Thermwood trip

I went to the Thermwood CNC factory today. We are interested in a new CNC
router at the place where I work. The trip was good. I saw a lot of
really interesting things (interesting for guys like us...). They have a
nice digitizing routine that you can buy along with their CNC. It was very
slick. Their control was very good - it looked similar to EMC. They can
achieve rapid travels in the thousands of inches per minute (4200
ipm). They use typewriter style toolchangers. Columbo spindles. THK
linear ways and rolled ballscrews. They bring in steel tubing in the back
door and deliver finished machines out the front.
One of the interesting things that I saw was their training room. Ron
Wickersham told me that they had some little 5 axis training CNCs- and sure
enough they still have them and they are wild! Little 5 axis CNCs with 24"
x 48" X 12" travel, with full Thermwood controls attached.

I learned a lot today. It was great.

Dan

P.S. I will be packaging the EMC CD copies this weekend and mailing on
Monday. Sorry for the delay, but other stuff is keeping me distracted.