Seven innovative products win Challengers Awards.

The winners of this year's competition are chosen for their contributions toward advancing woodworking technology.

SEVEN EXHIBITING companies took home Challengers Distinguished Achievement Award statues from this year's International Woodworking Machinery & Furniture Supply Fair in Atlanta. Each winner was recognized for developing new, revolutionary, creative, ingenious or forward-thinking technology, materials, services, supplies or safety devices.

Computer controls play a major factor in four of the winning entries, especially in terms of speeding up changeover times from one setup to the next. They include Giben America's PM System, IMA America's MAW Nottmeyer Feed Through CNC Drilling System, Pade's Prima CNC Tenoning Center from Koch Ltd. and Michael Weinig's Profile Center Unimat 3000 Brillant.

The three other winners, chosen from among the initial 75 entries that were judged by a panel of 10 woodworkers, included Raimann USA's Optimizing Rip Saw with Hydro Arbor, SawStop's Safety System for Table Saws and Southeastern Adhesive Co.'s Protact Laminating Adhesive.

Following is a recap of this year's Challengers Award winners.

Giben's PM Panel Saw Grippers

It was three years in the making, but, according to Giben America President Giordano Checchi, the years it took to develop and manufacture the PM System of panel saw grippers was time well spent.

"We're very excited about this system," Checchi said. "It is going to change the rules of the game; panel sizing will never be as it was before."

The PM System can be used with any panel saw. The system's two types of optimizing, self-positioning grippers are capable of positioning material automatically and independently along two axes. The "X" type gripper only moves along the width of the pusher. The "XY" type gripper moves along the width of the pusher as well as perpendicular to the pusher and is capable of automatically adjusting the positioning of a stack of panels or strips at a distance from the cut line, different from the distance determined by the "X" type gripper.

The grippers are controlled by the saw's computer. Thus, their position is always optimized according to the cut pattern, material size, cut sequence and size of the strips or parts.

According to Checchi, the system is especially well suited for high-production flat panel manufacturers such as cabinet and store fixture manufacturers. With the combination of "X" and "XY" type grippers, full stacks of panels in a staggered pattern can be crosscut in a single cycle as if it were a checkerboard pattern

"On expensive material especially, this concept will give you the best yield" Checchi added.

IMA America: Maw-Nottmeyer Feed-Through CNC Drilling Machine 

Representatives of IMA America accepted a Challengers Award statue for the Maw-Nottmeyer feed-through CNC drilling machine.

"We are very excited about this," said IMA vice-president of sales and marketing Mike Hawkins. "The machine is something that we feel offers the customer a lot of value, will provide quality to the end-user and be easy-to-operate for the manufacturer."

The PC-controlled drill is designed for use by companies that have a need for a quick change in boring cycles or setups. Once the operator loads a panel, the computer notes its length, width and thickness. It then compares this with programs entered into the computer, In a unique twist, the machine does not write NC-code, but utilizes ASCII text to dictate where the machine will operate on the X and Y axes. This principle allows the machine to operate efficiently and speed up the changeover cycles. It also dictates the location of the drilling and boring to take place on the panel that is loaded into the machine.

When the operator changes panels, the computer notes the difference in size and compares it to the programs previously entered by the operator. The machine then automatically changes the tooling and continues the process.

"This machine can move up to 22 parts per minute," said Hawkins, "and it literally allows for a change on the fly. The machine requires very little time to make a change, three to five seconds at most. It allows the operator, once the programs have been entered, to move an immense amount of product in a shift."

Koch Ltd. Machinery: Pade Prima CNC Tenoning Center

The ability to produce 22 tenoned pieces per minute and accommodate long and short production runs helped earn the Pade Prima CNC Tenoning Center from Koch Machinery & Systems an IWF Challengers Award.

The Italian-made five-axis system, which features spindle rotation speeds up to 18,000 rpm, performs machining operations on both sides of a workpiece simultaneously. The CNC controls both the tool-path for cutting tenons and machine settings, allowing for quick and accurate set-up changes. It can produce a wide variety of cutback tenon shapes including squares, rounds and rectangles.

The tenoning center is automatically fed by a hopper feeder. The standard center's machining heads can tilt and swivel plus or minus 45 degrees. It can handle pieces up to 1,600mm and can make tenons up to 160mm wide by 160mm thick by 55mm deep.

Todd Atkinson of Koch Machinery, Smyrna, GA, said, "IWF offered a great chance for woodworkers to see this machine in operation. It is really catching the attention of U.S. chair manufacturers. It offers the potential of bringing more of this kind of manufacturing back into the United States."

Raimann USA's Optimizing Rip Saw

Raimann USA Inc. of Charlotte, NC, received a Challengers Award for its new Optimizing Rip Saw with Hydro Arbor. Raimann USA, a division of Interholz, showcased the product at its booth in Atlanta along with its' two other Challengers Award finalists, the Voice Commande software and the Maximat system.

The saw, which features a horizontal instead of a vertical arbor, is designed to increase yield while greatly reducing set-up time, says Ulf Heisterkamp, president of Raimann USA.

The old system involved adding both blades and spacers onto a sleeve. With Raimann's arbor, saw blades can be quickly mounted on the arbor without sleeves or spacers and repositioned at any time. Heisterkamp says that the set-up time has been reduced from 20 minutes with the old system to less than a minute with the Hydro arbor.

"It lets small shops do custom mouldings and small batch runs without interrupting production," he says. Heisterkamp adds that the saw can run 5,000 to 7,000 board feet per day with a cutting accuracy of 0.008 inch.

