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.

The 2011 AWFS Show promises to be an exciting opportunity to visit Las Vegas and see the very latest in CNC Router technology from Thermwood!

At AWFS we will be demonstrating the machining of custom nested based cabinets along with a variety of other applications including MDF doors, sheet plastics, and wood components.

Featuring the CabinetShop 45 with load/unload system:

Our demonstrations will include machining products on our CabinetShop 45 CNC, complete with our new optional load/unload system that reduces labor and eliminates the need to load and unload material from the router.  Also at AWFS we will be demonstrating the S400 and BEE Fravol edgebanders.  Fravol, known for high quality edgebanders, is exclusively represented and serviced in the US by Thermwood.

The CabinetShop 45 will feature our new QCore SuperControl system.  The QCore operates with Windows 7 Pro, has a massive 1 Tb Hard Drive for program storage, utilizes a Quad Core Processor and provides the highest level control platform for CNC router technology today.

QCore also features an all-new optional Hand Held Programmer that puts the expanded power of the QCore control into a compact, rugged hand remote.  This new hand held offers improved ergonomics, a color LCD touch screen display and a durable 24-key steel dome membrane keypad.  It allows the operator to perform a wide variety of tasks that were previously only available through the machine control.

Live streaming webcam from AWFS!

We will be showcasing Thermwood’s speed and quality by running LIVE machine demonstrations using different materials such as plywood, melamine, MDF, Acrylic and King Plastics’ Starboard throughout the day – and available via webcam. 

Hands-on Access!

Attendees will also have a chance to customize a product and run the machine yourself using our QuickCut software right at the control.  Just select an item, change the size and watch the machine do the rest.

If you’re interested in not just increasing throughput but also reducing assembly time, stop by Thermwood’s booth to see the latest in construction joints and assembly marks. 

Featuring the New Lock Dado Joint:

We announced the new Barb Dado Joint at the IWF show in 2010, this year for AWFS we will be demonstrating our new Lock Dado Joint which combines blind dado and KD Fasteners (available from Hafele) making assembly unbelievably fast and easy!

Plan to stop by Thermwood Booth #4210 and check us out!

The AWFS show is located at the Las Vegas Convention Center and runs from July 20th-23th.

Royce//Ayr manufactures and distributes premium quality cutting tools for wood, composite, plastic, rubber and steel cutting applications for cnc routers and other machinery.  Royce//Ayr makes it easy to determine Feed Rates, Knife marks per inch & Chipload per tooth. View the recommended values in the charts located here and use the calculator to determine approximate settings for your machinery. The calculation results should serve as a starting point to determine optimum feed speeds and RPM for your machinery. 

Click here for more information 

Bamco Custom Woodworking is a Thermwood machine owner:

Guelph Ont.-based cabinetmaker Bamco Custom Woodworking has received a $2.77 million loan from the Ontario government under the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Strategy (AMIS) program. Economic Development Minister Sandra Pupatello made the announcement in early October in Guelph.

"We proposed a project to the Ontario government whereby we would bring in some very high-end finishing equipment from Italy to help us create a 100% water-based finishing system," says Bamco president Bill Van De Ven. The equipment, he says, will also allow the company to create a high gloss buff-less finish. "Currently most high gloss finishes are sprayed on and then buffed to a gloss. This equipment that we bought is so advanced that you won't need to buff it - it will come out with a glass or mirror finish without the hands-on buffing."

Bamco will become one of the first manufacturers in North America to offer the environmentally friendly finishing process. "From a marketing standpoint we plan on targeting companies that would traditionally import that product from Italy or Germany - give them a North American solution," says Van De Ven.

Vice-president of business development, John Fazari says the finishing system also gives the company an edge with businesses in the U.S. "We're not competing with the American dollar so much as with the euro because this product is not available in Canada and the U.S. the way that it will be when we're finished."

Doug Weidner, brand director for Bamco's DolceMano cabinet series, says the new technology will allow them to offer a high quality "green" product. "It gives our dealers a huge advantage in the market."

The finishing system is expected to be up and running in early 2010. It's anticipated that it will help create approximately 70 jobs over the next five years.

Today is the first day at the WMS show in Toronto where our Canadian Dealer, CNC Automation has a very nice booth with a couple of Thermwood CNC Routers including the New CabinetShop43. We are continualy adding pictures from the show to our TwitPic account. You can view them here:

http://www.twitpic.com/photos/thermwood

You can also follow Thermwood, CNC Automation and the WMS show on our twitter page or blog:

http://www.twitter.com/thermwood

The booth consists of two Thermwood routers, CabinetShop45 and CabinetShop43., and two Fravol Edgebanders, S4 and S7.  They are demonstrating eCabinet Systems and QuickCut on the CS43, cutting random cabinets and 20-20 Technologies is sending files to the CS45.

The CS45 is also creating furniture for Canada's Habitat for Humanity. Once the parts are cut on the machine, they will get edgebanding, finished and assembled right there in the booth, so there are other secondary type of machines within the booth.

 Here are a couple of pics of the CNC Automation /Thermwood booth at the opening of the show:

We've created a couple of videos demonstrating the superior performance of the CabinetShop 43 in a variety of applications.  The first is the Carving of an inset carving, and the second is Cabinet Cutting.

About the CabinetShop 43:  The CabinetShop 43 offers premium performance not normally seen at this price point. For example, it has positioning speeds to 3,180 inches per minute and programmed cutting speeds to 2,250 Inches per minute. The actual speed at which you can cut is determined more by tooling and material than by the machine, but its speed is indicative of the overall solid CNC performance of the CabinetShop 43.

