Damon,
Thanks for sharing the photos. I really wanted to go and this was the next best thing.
Contributor
Damon,
Thanks for sharing the photos. I really wanted to go and this was the next best thing.
Member
I too attended AWFS and was in vegas for Friday, Saturday at the stratosphere. Saturday was pretty slow... actually very slow.
I didn't see Grizzly at the show.
Man I wish I could have met Tommy Mac, I just got to meet Rob Cosman who was trying to sell woodriver planes by making them sharp by honing with shapton japanese waterstones. It appeared he was using two stones, a 1000 grit and 16,000 grit and a diamond flattening stone. What's discouraging is Rob didn't even look at me and I was pretty much front row center for his demo. Then I sort of got uncomfortable as he asked everyone else to demo his plane, but not me. I can only assume that it's because i'm still in my 20's, don't have a beard, and am wearing west coast surfer apparel.Either that, maybe he knows that I've splurged on lie nielsen and stanley SH and probably wouldn't buy a woodriver? heh
Tim from Laguna (SMC laguna rep) recognized my name from this forum and we talked for a bit. He's friendly/knowledgable and it seems like Laguna is stepping up in the customer service department.
I also got to meet Carl Knapp who was too busy to talk much because he was selling so many felder machines. I learned about their new driftmaster fence system that's coming soon from an Austrian rep. I also talked about Felders FB bandsaws and it's going to be a tough time for me to shop between MM, Laguna, and Felder for my next bandsaw.
Perhaps the most interesting conversation I had all day was about the sawstop slider. I really like how the blades will be saved with the braking system and I can only imagine how safe it will be to use. I was there for a demo of their cabinet saw and it gives you quite the scare when that brake fires from the hot dog.
There was Byrd head demo for a planer and man is it quieter than the flat blades... I also got to try out the new Festool T18 which is my dream drill. I also might see a product called the Tigerstop in the near future as an add-on to my kapex. Tigerstop is a well engineered automatic measuring/stop block. Seems like it could really speed up using a mitersaw.
In summary, I was fairly overwhelmed at the show and agree that it will take 2 days to digest both halls. I will definitely go to one of these again.
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Lots of CNCs and all sorts of software, controllers, and plenty of people to chat with. Plenty of noise and sawdust to go around.
IMG_20110723_114535.jpg
Felder was the one booth I had to visit first, and then I could look at the other booths.
Contributor
Damon, I think we are all in our own little worlds at a show of that size. I have a domino so I didnt think twice about looking a the Lamello or a Domino for that matter of fact.Originally Posted by Damon Stathatos
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. My desk is a work station.
Contributor
Chris, It would be nice to have met a couple fellow SMC members, wish I would have known you were there, as its always nice to put a face with a name.I too attended AWFS and was in vegas for Friday, Saturday at the stratosphere. Saturday was pretty slow... actually very slow.
I didn't see Grizzly at the show.
Man I wish I could have met Tommy Mac, I just got to meet Rob Cosman who was trying to sell woodriver planes by making them sharp by honing with shapton japanese waterstones. It appeared he was using two stones, a 1000 grit and 16,000 grit and a diamond flattening stone. What's discouraging is Rob didn't even look at me and I was pretty much front row center for his demo. Then I sort of got uncomfortable as he asked everyone else to demo his plane, but not me. I can only assume that it's because i'm still in my 20's, don't have a beard, and am wearing west coast surfer apparel.
Tim from Laguna (SMC laguna rep) recognized my name from this forum and we talked for a bit. He's friendly/knowledgable and it seems like Laguna is stepping up in the customer service department.
I also got to meet Carl Knapp who was too busy to talk much because he was selling so many felder machines. I learned about their new driftmaster fence system that's coming soon from an Austrian rep. I also talked about Felders FB bandsaws and it's going to be a tough time for me to shop between MM, Laguna, and Felder for my next bandsaw.
Perhaps the most interesting conversation I had all day was about the sawstop slider. I really like how the blades will be saved with the braking system and I can only imagine how safe it will be to use. I was there for a demo of their cabinet saw and it gives you quite the scare when that brake fires from the hot dog.
There was Byrd head demo for a planer and man is it quieter than the flat blades... I also got to try out the new Festool T18 which is my dream drill. I also might see a product called the Tigerstop in the near future as an add-on to my kapex. Tigerstop is a well engineered automatic measuring/stop block. Seems like it could really speed up using a mitersaw.
I spent quite a bit of time at the Felder booth also, Ruan is a really nice GM for Felder, alot of people in his position would not take the time to visit with the "weekend warriors". I had Mark demo the FB600 for me, I'd have one in my shop if it were a 20" saw, the 24" is just too much machine for my shop. A reworked FB500 is in the making according to Ruan and Fergus. It was fun to see all the other machines they offer in person also.
I didnt see the byrd head demo??Its funny how much a person misses.
I also didnt get a chance to see pricing on the Tiger Stop for the mitre saw, I agree it would be a really nice addition to my Kapex also. Did you happen to get any pricing?