"We are extremely proud to introduce a new way of ripping," says Heisterkamp. "By offering a machine that can provide premium quality to the end-user and reduce scrap and improve efficiency, we feel confident that the market will recognize all the benefits the machine offers."

Another Challengers Award finalist was the Maximat system, which recognizes differences in wood consistency through changes in sound during the sawing process. When the machine notices a change in sound, indicating a change in consistency in the wood, the blades increase or decrease their rate of speed, optimizing cut rates and reducing wear on the saw blade.

Raimann's Voice Commande system also was named a Challengers finalist. The operator of the saw is able to give voice commands via headset, and the saw can alert the operator of maintenance needs. One of the benefits of Voice Commande is that it is able to integrate disabled people into the workplace.

SawStop's Table Saw Safety System

"A single mistake with your table saw shouldn't cost you a finger," said Stephen Grass, inventor of the SawStop. The ingenious device recognizes the difference between the electrical properties of wood and a saw's user. The system induces a high-frequency electrical signal on the blade of a table saw and montiors the signal for changes caused by contact between the blade and a user's body.

The signal remains unchanged when the blade cuts wood because of the relatively small inherent electrical capacitance and conductivity of wood. However, the relatively large inherent capacitance of a user's body triggers the SawStop system to stop the saw blade in under 5 milli-seconds.

The result, when demonstrated at IWF 2000 using a hot dog, was a tiny nick that, at most, would have required a band-aid if it had occurred on a finger.

When called into use, the SawStop activates a spring that pulls the saw blade down into a replaceable plastic block, stopping the blade in less than a quarter turn.

Gass, who himself is a life-long amateur woodworker, developed the device using his knowledge of physics, in which he has a Ph.D. He also handled the patent process himself since he also happens to be a patent attorney.

The device performs a self-check when a table saw is turned on to ensure the system is installed correctly and is fully operational. Although not commercially available, the device is also suitable for other power tools, such as band saws.

The SawStop was displayed at IWF 2000 in hopes of convincing tool manufacturers of its viability and importance as a safety device. Gass estimated that if the device were produced commerically it would cost about $75 to install on a 10-inch table saw. To replace the plastic block would cost around $20.

Larger, commercial applications could run as high as $2,000, Gass said, noting that the cost only seems high until compared to the costs of a table saw accident where a serious hand injury results.

Southeastern Adhesives Co.'s Protact Laminating Adhesives

SEACO's winning entry in the 2000 Challengers Awards competition is its new Protact series, a water-based adhesive for bonding high-pressure laminates.

The product allows a manufacturer to apply the adhesive, immediately apply the laminate to the core, apply pressure through a nip roller and set the panel aside; no additional pressure is required. Subsequent machining is possible within as little as one hour. There is no waiting for the adhesive to dry before applying laminate. The Protact series contains no VOCs and is heat- and moisture-resistant.

"We have supplied products to the woodworking industry for 60 years and we want to support the industry," said president Don Barrier. "The Protact series is innovative technology that meets those goals. It helps eliminate waste, it lowers cost and gives smaller shops an opportunity to laminate high-pressure laminate easily. It's good for large shops, too.

"What really sets it apart is that it provides good heat and moisture resistance. It also can be used for postforming," Barrier added.

Barrier also said that winning a Challengers Award means a lot to the company. "This type of recognition has significance for our 67 employees," he said. "It's nice for them to receive this type of recognition."

Weinig's Unimat 3000 Brillant Profile Center

The ability to change over a moulding profile in 5 minutes or less as opposed to 30 minutes or more helped Michael Weinig win a Challengers Award.

Weinig says its new Profile Center, the Unimat 3000 Brillant offers a high degree of automation and doubles feed rates with a spindle speed of 12,000 rpm while maintaining the surface quality of the workpieces. The Unimat 3000 combines increased processing speed, minimum set-up times and a new "Powerlock" tool system that unlocks and locks tools into place with the push of a button.

"Many of the attendees we spoke with didn't necessarily come to Atlanta in search of buying a moulder," says Jeff Davidson. "However, after taking a look at the Unimat and what it has to offer, they began to re-think their production systems and how they could benefit from the Unimat."

In development for the last two years, the Unimat has reduced set-up times up to 90 percent. A key contributor to fast changeover is provided by the fully automatic setting of the Unimat by simply pushing a button. By doing so, the settings for a profile can be retrieved from an integrated library.

A new profile is also easily entered. Guided by the menu the operator keys in the data while the Unimat continues working on the current order. Online-help and fault diagnoses always indicate the correct procedure to the operator and make the machine as trouble-free as possible.

This year's Challengers Award is the sixth Weinig has received since the biennial competition's inception in 1966. Dimter, another company in the Weinig Group, has two Challengers Awards under its belt.

Other Finalists

THE SEVEN WINNING products were among 20 finalists chosen from an original field of 75 products. Here's a quick look at the other 13 finalists.

* Barr Mullin's Crook Buster

* Biesse Groups Millennium Edgebander

* European Woodworking Machinery/SCM Groups Routech CNC Machining Center

* Fezer North America's system for jointing and gluing veneer edges

* Graco's Informer In-Line Fluid Monitor

* Onsrud Cutter's High Velocity Router Bits

* Perceptron's Ultrasonic Cant Grader

* Perceptron's SonicCam for Boards

* Raimann USA's Maximat

* Raimann USA's Voice Commande

* Salice America's Smove door hardware

* Stiles Machinery's High-Speed CNC Throughfeed Boring Machine 

* Timesavers' Automatic, Positive Centering, Opposed Head Knife Planer