strings of mortises.  It's super simple; a board with a notch for the Domino to fit in.  The 60mm figure plays out there.

This is a shot of the bottom of the plate.  The four holes are threaded to allow attachment of a jig.

============================================================

OK, enough boring details, let's go back to when I said this TSO plate doesn't replace the OEM bracket; it supplements it.

What does that mean?

The OEM bracket has a feature.  There are spacers you can flip up to reduce the 37mm distance to the center of the mortise that the regular stops provide to 20mm.  That's super handy.  Try building a cabinet face frame without it.

I dealt with the TSO's lack of that feature in my own way.  I fashioned this piece of space-age technology:

Mind blowing, isn't it?  

Here's the deal.  The sides of the opening in the TSO are 25mm from the center.  That might be an acceptable distance, but I don't like eyeballing things; I like stops.  The vertical thing you see there is roughly 5mm thick, so I can achieve a (roughly) 20mm offset.

The exact number doesn't matter as long as it's consistent.

It's clumsy as hell, but it works.