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. My desk is a work station.
Contributor
Here are some photo's of the fresh wood competition, there were a few more that I didnt take pics of. Nice work on all of them, espcecially considering the age of the competitors.
IMG_20110722_130116.jpgIMG_20110722_125456.jpgIMG_20110722_130052.jpgIMG_20110722_130225.jpgIMG_20110722_125331.jpgIMG_20110722_125430.jpgIMG_20110722_125323.jpgIMG_20110722_130302.jpg
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. My desk is a work station.
Contributor
A couple of more
IMG_20110722_130408.jpgIMG_20110722_155220.jpg
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. My desk is a work station.
Member
I was waiting for somebody to start a thread like "Who's attending AWFS", but there was no such thread.
Pricing for the tigerstop was around $2600. (ouch) They are available in lengths 8', 10', 14' etc and only go up in price a couple hundred bucks or so because you're basically just paying for longer railings. They were throwing in a free dewalt miter saw stand. I was told that their distributors sometimes sell on Amazon, and there are deals to be found. The guy demo'd the unit being totally abusive to the system and show how it self corrects and can recalibrate quickly. They had one on a PM tablesaw. Would be interesting to just type in a size (metric or fraction), fence automatically moves there and then you make your cut. The mechanism was a pulley/belt system on a stepped motor.
I have a domino as well but I was curious looking at the Lamello products because the clamex is a biscuit that locks itself into both ends with a "T" type slot and pulls the biscuit together for a tight joint. It just looked very expensive... The downside is you need a hole in the side of a joining piece to fit your torx key to lock the pieces together.
The byrd head quietly planed curly maple and the results were fantastic.
Oneida was there, and a salesman helped me choose a model for my home shop. He suggested Oneida V3000 because I don't use 2 machines at the same time and have 5" ports for slider and jointer/planer. Oneida now has a plasma cutter and makes all the duct work, tapers, and radius fittings in a factory they bought from their previous supplier. I should see how much ductwork will cost from them... The Oneida Smart Pro is very interesting and how it adjusts power based on your needs. It probably saves power in that it won't use up all the horsepower if all you're running is a vacuum attachment on a 2.5" hose. I'm pretty sold on an Oneida cyclone now.
I was a little suprised that Leitz didn't manufacture festool blades for Leitz is a german company and they sell blades for euro saws like felder (and they make blades that fit festool). Their tools looked top quality and seeing their offerings and talking to a rep I am more sold on them. Every single blade has a computer check each individual tooth and their blades are both computer measured AND hand inspected by a technician with a straight edge who fixes any abnormalities.
I hate to say this, but the "General" booth seemed to me like what the Grizzly booth would look like. All sorts of machines from benchtop mortisers to industrial sliders with the same mean green color scheme and rough-like castings. I think General could use an update similar to how grizzly is going for the whole polar bear series. Powermatic's anniversary machines were gorgeous, especially the black and gold flagship PM lathe which had me second guessing about my decision to get a oneway 2436.
I do recall one comical moment when a $100K CNC was failing pretty miserably at just putting labels on a sheet of wood. The labels were getting wrinkled, folded, twisted, etc and the tech kept toying around with the label feeder as sweat dripped down his brow.
Contributor
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...be-at-the-AWFS
I tried Chris, it didnt go over to well.....
$2600 for the tigerstop is a bunch! I played with the digital rip fence on the Kappa slider at the Felder booth. Just like a kid at christmas!! I made about 30 different entries and just watched as it zoomed into position.
I did spend alot of time in the General booth too, yes they need a bit of an appearance facelift. I was impressed with alot of their mahines though.
I'd also say my favorite PM machine was the lathe, the PM2000 looked pretty sweet in black also.
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. My desk is a work station.
[OP]
Contributor
I spend my day cutting and milling really hard woods like cocobolo, ziricote, and jatoba. Every once-in-a-while I'll put some maple or walnut through the blades just to remember what it was like 'normally.' Anyway, at the show there were a lot of 'consumer' CNC's being demonstrated, set on auto-pilot, and as you walked by you were supposed to be attracted to how efficiently, effortlessly, and precisely they could do the job. However, if you took a closer look, it was all 'white-wood' (read: balsa-ish?) and I couldn't help but ask myself how they all would be performing under more probable and normal conditions.
Although I had dealings with him before, it was at the show that I actually met Tim from Laguna. They had what looked to be a fairly 'sweet' little consumer CNC ($6k) that was doing it's thing (on, what looked to be more normal wood) and I made the observation to him that there must have been a run on balsa wood before the show but that the wood they had in their CNC looked to be more of a normal density. As we chuckled about it for a moment, we both looked closer at the wood in their machine and upon further inspection, it looked to be some sort of contrived laminate panel of sorts (as well). Laughter went up a notch...and then a change of subject. So that was one of my comical moments.
Sierra Madre Sawing and Milling
Sierra Madre, California
Contributor
Festool blades are manufactured by Leitz and laser engraved with Festool's name. Watch the video on Leitz's website and you'll catch it near the end.
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