We recently held our 2015 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 the awards dinner. 

This year, our top dealership was Automation Associates, Inc.  Second and third places went to Tech Con and CNC Automation out of Canada.  The award for the dealership with the Most Improved Sales for 2014 went to The Equipment Hub.  The award for top International Sales went to Carbon Studio/AP Group, LLC out of Russia.  Congratulations, guys!

Pictured above are: (l-r) Jason Susnjara (VP Marketing for Thermwood), Mark Drone (Automation Associates, Inc) and Dennis Palmer (VP Sales for Thermwood).

Pictured above are: (l-r) Jason Susnjara (VP Marketing for Thermwood), Glenn Suss (Tech Con), Robert Vollmer (Tech Con) and Dennis Palmer (VP Sales for Thermwood).

Pictured above (l-r) are: Jason Susnjara (VP Marketing for Thermwood), Andrew Legault (CNC Automation) and Dennis Palmer (VP Sales for Thermwood).

Pictured above are: (l-r) Jason Susnjara (VP Marketing for Thermwood), Carl Davis (The Equipment Hub) and Dennis Palmer (VP Sales for Thermwood).

Pictured above are: (l-r) Jason Susnjara (VP Marketing for Thermwood), Ekaterina Malykhina (Carbon Studio/AP Group, LLC) and Dennis Palmer (VP Sales for Thermwood).

Thermwood personnel, domestic and international dealers await the sales award results during the 2015 Dealer Conference.

Thermwood recently honored two retiring employees for their years of service with a luncheon at our headquarters in Dale, IN.  They are:

Becky Fuller - Treasurer - retiring after 34 years at Thermwood.

Dennis Englert - Training Department Manager - retiring after 17 years at Thermwood (and after previously retiring from the Marine Corps).

Both Becky and Dennis will be greatly missed, and we wish them the best of luck with their retirements! 

Below are some photos from the luncheon:

Cakes and gifts celebrating Becky and Dennis' many years of service

Thermwood President, David Hildenbrand, thanking Becky for her many contributions over the years

Thermwood President, David Hildenbrand, also thanking Dennis for his many contributions

Becky, grandson Gavin and daughter Michelle Kieper being silly at the luncheon

 Dennis and his wife Mary

Everyone enjoyed the pizza!

The free Thermwood CNC Mobile app is intended to allow Thermwood Machine users to track the operation of their Thermwood CNC router(s) and the programs that run on them from anywhere by using their cell phone, PC or other mobile device.

The new Automatic Alert addition allows the user to instruct the machine to automatically email or text them when certain events occur.

To accomplish this, the user simply enters their email address or phone number, chooses the machine(s) to monitor and select the events they want to automatically receive alerts about. The alerts are easily customizable and adjustable, making it simple to set up and receive more or less information automatically.

The Thermwood CNC Mobile app allows users to monitor many aspects of their Thermwood smart-router(s) and QCore Super Controller including programs, events, cycle times, scheduled maintenance and much more from just about anywhere. This app permits the user to obtain the following information on a smart-phone, tablet or PC:

• A listing of every machine they own (includes an optional user customizable nickname)

• The current state (ready, running or in e-stop)

• The current Feed Override setting

• The current program loaded and or running

• A listing of all current and past part programs loaded/ran in chronological order with extensions

• A listing of machine events during each part program in chronological order

• A listing of the cycle time of every part program ran in chronological order

• A listing of completion or interrupt times in each part program ran in chronological order

• All machine events in chronological order with filtering

• Monitor scheduled maintenance with a cycle time countdown as well as a graphical countdown progress bar

• A time stamp listing of all previous maintenance performed

• The ability to request a service phone call from a Thermwood Support Technician right from your device.

• The ability to download the data from any of your Thermwood CNC Routers in either Excel (XLS) or XML format.

Note: While this app is free to install, only machines enrolled in Thermwood’s Advanced Support program or subscribed to Virtual Service will deliver the monitoring service. The machine also requires QCore control software version 8.5.5 or newer. A demo portion of the app is available to observe the features.

Also available on any browser here: https://server.thermwood.com/thmmobileapp

About the Thermwod CNC Mobile App

	Please click the "Request a Consultation" link above or give us a call at 1-800-533-6901 and we will sit down and show you how all this happens, in detail.

Below is a new video showing the redesigned Thermwood FrameBuilder 53 5'x10' CNC router in action. 

The machine in the video features the following options:

• Automatic load/unload system with 6,000 lb lift table and unload sorting table
• Dual 18HP (3,000-18,000 RPM) HSD spindles with programmable head spacing
• Two optional electric drills

Video

About the FrameBuilder 53

	The Thermwood FrameBuilder 53 series is a heavy duty, high-performance three-axis CNC machining center.  It is specifically developed for the machining of upholstery frames and other sheet goods that require rollers on each side of the spindle to hold various materials typically not held by vacuum while machining. The redesigned FB53 is now equipped with rack and pinion for both the X and Y Axes, bigger drives, and a redesigned gantry that is stiffer while allowing more options.  These changes represent over 110% increase in speed from the original (various table sizes up to 20' are available).
FrameBuilder 53 5×10 Shown w/optional dual spindles
FrameBuilder 53 5×10 Shown w/optional dual spindles and 6,000 lb load table
Features of the FrameBuilder 53:   5'x10' Machining Table (available table sizes up to 20 Feet in Length) Optional Automatic Load/Unload System (6000 lb automatic lift table for loading) Optional Dual 18HP (3,000-18,000 RPM) HSD Spindles Optional Programmable Head Spacing Fixed Solid Aluminum Table Moving Gantry Rapid Speed:  3160 Inches per minute Siemens Intelligent Servo Drives 3D Laser Compensated Axis Alignment Automatic Lubrication Optional At the Head Automatic Tool Changer Optional Electric Drills QCore SuperControl Optional Unload/Sorting Table Machine Training and Installation Free Lifetime Phone/Forum Support
Dimensional Drawings (featuring optional dual spindle and load/unload):

Thermwood has introduced our IWF Challenger's Award Winning “Cut Ready – Cut Center” as an alternative to CNC routers for making custom cabinets.  

In this post, we ask two main questions:  Why would you want a Thermwood Cut Center instead of a traditional nested based CNC router?  Why would a major supplier of CNC routers introduce a new product that competes directly with its already successful products in this market segment?

Why a Cut Center?

With the advanced technology available today, we at Thermwood believe that it’s time for something new…. something even better… something a lot easier, so after almost five years of technical development, we have released the Cut Ready – Cut Center. This system is clearly not a CNC router. It looks a little like a CNC router, but it doesn’t work at all like a CNC router. 

A nested based CNC router has three basic elements:

• A control capable of running sophisticated software
• Cabinet design software capable of creating the required CNC programs
• A machine capable of running those programs.

A cut center consists of a single element, the machine. Everything is inside the machine, pre-selected, pre-installed and ready to run. There is no programming with a cut center. That’s right, no programming… none. A cut center actually knows how to make cabinets, allowing the user to make cabinets in about any way they want by just selecting the desired product. You simply tell the machine what kind of cabinet you want (face frame/frameless, single/double side material, toe kick/detached toe, etc.), then select the specific cabinet from all the cabinets made that way and adjust the size.

Installing a Cut Center

Installation of a cut center consists of connecting power, air and dust collection and you are ready to run production right away.

Cut Center Has an Impressive Selection 

The number of products you can make with a cut center is impressive. In addition to kitchen cabinets, there are closet, bath and utility cabinets and furniture (including book shelves, entertainment walls and table tops). You can also make drawers; side mount, undermount or slot slide, quarter inch or full thickness bottom, blind dado or dovetail construction. Simply tell the cut center to make drawers for the cabinets you cut and it does it - just that easy.  

It also makes doors and drawer fronts. There are over 450 designs for MDF doors and drawer fronts including square, arch, cathedral, slab and sophisticated applied molding designs with both raised and recessed panels.

You can also make grain matched slab doors. Just like with drawers, simply tell the machine to make doors for the cabinets you just cut and it does it. It even makes moldings, both straight and arched. Select from hundreds of profiles, resize the profile in width and depth and it makes it. It uses a reverse 3d printing technique for MDF doors and moldings where, instead of adding a small amount of material each pass, it removes a small amount. This means that everything in the system is made with a set of standard tools.

Operating the Cut Center 

Running the cut center is also different. Everything is handled through an adjustable touch screen and a remote “clicker” you wear. Pretty much everything is handled automatically, tooling management and tool life, vacuum hold down and spoilboard management. All the operator does is follow step by step instructions. If needed, there is a “Show Me” video for every step.  You can even call a real live person on the screen if you need more help. 

Why is a Cut Center for Me?

One reason you might want a cut center is that it can be run by just about anybody. Another reason is that you can produce a lot of different products with no programming and almost no effort. Thermwood has invested thousands of hours developing, testing and refining these programs. To duplicate this for a CNC router will also require thousands of hours. 

There is also the smooth integration between cabinets, drawers, doors and drawer fronts. Once you cut the cabinets, you can make everything else by just telling it to make it for those cabinets.Another reason is that details in these cabinet designs, some patented, make assembly easier. Assembly marks machined into the joints show you which parts fit together and in which orientation. Alignment pin holes make installing drawers really easy. The machine will print detail step by step assembly instructions for more complex items like closet cabinets. It also prints a label for each part showing you which job and cabinet the part is for, which edges get edge banded and a bar code in case you need to re-make the part. 

Ongoing Updates

Thermwood is continuously expanding the products our cut centers can produce, driven by feedback from users, and these new designs are available to all cut centers as a free download. System software updates are also available as a free download as they are released. The “Virtual Service” feature mentioned above is also available to cut center users for free. 

The Bottom Line

This is clearly a new approach. It is not for everyone, but we believe there are a significant number of cabinet shops that would rather make cabinets than program computers and so we created the Cut Ready – Cut Center.

Thermwood’s new Cut Ready - Cut Center works much differently than a CNC router.  In this post we take an in-depth look at some of the distinctions:

CNC Router

A CNC router operates in a sophisticated technical environment. Computers and sophisticated design software are used to design cabinets, layout kitchens and create the CNC programs needed to make those kitchens. An operating environment has developed around these capabilities that the industry has become accustomed to. It takes a highly-skilled and trained operator to program and operate these machines.

Cut Center

First, there are no computers or design software. Everything is already in the machine. There is no programming. The cut center doesn’t need a computer to tell it how to move because it already knows how to make cabinets. To understand how this approach fits into the operating structure of a shop you must first realize that cut centers have been designed for cabinetmakers who are already running a successful business and simply want to make what they are doing more efficient with the least disruption possible. They don’t want to change from woodworkers to computer programmers but they would like to make their products faster, better and at lower cost. 

How Does This Work? 

The cut center works through a large touch screen which essentially performs three functions. First, it allows you to adjust settings that tell the machine how you want to work, plus it watches routine maintenance and tooling. 

The other two areas are picking what you want to make and actually making it. 

To pick what you want you have to know what you want. If a shop is operating, they have already developed some way of determining what they need to make. Some may do it by hand, other might use software or drawings or whatever works today. The cut center doesn’t mess with this area. Whatever you are doing today is what you will do with the cut center. 

-Choosing What to Make

Once you know what you want and the sizes you need, picking it is intuitive and easy. Pretty much anyone can do it the first time, even if they have never seen the machine before. You do need to know how you want your cabinets made, but you don’t need to know anything about the machine. You will group all the cabinets you want to make into a job which the machine will nest together and cut. If you want, you can create a job but not necessarily run it right away, which is probably what most people will do. When you create a job and process it, the machine will tell you how many sheets of each material you will need and how long it will take to cut all the parts. This information can be quite useful when you are working with a customer and developing a quote. 

-Running the Job

Once you are ready, it is simply a matter of calling up the job and running it. Going back to the list of material, it not only tells you what material you will need but also tells you in what order the materials will be needed. You can print this out and use it as a pick list to load the handling carts. The Cut Ready Cut Center comes with two tilt carts that make it easy to retrieve and stage the material for a job. While you are working off of one you can be picking material for the next job. 

Once the cabinet boxes are complete, you can make drawers, doors and drawer fronts. These are easy. Simply select the type of drawer and the door and drawer front designs you want and tell it to make them for your job. If you don’t want to use the machine for your doors and drawers the machine will print out a list of sizes for you. 

-Stopping a Job

Another interesting aspect is that you can stop a job between sheets at any point and then finish it later. This is great when you go home at night or if you have to work in a “hot” job in the middle of regular production.  

-Familiar but Different 

Some of the operations of the machine would be familiar to anyone who has operated a CNC router but a number of areas are different. 

Let’s start with loading. First, the cut center manages the vacuum system. It turns the pump on and off and turns vacuum to the table on and off. When you are told to load a sheet, it pumps air through the table, sort of like an air hockey table, to make it easier to slide the sheet. It also uses special sensors that detect when the sheet is tight against the location stops. When this happens, the machine turns off the float air, turns on vacuum and drops the location stops, all automatically. 

-Using the Clicker

Another difference is the “clicker”, which is a fob-like device you wear around your neck. The silicone cord necklace for the clicker uses magnetic catches so if it gets caught it simply pulls off. This clicker is used to communicate with the machine so you don’t have to go back to the control every time you want to do something. It also allows you to stop the machine when it is cutting, so you don’t need to stay near the stop button while the machine is running. When you get used to the position sensors and the clicker, things that were awkward before become simple, natural and easy. 

-Flipping the Sheet

There is a major difference in the way the cut center handles parts that need to be machined on both sides (more complex pieces like closets or cabinets made from single sided material often require machining on both sides). 

CNC routers generally cut the front side, cut the parts out and then machine the back side one part at a time. Not only is this difficult, but it can be confusing and is prone to error.   

The cut center takes a different approach. It starts by loading the sheet, back side up and doing the back side machining first, on the whole sheet. It then flips the sheet over and machines the front side. When the parts are cut out, they are complete, front and back. A really unique feature of the cut center is that it has a “flipper” on the front of the machine that flips the sheet over, so this process is really easy. Just slide the sheet into a clamp located just off the front of the table and the clamp grips the sheet and rotates it 180 degrees, all within the confines of the table. When you first load your sheet, if the backside is not up, you can use the flipper to fix that too. 

-Tooling is Managed For You

Tooling is also handled differently with a cut center. The machine manages tooling so you don’t have to. It uses standard “Cut Ready” tools. Each tool is numbered and has a “Chuck Line” showing how far to insert the tool into the tool holder. When a tool needs to be changed, the machine brings it to you and tells you which tool bit to insert. It then measures both the length and diameter of the new tool and adjusts all the tooling parameters. If you load the wrong bit by accident, it will know and will bring it back and ask you to fix it. 

Since the machine knows when a tool is changed, it also knows how long that tool lasted. After a while, it knows about how long each tool will last in your operation and will warn you when a tool nears its historical life. This can prevent cutting scrap parts because of dull tools. 

-Vacuum Hold Down

Another area that needs attention is vacuum hold down and waste board management. The “waste board” is a quarter inch thick board that sits on top of the table board. As parts are cut, shallow channels are cut into the waste board and eventually it needs to be resurfaced. Resurfacing is a simple automatic process that can be performed, even in the middle of a job. The machine keeps track of cuts in the waste board and warns you when it needs to be resurfaced. It may even require that you resurface it if it knows that parts on the next sheet will move. 

Final Thoughts

While this doesn’t cover every aspect of running a cut center, it should give you a flavor of what it is like to run this next generation of cabinet machines. They are flexible, easy and require a lot less technical skill and training. This almost makes cabinetmaking fun again.

Where to See

You can see and get hands-on experience with the IWF Challengers Award Winning Cut Center when it makes its Canadian debut November 6th and 7th at the CNC Automation Open House.  You can also contact us here at Thermwood to arrange a free personal and interactive demonstration here at our Dale, IN headquarters.  

Thermwood's Demonstration Center is available for free live demonstrations at our modern factory headquarters in Dale, IN.  During your demo you can expect:

• We will replicate your exact part(s) and show you how we can increase your productivity, while saving you money and time on a Thermwood CNC router.

• Work with our CNC Experts in depth on your exact application(s), and ask questions about programming, machine operation, options, maintenance, financing, service and support.

• See our manufacturing process from start to finish, and how we carefully build each machine from the ground up.

• Tour our facility to see our modern training center (where each machine purchase comes with a 1 week training class for two), factory and demonstration center.

• See a wide variety of our machines, both three and five axis in action as well as the 2014 Challenger Award winning Cut Ready Cut Center.

• We will record a video of your live demo for you to watch later.

 Demonstration Center

Model 90 5 Axis Dual Table 5x5 CNC Router in our Demo Center

Model 45 3 Axis 5x10 CNC Router in our Demo Center 

Cut Ready Cut Center 5x10 in our Demo Center (winner of a 2014 IWF Challenger's Award)

Model 43 3 Axis CNC Router 5x10 with Auto-Offload in our Demo Center

See examples of what our machines can make - Kitchen Design made entirely on a Cut Center

---

Web Demos

We also offer live Web Demos that allow you to interact with our Demonstration department via your computer.  These web demos are available for both the latest software solutions as well as our machines.  You can see the machine and control running your application and ask questions in real time.  

If time or travel is a factor, this might be a good first step to see what our machines can do for you, before you come in and see the process in person.  Our local representative is typically on-site at your facility during these demonstrations to help explain the process and answer any questions you may have.

Request More Info