Eight take Visionary Awards at AWFS

Eight exhibitors won Visionary New Product Awards for creativity and innovation at the 2023 AWFS Fair in Las Vegas.

The awards are decided by judges representing various areas of the industry, including professional end-users, production managers, custom woodworkers, and company owners. Criteria includes quality, production impact, practicality, and user-friendliness.

The winners, in their respective categories, are:

Components: Xtract Cubitron II Net Disc 710W from 3M, which features a new abrasive pattern to sand more parts per disc with less dust, helping boost productivity and safety, according to the company.

Hardware: Plate + Hardware Catalog from Shaper Tool. From the makers of the Shaper Origin, the two products eliminate the need for physical hardware templates when replacing hinges of adding custom hardware. The Shaper Plate offers a wide array of indexing options for easy alignment against any workpiece edge, corner, or custom mark. The Hardware Catalog lets users have free access to hundreds of Shaper-vetted digital templates.

Machinery Over $50,000: Hand Guard from the Altendorf Group. This early recognition system protects operators from danger during sawing applications. Two cameras collect data for hand recognition from a wide space around the saw blade. As soon as intruding hands are detected there, the sawing unit is quickly lowered and stopped within a quarter of a second, according to the company.

Machinery Under $50,000: iGlue from Northtech Machine. “This drawer box gluing solution is designed for traditional drawer box assembly problems without the requirement of complex setups or custom glue-heads,” the company explained. “The operator simply grabs a part and sticks it in the machine, and within seconds, it will will secure, scan and apply glue to the part in one pass. The operator is only required to choose glue volume and whether to apply glue to (the) female or male tenon.”

Industry 4.0: SAVE from Nederman optimizes a shop’s air filtration performance through intelligent airflow control. “This comprehensive solution optimizes and enhances the performance of an industrial filtration system, leveraging operational data from machines or processes to determine the precise amount of air needed for effective dust extraction and safe material transport. This results in significant energy savings, reduces the risk of fire and explosion, and minimizes maintenance time,” the company said.

Power Tools: The Blu-Mol Xtreme QuickCore Hole Saw System from Disston Co., which features tool-less, quick-change technology to remove the plug, change hole saws, and drill holes faster.

Tooling: The Cabinet Plumbing Jig from True Position Tools for a fast, precise method of marking and drilling holes in cabinet backs for pipes and outlets.

General: SurfPrep’s ProFoam line of hook and loop sanding pads, which have been completely redesigned to increase surface finish quality through an electrostatic coating process. “The minerals have been upgraded to a blue-fired aluminum oxide pre-stressed grain which provides a faster cut, tougher abrasive, and the grains stay sharper for longer,” the company said. 

This article was originally published in the October 2023 issue.