One last look at IWF '96.

Called the "highest and most prestigious, internationally recognized award" by IWF president and CEO Patrick LaFramboise, the Challengers Award committee honored seven "innovative products" at the International Woodworking and Furniture Supply Fair '96.

"The number of entries has grown and the award has become much more competitive and stronger with each succeeding show," LaFramboise added during the Challengers Award ceremony.

And the winners are...

Great Lakes Carbide Tool's Great-Loc Insert Tooling System

The Challengers Award-winning Great-Loc insert tooling system from Great Lakes Carbide Tool Manufacturing Co., Peshtigo, WI, was designed to further simplify the concept of insert tooling. The tool body was designed to require no gib. The insert is clamped by means of two clamping screws and the Great Loc Safety Groove, which holds the insert in place. Designed for use on routers, edge banders, moulders, shapers and tenoners, the tool body remains in place on the machine while the inserts are exchanged.

"Three of us originally started the project a few years back," said company president Russ Martin, "myself, our designer Mike McMahon, and my son. We put the idea on our AutoCAD program, and from there it was a trial-and-error process of moving things around and redesigning details until we got what we wanted." Martin said that, as is the case with many inventions, "the first one didn't work, so we kept changing it."

The Great Loc insert system continues its evolution, Martin added. "Some of our customers still have some of the early prototypes, and we are replacing them with newer units as improvements are made."

Circle #288

Group Seven Systems' CESYS: Lumber Color Evaluation System

A team approach involving representatives of machinery and software manufacturers, a university and a major cabinet company led to the development of a new lumber color evaluation system that took home a Challengers Award.

Group Seven Systems of Hudson, NC, won a Challengers Award for its CESYS lumber Color Evaluation System. The System uses state-of-the-art computer and camera technologies.

"With this system there is now a tool that can efficiently evaluate lumber by its color class and mark, or sort it accordingly," said Terry Coffey, president of Group Seven Systems. "After the lumber is sorted, then all pieces of the same color class can be processed together giving the end product the color consistency consumers are looking for." CESYS utilizes high-speed scanning and computer technology coupled with high-speed linescan cameras to scan both sides of dimension wood and then determine the best face to use in the end product.

The system can identify over 50 different color classes in red oak alone. Aristokraft, a major manufacturer of high-end kitchen cabinets, uses CESYS at its dimension plant in Crossville, TN, to identify 10 to 12 different color classes of red oak. CESYS can be trained to identify color classes in all species of lumber.

"This system required a total team effort to bring the final product to market," Coffey said. The system was developed in conjunction with Aristokraft, and research was provided by the Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University in Princeton, WV. The equipment was constructed by Group Seven Systems and the software was developed by Nova Technologies and is being distributed by Sutton Machine and all Group Seven Systems dealers.

Circle #289

Homag's Edge Filling Machine

New edge filling technology, with the potential to narrow the performance gap between particleboard and more expensively priced medium density fiberboard, was recognized with a Challengers Award.

Homag's KL 79 edge filler and foil transfer machine, which was displayed at the booth of Stiles Machinery Inc., resembles a conventional throughfeed edge bander in appearance and operation. The edge filling process involves applying a specially formulated hotmelt It adhesive into the porous edge of the particleboard to create a smooth, sealed edge. The glued edge is then smoothed and can be transfer foiled on the same machine.

Traditional edge filling technologies have generally employed spray applications, longer set times and greater sanding requirements.

Phil Herzog, Homag group product manager for Stiles Machinery of Grand Rapids, MI, said, "Typically companies buy MDF instead of particleboard because its smoother edge surfaces are better suited for heat transfer foils and painting. With this system, you can get the same quality edge of MDF but with the better structural integrity of particleboard." As a result, Herzog said foil users can employ longer worksurfaces with reduced risk of sagging.

"We are using standard technology to accomplish this," said Manfred Saborowsky, export sales manager for Homag AG of Schopfloch, Germany. "The real secret is in the hotmelt. We have worked closely with several leading adhesive suppliers on this project.

"This technology should be of greatest interest to manufacturers of RTA furniture, award plaques and anyone else who uses foiled or painted edges," Saborowsky added.

Circle #290

ITW DeVilbiss' OMX Ergonomic Spray Gun Line

A recognition of the need for ergonomics in spray finishing to reduce the chance of operator fatigue and injury was the motivation behind DeVilbiss' OMX spray gun line, said Nancy Howenstein, marketing manager of the Maumee, OH-based Devilbiss.

"The OMX came about because spray finishers told us that their greatest problem was in operator fatigue," said Howenstein. Another consideration, she said, was to not only improve operator productivity, but more importantly decrease the chance of operators contracting cumulative trauma disorders, including carpal tunnel syndrome.

At 12 ounces, DeVilbiss claims that OMX is the lightest spray gun available. It has an ergonomically designed grip and needs less than 1 pound of force to work.

"We consider the Challengers Award to be very prestigious -- an important recognition of what we have tried to accomplish," Howenstein said.

Circle #291

Norton's SG Abrasive

A new abrasive technology that reportedly can out-last traditional abrasive materials used for widebelt finish sanding by 10 times or more earned Norton Co. of Worcester, MA, a Challengers Award. Norton is calling its SG (seeded-gel) ceramic abrasive grain technology the "first breakthrough" in the manufacture of aluminum-oxide abrasives to come along in four decades.

The SG product is distinguished by the billions of abrasive particles in each grain which produce a dense, strong grain. The microstructure of the grain allows it to remain sharp during sanding, continually exposing fresh, sharp cutting points.

Ronald Arsenault, Norton's marketing communications manager, said the submission of documented results gained from tests at major furniture manufacturers' operations, helped Challengers Award judges better understand the significance of the new abrasive product.

"Usually you can expect 10 hours of use for an aluminum-oxide belt for widebelt finish sanding applications," said Peter Pridon, Norton's manager of sales and marketing for the wood-working industry. "In the 25 case studies we've done with furniture manufacturers over the last two years, we've seen SG belts that have been cleaned many times used for up to 240 hours and still maintain color, clarity and consistency of the finish."

In addition to extended belt life, Pridon said other benefits of the SG belts include: greater consistency of finish; better belt cleaning renewability, reduced downtime to change belts and reduced inventory.

Circle #292

Voorwood's L73 Contour Foiler

Inspiration can come from the most unexpected places.

For Voorwood's Challengers Award winning L73 Contour Foiler, inspiration struck when Ted Voorhees, president of Voorwood, was stuck home watching TV one afternoon.

"He was flipping channels and came across a motorcycle race. He became intrigued by the way the bike leans almost to the ground when it's turning, but the handlebars stay practically straight the whole time," said Keith Johnson, sales manager at Voorwood, of Anderson, CA. "He started mulling the concept over, thinking about how it could apply to a machine, and that was the beginning of the world's first template-free contour edge foiler."

Voorwood says the result of all its work is the first practical method for foil finishing of irregular-shaped pieces without templates, smearing or costly reworks. The five to six years Voorwood invested in developing the contour foiler started to pay off when the company won a Challengers Award at IWF '96 in Atlanta.

"We're very excited about the award. It's great to see the company's efforts recognized like this," Johnson said.

The drive mechanism of the L73 uses two rotating canted shafts to turn the part. One wheel drives the part forward while the other, with slightly less torque, pulls it to the left. As the part presses against the roller, it turns to the left following the contour exactly. The foil applicator is mounted on a slide fitted with an air spring which maintains constant pressure against the profile regardless of the shape.

The other challenge Voorwood faced was finding something that would hold the board in place without marring the surface. Again, inspiration came from the world of sports.

"We used the same basic technology used in air hockey tables," Johnson said. "Compressed air holds down the boards without leaving any marks on the surface."

Voorwood officially introduced the L73 at IWF, although the company had run over 25,000 parts on the machine in Australia over the previous five months.

Circle #293

Western Cutterheads' Hydro-Locking Tooling

A significant advance in lathe tooling earned Western Cutterheads a 1996 Challengers Award

Hydro-locking tooling offers dramatic safety improvements over the current rotary lathe T-slot tooling, said Norma Anselm, production manager for Western Cutterheads of a La Center, KY. T-Slot tooling (patented 1917) is more dangerous, she added, as it uses open-slotted smooth-backed knives similar to the old four-sided moulder heads.

"Hydro-locking tooling improves safety considerably," she said. The full-body design eliminates the use of bolts as an assembly method. Corrugated knives with a wedge-shaped gib make it easier to set up. Chiplimiters prevent the operator from overloading the head.

Hydro-locking tooling offers increased productivity as well, Anselm said. Improvements of 50 to 60 percent over hand-ground T-Slot tooling have been achieved by two additional faces (six- vs. eight-sided), by automatic profile grinding (vs. hand grinding), chip control (vs. no control), hydro-sleeves (vs. set screws) and computer design (vs. no design criteria) for patterns and templates for setting and grinding knives.

Circle #294

RELATED ARTICLE: FINAL NUMBERS ARE IN FOR IWF '96

The International Woodworking and Furniture Supply Fair '96 drew 42,942 people, slightly under the record 1994 show which was approximately 44,000.

Of those attending, 31.5 percent came from shops with 1-9 employees--the largest group. The next largest group, 17 percent, came from companies with more than 250 employees.

Other numbers included:

* The top three business categories at the show included: Wood Cabinetry, 19.4 percent; Residential Furniture/Wood, 15.6 percent; and Millwork, 10.6 percent.

* Of those attending nearly 36 percent were presidents, senior executives or general managers. The second largest percentage of visitors--20.6 percent--held plant managerial level positions.

Most attendees represented companies with annual sales of $1 million to $5 million, which accounted for 20.3 percent of the total. attendees from companies representing less than $250,000 in annual sales made up 17.5 percent of the total.

According to many sources, those attending were buying. Sanding machinery manufacturer, Timesavers, for example, had its best show ever, according to a press release from the show. "We wrote more than $2 million in orders at the show," said Ray Vold, president of the Minneapolis, MN-based company. "Our business was up 30 percent in the first two days alone over IWF '94, and at least 45 percent of our orders were from overseas companies."

According to show statistics, the number of international attendees, who came from 81 countries, was 77 percent greater than 1994. Show officials did not release the numbers of international attendance.

Editor's Note: A look at some of the winning entries of the IWF Student Design contest written by W&WP Design Editor Barb Garet can be found on page 32 of this issue.