WINTER HAVEN, FLORIDA - Mr. Dennis Glenn Blackburn, age 62, died from multiple challenged systems Tuesday (February 7, 2012).

Dennis was born in Appleton, WI, on Jan. 10, 1950 and moved to Winter Haven from Portage, WI, in 1966. 

Dennis has been associated with Thermwood Corporation since 1990, becoming an exclusive dealer for Thermwood in March of 1997.  Dennis was highly committed to Thermwood, continuously placing in the top tier of sales every year.  “Dennis was very passionate about Thermwood, and cared deeply about all of his customers” said Vice President of Sales, Dennis Palmer.  

He was a member of the Polk Area Bicycling Association, and attended Beymer Memorial United Methodist Church.

Dennis is survived by his wife Elizabeth C. Blackburn, and daughters Celeste and Ona.

Habitat for Humanity will be the beneficiary of CNC Automation's technology and generosity at the Woodworking Machinery & Supply Expo (WMS) October 27-29.

The St. Zotique, QC-based company plans to make and assemble parts into residential casegoods at its exhibit booth throughout the three-day show, taking place for the first time ever at the Direct Energy Centre. The casegoods will be donated to Habitat for Humanity Restore in Ontario.

Making this live production possible are three production lines that CNC Automation will have in operation during WMS. They include:

Solid Wood Processing, CNC's newest division, will showcase Kentwood moulders and Ironwood classical woodworking equipment to manufacture five-piece wood cabinet doors.

Panel Processing, including Thermwood CNC nested-based routers, Omal drill and dowel insertion equipment and a panel saw, will produce case good components.

Spray Finishing & Sanding, featuring Timesavers calibration sanders, Loewer finishing sanders and Makor water-based spray systems, will be used to finish the solid wood parts. 

In addition, CNC Automation is finalizing plans for a tour of Toronto-area woodworking facilities to take place on Wednesday, October 26, the day before the show opens. To assist out-of-town customers, the company has secured a block of rooms at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel conveniently located to the Direct Energy Centere.

 "We are extremely excited to see the change in venue of the WMS show," said Daniel Comeau vice president, general manager of CNC Automation. "The move to downtown Toronto has injected the market with a new enthusiasm in this important Canadian event. The WMS show is an important part of the Canadian marketplace. Canadian manufacturers deserve and should expect a "locally" based and focused showcase of products featuring the newest technologies."

"CNC Automation is committed to all of our customers Canada wide," Comeau added. "The WMS event provides us the opportunity to express this commitment to the Canadian marketplace. As a Canadian machinery dealer, we owe it to our Canadian customers to provide a Canadian event where they can view the latest technology and be exposed to new ideas that are important to their future growth and prosperity."

Please visit CNC Automation's booth at WMS in Toronto.  Booth #'s are 129 and 1504.

For more information please visit www.cncautomation.com (800.421.5955) or www.thermwood.com (800.533.6901)

Thermwood's Canadian distributor, CNC Automation, will be exhibiting at this year's WMS Show on October 27th-29th in Toronto, Canada. 

We have secured room deals at the Fairmont York Royal Hotel - just steps away from the best nightlife, dining, shopping and other great venues Toronto has to offer.

There are also several great options for direct transportation to the show from the Fairmont - no need to worry about driving yourself there!

Please click the photo below or this link for more information.

Once again, Thermwood is a proud sponsor of the FREE CabinetMakerFDM Woodworking Business E-vent.  The first such show (held last November), was a great success, and we invite you to attend this unique and interactive event on May 19th, 2011.

As an attendee, you’ll have the opportunity to view five educational sessions on innovations in the wood products industry, network with colleagues, visit our booth and chat in real-time in the Exhibit Hall - All from the comfort of your office!

Thermwood will also be running live machine demonstrations (nested based cabinets, moldings and various other items) on our CabinetShop 43 and Fravol Edgebander throughout the day - available via webcam.

Register online to join us at the Woodworking Business E-vent. We look forward to seeing you there!

At the recent IWF show in Atlanta, Thermwood partnered with Hafele, Columbia Forest Products and Conestoga to build complete cabinets for Habitat for Humanity.   

Thermwood demonstrated a working production cell consisting of the CabinetShop 43 CNC Router (for nested based applications) and a Fravol S2 ECO edgebander.  Attendees were able to get hands on experience using the easiest and simplest system in the industry.  Within a few seconds they selected a product to cut, modified the size and watched the machine cut their parts.  Attendees then took the parts to the edgebander to complete the process.

Complete cabinets were produced at the show from the ¾” thick, pre-finished maple plywood provided by Columbia Forest Products.  This Pure Bond plywood is sealed with AquaSEAL (a formaldehyde-free recyclable overlay conforming to the latest in green technology).

Hafele provided the hinges, slides and shelf hardware for the cabinets, and Conestoga Doors providedfinished five-piece doors and solid wood drawer fronts. 

Cabinet joinery was Thermwood’s new revolutionary Barb Dado joint (patent pending), which allowed the cabinets to be put together without the use of clamps or other holding methods.  The Barb Dado joint is a modified versionof the Blind Dado joint in which we machine a series of barbs in the mortise slot. When you press the parts together, the barbs bend down, bending the fibers in the wood downward firmly holding the pieces together. It is a lot harder to pull it apart than to put it together. This means you can assemble cabinets without screws, clamps or any other fasteners.

The result were beautiful, complete cabinets produced quickly, utilizing an innovative new, highly efficient manufacturing approach which results in a superior structure coupled with enhanced use of materials, all at a dramatically lower price. All cabinets produced at the IWF were donated to Habitat for Humanity.

We are streaming live from IWF, starting today 8/25/10. See the show without leaving your office!

http://www.livestream.com/thermwoodcnc

Featuring the New Barb Dado Joint:

We have a CabinetShop 43 production cell at our Booth # 5153 demonstrating the new Barb Dado Joint. This is a new development at Thermwood that we have applied for patent protection on. The joint is a modified version of the Blind Dado joint in which we machine a series of barbs in the mortise slot. When you press the parts together, the barbs bend down, bending the fibers in the wood downward firmly holding the pieces together. It is a lot harder to pull it apart than to put it together. This means you can assemble cabinets without screws, clamps or any other fasteners.

This simple idea is pretty revolutionary. We have a video from another project which shows how a cabinet is assembled using the barb dado joint. You can find it at:

http://www.thermwood.com/thermwood_barb_dado_joint.htm

In the Woodworking industry, laser scanners and touch probes have been used for some time for digitizing objects, but due to severe technical or practical limitations, neither has seen significant use in the market. Software and CNC machine technology already exist to take advantage of 3D digital models, so digitizing has been the weak link in the process. The recent introduction of the FastSCAN to the woodworking market has changed that, and allows woodworkers to leverage digital technology to increase their productivity and get more return on their CNC investment.  Click HERE for the full article.

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. 

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.