Our fine woodworking division, NEWwoodworks, has specialized in handcrafted cabinetry, furniture, stairs, doors, and other custom designed interior furnishings for over 20 years. This year, we’ve added a customized Thermwood MTR-30 3-axis CNC router to NEWwoodworks’ arsenal of tools, increasing throughput, expanding our design offerings, and creating greater efficiency and accuracy for projects large and small. If you want to talk technical, the Thermwood CNC, ‘Thelma’ as it’s affectionately been named, has a 12HP variable speed spindle, 11 position automatic tool changer, an aluminum grid vacuum table, and state-of-the-art control software.
NEWwoodworks does the bulk of their work in solid lumber, usually reclaimed and antique species, as opposed to sheet goods like plywood. This required their CNC router to be customized to better handle material that can be more difficult to work with. A raised z-axis to accommodate larger timber stock, additional table reinforcement and stiffer axes to aid in cutting denser material, and an upgraded vacuum table to make complex jigging and complicated hold-downs easier and faster are all incorporated into the new CNC router.
Rob D’Alessandro, General Manager at NEWwoodworks described the custom woodworking the CNC will help produce:
“The CNC will allow us to be more productive, even with highly custom designs like our live edge cabinetry. Complex joinery, carvings, curves, and even typical furniture parts can be created more quickly leaving our craftsmen free to focus their unique capabilities on details, fit, and finish. Crafting projects from antique reclaimed wood is a unique privilege. Reclaimed material is often much harder and more challenging to work with than fresh-sawn wood. The customized CNC will handle the old wood effortlessly.”
Marty Avila, NEWwoodworks lead project manager and CNC guru added:
“Coupled with the fact that we will now be able to repeatedly cut large or small quantities of parts with extreme accuracy, we will also be able to expand our offering of highly detailed 3-dimensional carvings. The CNC has the ability to open up a number of new project opportunities for NEWwoodworks. Even with the steep learning curve ahead of us we are very excited to see the various possibilities that can become reality with the aid of our new CNC.”