We are pleased to announce a new, simplified approach to nested based production of cabinets and closets that does not require separate cabinet design software. This new approach, called "QuickCut", is done entirely at the CNC machine.

The operator, working at the machine control, simply selects and resizes cabinets and closets from a built-in library and runs them. This entire process happens at the machine. The process is simple enough that virtually anyone can run it with minimal instruction. Libraries can be modified or extended through a programming service.

"For the first time you can operate a CNC router without extensive training or technical skill", says Thermwood's Vice-President of Marketing Jason Susnjara. "This approach allows cabinetmakers to focus on making cabinets using an amazing new tool that's really easy to use".

Operating a CNC router usually requires specialized knowledge which limits its use to specially trained employees. We used the technical power in our Gen2 SuperControl to totally automate virtually every task, then created a simple user interface, resulting in a system that almost anyone can use without extensive training.

The QuickCut feature targets smaller, less technical shops but can also be used by larger companies to make virtually any part or product in their product line any time they want. A library of parts can be stored on a network drive. At that point, almost anyone can walk up to any QuickCut machine and make any part. It's that easy. By storing files in a central location, management has complete control of anything that is made, anywhere in the factory.

"This new interface takes what has been a confusing area for non-technical users and makes it almost as easy as using a copy machine", states Thermwood's President, David Hildenbrand. "We believe it will fundamentally change how cabinets, closets and perhaps many other products, are made".

All nested based systems from Thermwood are QuickCut compatible and Gen2 systems operating in the field can be retrofitted to make them QuickCut compatible.

For more information on this exciting new development, please visit our QuickCut area of the website.

Here is a reprint from an informative article published in Composites Technology about Bedford Reinforced Plastics and their application of Thermwood CNC Routers in cooling tower fabrication: 

Operators of chemical refineries, mining operations and power plants use cooling towers to reduce the temperature of process water that often contains corrosive chemicals. These large square or rectangular structures house equipment in which heated water trickles downward through filtration media while large fans draw air up through the wet media to transfer the heat to the atmosphere. Although cooling towers traditionally have been made with wood and concrete, composite materials are gaining acceptance due to their corrosion and rot resistance, light weight and ease of installation. "Redwood was used in the past because of its innate ability to resist rot. But, as good redwood became scarce, treated Douglas fir was substituted, and in addition to the negatives associated with the chemicals used to treat the wood, fir just couldn't hold up in the cooling tower environment," says Eric Kidd, cooling tower market manager at Bedford Reinforced Plastics (Bedford, Pa.).

Bedford has pultruded square tubes, angles, channels and deck board for cooling tower alternatives since the mid-1990s, says Kidd, including one of the world's largest - a 46-ft tall, 54-ft wide, 1,080-ft long (14.2m by 16.6m by 332m) structure at Barrick Goldstrike Mines Inc. in Carlin, Nev. Bedford supplied more than 600,000 lb (272 metric tonnes) of pultruded components made with Owens Corning Material Solutions' (Toledo, Ohio) continuous filament mat and E-glass roving, Ashland Inc.'s (Columbus, Ohio) fire retardant polyester and vinyl ester resins and polyester surfacing veil. Drilling the thousands of fastener holes and cutouts that enable assembly and fastening of the tower's skeletal structure is a huge challenge. For that task, Bedford employs five 3-axis, CNC-controlled routers from Thermwood Corp. (Dale, Ind.). Configured with overhead moving gantries, the machines have bed sizes that range from 5 ft by 10 ft (1.5m by 3m) to 5 ft by 40 ft (1.5m by 12.2m). According to VP of marketing Jason Susnjara, Thermwood is the only CNC router manufacturer that supplies its own controller programs with the machines, enabling customers to seamlessly integrate CAD/CAM designs with the controller and postprocessor.

Bedford considers automated drilling and cutting to be essential to optimizing finished-part production rates, hole consistency and location accuracy. The former, says Bedford, reduces product lead time, permitting the company to meet tight customer deadlines. The latter ensures that tower structures assemble correctly on site, without delays for part rework. 

20-20 Technologies and Thermwood Corporation have joined together to offer a smoothly integrated, highly productive manufacturing system for cabinet manufacturers.

"We are very excited about this new partnership," said Ken Susnjara, CEO of Thermwood.  "This represents a truly comprehensive approach from design and retail all the way through manufacturing, all working together smoothly and seamlessly.  It combines the best technology of both Companies to create an industry-leading offering."

The data process starts with the design.  Over 50,000 dealers use 20-20 Design or ShopWare CAD to layout and sell projects.  To machine a job, an output file from 20-20 software is sent directly to a Thermwood CNC router and the advanced CNC control on the Thermwood system automatically performs all required CAD functions, nests the parts, prints nest diagrams and labels and runs the job directly from full sheets of material.  For even higher production volume, rectangular panels without additional machining are sent to an optimized panel saw, and only parts that require CNC machining are sent to the router.  This not only increases overall production capacity, but represents an increase in productivity as well.

"The advantages to using nested based techniques for machining instead of cutting all panels on a saw and then processing machined parts one at a time on a machining center are significant," said Craig Yamauchi, Executive Vice-President of Manufacturing & Residential Solutions of 20-20 Technologies.  "Labor requirements are less and productivity is higher, sometimes substantially higher."

20-20 welcomes the opportunity to demonstrate the ease of use and high functionality delivered by this partnership for shops seeking best practices and robust integration at this year's AWFS show in July.  20-20 representatives will be on site to show how you can go from the showroom to the shipping dock with greater sales tools, lower costs, fewer errors and increased ROI.

Color Coded Labels are a new development from Thermwood Corporation to help increase your productivity.  Here is an excerpt: