Thermwood has completely redesigned and expanded the EZ Office library, which is part of the design offerings under its YouBuild program. Discussions with major national office product retailers have uncovered the need for a variety of resizable office furniture but the original EZ Office was only available in limited fixed sizes.

To address this, Thermwood programmers have (while retaining original styling) redesigned EZ Office products so they can be freely resized by the customer. All new designs have been machined, built and fully vetted and are ready.

Desks come in several styles which are each adjustable to any width within a range:

Library Style desks offer a working desktop with either two or three narrow drawers under the top or also available without drawers. 

Office Style desks can be made in widths from 30” to 66”. One style, available in widths from 30” to 48”, has a four drawer stack on either the left or right side. The second version available from 48” to 66” wide offers dual drawer stacks.

Mini Student style desks feature a pull-out shelf available from 24” to 36” (for use where space is at a premium).

Desks have finished appearance on both front and back and can be positioned against a wall or away from the wall with the users back to the wall. The simple, clean designs blend with virtually any decor.

Credenzas come in several complimentary styles with adjustable width to match the desks, offering the ability to mix and match components to address a wide variety of needs. Upper cabinet modules can be mounted to desks or credenzas of the same width.

Finally, a collection of base and tall wall cabinets and single or double shelves round out the collection.

This collection is called "EZ" because of its simple yet elegant design and the fact that all pieces are assembled with a screwdriver using “Lock Joints”. “Slot Slide” drawers assure perfect alignment yet do not require separate drawer slides. Drawer bottoms extend past the drawer sides and slide in dado slots machined into partitions.

Three different styles of drawer and door pulls are offered and some items, which can function without pulls, are available without pulls. These units are relatively easy to assemble with a caution that larger pieces may need two people to handle.

The full EZ Office library offering can be seen here.

About YouBuild:

YouBuild is a new and exciting opportunity for woodworkers with the proper equipment to address the huge furniture market in a unique and practical manner. Aided by local Retail Dealers and Design Centers, orders are placed online, parts are cut by local shops and then assembled by the customer. Extensive integrated technology make this easy, practical and profitable and an extensive and growing library of customizable designs address almost every area of home and office furnishings. For more information about YouBuild, click HERE

Thermwood has added a “Personal Pause Button” to its CNC routers that process YouBuild programs, which dramatically improves productivity.

Even though modern CNC machines rarely encounter production problems, they do happen. This means the machine operator must remain near the control to stop the machine should something unexpected occur. This limits what he or she can do, other than watch the machine.

To address this, Thermwood has developed a remote wireless “Pause Button” which can be clipped to a belt or pocket. Pressing this button stops the machine, much like an emergency stop, but this is different. The Pause Button, which works at distances of 100 feet or more, not only stops the machine in place but also offers several options for recovery:

• Back at the control screen, the system wants to know what happened and offers several options. You can just resume cutting by pressing “Resume”. Press the “Replace Tool” button and the machine drops off the tool holder with the broken tool and moves out of the way. Change the bit and replace the tool holder and tell the system to resume. It picks up the new tool, measures it and begins re-cutting the path for the broken tool.

• Perhaps parts are moving because you didn’t fly cut the table soon enough. By selecting “Leave Skin”, you can continue machining this sheet while leaving a skin on all remaining parts so they won’t move. You do have to remove the skin from these parts later but that is a lot easier and less expensive than remaking parts. When the sheet is done you can fly cut the table right in the middle of the program and then continue with the next sheet.

• Another possibility is that you encounter bad material or something else happened that makes this sheet unusable. Simply select “Start Sheet Over” and the system will return to Home and instruct you to replace the sheet. It will then re-cut that sheet and continue on. There is a process for pretty much anything that might happen and it all starts with the Pause Button.

Because the Pause button is remote, the operator can move away from the control to sort, label or edge band parts and still be able to stop the machine if something happens. The control even displays a large progress bar along the top of the screen which can be seen from some distance away. It is like the ones you see on your computer and tells you how much time is left before the operator needs to flip a sheet or remove finished parts. By the way, in YouBuild, all back side machining is done on the full sheet rather than one part at a time. It’s a lot faster.

If there is more than one person working in the cell, each can have their own Personal Pause Button.

Personal Pause Button, a simple elegant addition makes processing YouBuild jobs so much easier and more productive.

You can find more information in the YouBuild section of the eCabinet Systems web site and at youbuild.com.

A new YouBuild Cut Center is now open in Greensburg, KY, offering custom closets, furniture, home, office and business furnishings at quality and price levels not seen before.

Fancy Ridge Wood Products

3260 Hwy 218

Greensburg, KY 42743

Phone:  270-565-4864

Email:  fancyridge@hotmail.com

Contact:  Joe Soto

*For more information, and to order online, please visit youbuild.com.

About YouBuild:

Working through a local YouBuild Cut Center or online at youbuild.com, you choose from a vast assortment of designs, customize them exactly to what you want and order. Your order is electronically sent to an automated production machine at your local YouBuild Cut Center. They process your custom parts which you then either pick up and assemble yourself, saving even more, or arrange to have the YouBuild Cut Center assemble, deliver and install.  This method is as efficient as it gets, which means the lowest possible prices.

The YouBuild program offers over a thousand unique designs for home and office furniture and closets, some by renowned furniture designers. What makes this even more unique is that these designs can be customized and are available in four real wood species, walnut, maple, oak and cherry, either finished or unfinished. The wood, specially-made for YouBuild by Columbia Forest Products (the largest manufacturer of hardwood plywood in North America), is high-quality and formaldehyde-free for a healthier environment.

You can find more information in the YouBuild section of the eCabinet Systems web site and at youbuild.com.

Ken Susnjara, the founder, chairman and CEO of Thermwood, conducted a series of seminars at the IWF show in Atlanta describing the fundamental basis of YouBuild. He explained “YouBuild allows cabinet shops, using the proper equipment and current skills, to address the approximately $45 Billion furniture market, a market which is ten times larger than cabinets.

He explained the differences between cabinets and furniture and how YouBuild makes this possible. “A typical sale for a cabinet shop is for an entire kitchen, perhaps $10-, $15-, $20,000 or more. You can afford to design and sell the job, work out production problems and still make money. A typical furniture sale might be $500 - $1,500 dollars. You can’t afford to design, sell or work out production problems. If you want to make money all you can do is cut the parts and cash the check. YouBuild does the things you can’t afford to do making furniture. Let’s start with selling.”

“As part of YouBuild, shops, called “YouBuild Cut Centers”, can designate others to sell for them. There’s two ways to do this. Some folks, like Interior Designers, professional handymen, and even certain types of retail stores can operate as Design Centers. They help customers select and order YouBuild products and receive a sales commission for these sales. Others like closet installation companies, home contractors and even larger retail stores will likely operate as Retail Dealers, receiving a discount on YouBuild products and then reselling them at a higher price, perhaps with added value such as assembly or installation.”

“The nice thing about this approach is that, once set up, there is virtually no effort required. All commissions and discounts are tracked and handled automatically by YouBuild. A Cut Center can set up 50, 100 or more sales outlets without having to worry about the clerical effort needed to maintain and service the network. Once established, this sales network can generate a continuous flow of business without much day to day effort from the Cut Center.”

“Now let’s look at production. When an order is placed, it is queued online where it can be accessed by the Cut Center. They simply assign the order to their CNC router right online and the order shows up on the machine control. Just execute the program and the machine guides you through every step. Edge band designated parts and they’re ready. All the hardware, screws, fasteners, hinges, pulls…everything else needed for the order, even the assembly instructions, arrive in a package a few days after the order is placed. The Cut Center doesn’t have to deal with any of these details. Just give the package and parts to the customer and the order is complete.”

“There are over a thousand product designs that have all been optimized and tested. Every piece has been produced, sometimes multiple times, until both the design and instructions work smoothly and easily both through production as well as for the customer. We have even hired inexperienced day workers to assemble YouBuild products using our instructions and then, by observing them, refined both the product and the assembly techniques until the average person can easily do it.”

“We believe we have all the bases covered with YouBuild so that properly equipped cabinet shops can enthusiastically address the huge furniture market in a bold new way that works for them and can make them a lot of money.”

Thermwood's latest machine, the AutoProcessor 5x10 - Shown at the 2012 IWF show in Atlanta, GA Booth #5753.

The AutoProcessor 5×10 is a complete solution for Nested Based Panel Processing, Cabinet/Closets, Marine/Boat Building, Furniture Manufacturing, Exhibits/ Store Fixtures, Machining Plastic Sheets and High Volume Cabinet Production. 

With each cycle, the machine first labels the sheet, positions the sheet on the table, machines the material, off-loads the finished parts and then repeats the process. Dust collection during this process keeps scrap and debris to a minimum.  Labels help the operator to quickly sort the parts, and Assembly Marks help final assembly happen quickly and easily.

Features:
• Thermwood QCore SuperControl
•5’ x 10’ Working  Table / Moving Gantry
• Rapid Speed  4,200 IPM
• 4000 lb. Lift Table for Loading
• 12 HP HSK Electro-Spindle
• 8 Position Tool Changer
• Automatic Pop-Up Pins
• Automatic Tool Sensor
• Automatic CNC Labeler
• 9 Spindle Drill Bank
• Unload Table 

More information can be found here

An introduction to Thermwood Corporation and our products and services.  A virtual tour covering history, innovations, fabrication, machines, demonstrations, service, support, training, engineering, quality control and much more.

When you purchase a CNC Router from Thermwood, a five-day comprehensive programming/operation training course for two students is included.  This course is conducted at Thermwood's state of the art Dale, IN facility. 

Superior Factory Training:

Training at Thermwood is conducted in a modern, comfortable and well equipped center devoted specifically to educating our customers. This is, by far, the fastest and most efficient way to learn. Over the years, Thermwood has experienced the ups and downs of training at the customer's facility, the interruptions and distractions, not to mention the lack of classroom facilities and equipment. It just doesn’t work very well. At Thermwood, the atmosphere contributes to the learning experience. Each classroom is setup specifically for the course being taught.

Training Facilities:

Our machine operator/programmer courses are located adjacent to the machine training lab, where students complete the prescribed projects on a specific training machine utilized only for training purposes. Our application software classes are conducted in a classroom with state-of-art computer equipment. Then when it comes time for practical applications on a full sized machine, Thermwood's training lab is equipped with a CabinetShop 45 outfitted with all major options and features. Real production type parts are cut. What a confidence builder!

Customer Training Lounge:

Thermwood also has a customer lounge and workstation available for use during your training at our facility. This comfortable area features free:

• Wi-Fi
• Phones
• Daily Lunch
• Snacks
• Drinks
• Lounge area with plenty of seating and satellite-equipped large flat-screen tv for your use.

Continuing Help and Support

Our five-day machine programming/operations training here at Thermwood is the first step to helping you hit the ground running.  The goal is to help you understand how to utilize the power of your Thermwood CNC Router and QCore SuperControl to make your operation as efficient and productive as possible.  Our commitment to this doesn't end when you complete the training course.  We also offer:

• Free Lifetime Phone Support
• Virtual Service Support (1st year free)
• Free Forum Support

 For more information on our machine training or about any of our products, please email us at sales@thermwood.com or give us a call at 1-800-533-6901.          

We recently held our 2012 Dealer Conference at our headquarters in Dale, IN. The purpose of this annual event is to get all of our domestic and international dealers together in round-table informative sessions to discuss sales strategies and also to present the exciting changes and new products we plan to release in the next year.

Of course, the conference isn't all work and no play!  It also gives everyone a chance to socialize and catch up on news, as well as the opportunity to award our top sellers special prizes at an awards dinner. 

This year, our top dealership was Tech Con.  Second and third places went to SKF Enterprises and CNC Automation out of Canada.  The award for the dealership with the Most Improved Sales for 2011 went to Process and Production Equipment.  The award for top International Sales went to Tervelli out of Turkey.  Congratulations, guys!

Pictured above are: (front row l-r) Kevin Varwig (Process and Production Equipment), Glenn Suss (Tech Con), Bob Law (CNC Automation), Dave White (SKF Enterprises) Dennis Palmer (VP Sales for Thermwood); (second row l-r) Jason Susnjara (VP Marketing for Thermwood) and Robert Vollmer (Tech Con).

Pictured above are: (l-r) Jan Olinger (International Sales Account Manager) and Mengu Arslanoglu (Tervelli).

Thermwood personnel, domestic and international dealers socialize after hours during the 2012 Dealer Conference.

Thermwood Corporation announces new software developed to convert Router-CIM® programs to standard M and G code language for use on a Thermwood CNC router. 

This conversion tool takes place on Thermwood's QCore Super Controller and is very simple to use.  You just load the Router-CIM® G code file directly into the QCore controller using the convert option and the M and G code is automatically converted to conform to your Thermwood machine's specs, and is ready to run.

This EIA conversion works not only with Router-CIM® programs but with virtually all other programs that contain standard EIA code, and allows you to use your older, existing Router-CIM® programs with ease. 

If you would like more information on this conversion process, or how a free demonstration of how our machines can improve your production process, please contact us.

Did you know that Thermwood CNC Routers are compatible with most major design and CAD/CAM software programs?  This means that you don't have to worry about changing software when you use a Thermwood CNC Router.

You can output machine code from software like KCD, Microvellum, 20-20, Planit, MasterCam and many others to a Thermwood CNC Router.

CAD/CAM programs like Mastercam are used for a variety of applications because the CAD portion allows you to design virtually anything in two and three dimensions.  The CAM portion converts the design to useable machine code for a CNC machine.

CAD products such as Autocad with no CAM can be sent to a Thermwood CNC Router by changing the layer names and sending the .dxf file to the Thermwood controller.

Design programs like KCD, Cabinetvision and others are mainly used in Nested Based applications for the cabinet, closet, RV, Marine and other industries that utilize sheet products.

Please click here for more detailed information on these connections.

Please click here to Request a Consultation with one of our CNC Experts.  They can evaluate your production needs to determine how you can reduce costs and increase efficiency.