Components Lead the Way in 2000’s Most Popular Products
Every December, Modern Woodworking takes a look back and calculates what the most popular products were that were featured in our Product Profile and New Products sections for the past year. By most popular, we mean the products that generated the most leads from reader service card activity.
Components comprised many of those this year. The fireplace mantles and surrounds from Valley Custom Door were far and away the big winner with aluminum furniture legs from Allied Hardware coming in second.
Modern Woodworking is glad to be a resource for our readers in this way. What follows, in no particular order, are Modern Woodworking’s top twenty most requested products for the year 2000.
Kitchen Hardware
The new Swirl’Z™ collection is one of several whimsical and specialty design directions being highlighted in Amerock’s Accent’Z™ hardware brand. Three distinctive shapes in the Swirl’Z™ collection — a 3-inch center pull and two knobs — are offered in a choice of new finishes including Flat Black, Satin Chrome and Wrought Iron Dark. For cabinet showrooms, Amerock offers display boards to feature Swirl’Z™ and other Accent’Z™ brand collections in kitchen and bath settings.
Enter No. 534 on the reader service card.
Alternative Solid Surfacing Laminates
Formica Corporation has eight patterns now available in its new Formica® brand laminate Envision™ Collection. The Envision Collection can stand alone as countertop material or can be coordinated with the matching Surrell® solid surfacing material colors, says the company. Samples are available on request.
Enter No. 535 on the reader service card.
Lipping Planer
The new BH 556 Lipping Planer from Hoffman Machine Company, Inc. is designed for flush planing of solid hardwood and softwood edges, as well as veneer, laminate and plastic edgebanding. The auto-lock design allows precise blade adjustments in 0.004” increments. New features include a pivoting knife guard, which covers the cutter head completely when not in use; a newly designed handle for safe and comfortable operation; a quick disconnecting coupling on the power cord for fast replacement; and a new, more powerful 1,400 watt motor.
Enter No. 536 on the reader service card.
Tooling System
Leitz Tooling Systems, Inc. has ProFix, a new tooling system that offers interchangeable tools between moulders, shapers and CNC routers. Available in both HSS and TC tips, required profiles are EDM wire cut for accuracy. The company says that the geometry of the cutters provides constant cutting circles and profile accuracy that needs no resetting of the machine after grinding and that the ProFix system can reduce or eliminate the need for sanding. Steel or aluminum tool bodies are available, depending on machine loading requirements. Over twenty-five profiles are available.
Enter No. 539 on the reader service card.
Management Software
User Solutions, Inc. has Peachtree Accounting Link (PAL) software that runs with Resource Manager for Excel™. According to the company, small and medium sized manufacturers can use their familiar desktop applications to manage their entire operation — quickly, easily and more affordably. Resource Manager PAL allows Peachtree Accounting users to begin fully managing manufacturing operations without having to learn a new system or re-enter data. Resource Manager Pal is designed to adapt to customers’ specific needs. Key features include: seamless data integration with Peachtree Accounting, finite capacity planning and scheduling, MRP and inventory management, easy “What-If” analysis, costing and estimating, and more.
Enter No. 537 on the reader service card.
Clamping System
American Clamping has a workbench-mounted fixture, the Bessey K Body Maxis™, that allows the K Body™ user to turn any length of a K Body™ into a versatile, multi-positioned bench vise. The Bessey K Body Maxis™ consists of two bench mounts, which easily slip onto the ends of the K Body™ clamp (special strap included allows for use with a pipe clamp). This creates a single unit, which mounts securely to the front edge of a workbench or other work surface that has a thickness up to 41/4”. An easy to operate clutch mechanism permits the clamp to rotate its length and firmly lock at any angle from 0° to 270°.
Enter No. 540 on the reader service card.
Fireplace Mantles and Surrounds
Valley Custom Door details its fireplace mantles and surrounds in a new brochure. Choose from seven handcrafted styles in solid red oak, hard maple or cherry. All products may be ordered unfinished or pre-finished in one of five standard stain colors or custom stained matched. Valley supplies fireplace layout forms to make ordering easy. Mantles and surrounds will be shipped knocked down and completely ready for installation.
Enter No. 541 on the reader service card.
Panel Roller
Häfele America has a material-handling product designed especially for the woodworking industry. It is the Panel Roller, a valuable tool capable of managing up to 300 pounds. The product will maneuver at 360°, while affording another pair of hands, the company says.
Enter No. 538 on the reader service card.
Runner System
Hettich America LP offers the full drawer extension Quadro V8 combined with the InnoTech drawer system to make wider drawer widths possible. The company says the runner’s capacity considerably increases storage space for kitchen and office drawers while not sacrificing the comfort and ease with which they are pulled out of or pushed back into a wall unit. In the office, the runner has a carrying capacity of 154 pounds. In the kitchen, wide drawers in XXL format correspond to the full extension Quadro V8, carrying loads up to 110 pounds. Hettich has a broad range of available extensions and all products are backed by a lifetime warranty, says the company.
Enter No. 542 on the reader service card.
Custom Proposals Created by Software
The Assistant, available from Alliance Millsoft, is estimating software for architectural millworkers and cabinet makers. In most cases, the software calculates the labor needs and material counts for an item as it is entered in the takeoff. It prices anything that a company produces and sells, reports the company. It has a pricing structure that any takeoff person can use. The Assistant also creates custom proposals right from estimates. It also can import cabinets into Pattern Systems DrawPower for quick and accurate engineering drawings.
Enter No. 543 on the reader service card.
Sanding Wheel
From Thomas Manufacturing Inc. comes a new generation of profile sanding wheels. The new wheels feature a soft sanding core designed to allow the grit to conform more closely to a profile, giving improved fit and finish with a variety of materials, says the company.
Enter No. 544 on the reader service card.
Wood Hand Screw
American Clamping has added the Bessey Professional Wood Hand Screw to its clamp offerings. The clamp features an increased spindle diameter for added strength and durability. Both spindles and swivel nuts are made from cold drawn carbon steel. The threads are a precision double lead acme for rapid operation and years of hard use, according to the company. The hardwood handles are made over-sized for comfort and extra torque and reinforced with steel ferrules. A spiral pin is used to secure the handles to the spindle, providing easy removal of handles for repair or replacement.
Enter No. 545 on the reader service card.
Aluminum Furniture Legs
Allied Hardware of Far Rockaway, NY, has introduced a catalog of contemporary and traditional cast aluminum furniture legs available in sizes from 4” to 281/2” in polished and satin chrome finishes, including rubber foot bumpers. The catalog shows the entire product line through pictures, applications and specifications. The company is the exclusive distributor of Milano Malika furniture legs in North America.
Enter No. 546 on the reader service card.
Cabinetry Accessories
Schrock Handcrafted Cabinetry’s Base Open Basket can be used for storing linens in the kitchen or bath, as a video collection holder in the den, or as an in/out box in the office. CPU and printer bases also are available for home offices. The tapered leg, French leg and bun foot are designed to give cabinetry the look of fine furniture.
Enter No. 547 on the reader service card.
Miniature Fluorescent Lamp
Edge Inc. Plus has a miniature fluorescent lamp, that is UL listed. It is completely self contained, allowing for a 20,000 hour or more bulb life under normal conditions. All components, including the power cord, are inside the lamp housing. The lamp can be powered from either side, making for easier installations, says the company. There is a built-in on/off switch. The lamp will work from -3° F to 131° F. Up to eight lamps can be connected together. Circle No.
Enter No. 548 on the reader service card.
Raw Materials Suitable for Components or Finished Products
The H.A. Stiles Company supplies a diverse array of raw materials suitable for conversion into component parts or completely machined finished products. North American hardwoods such as red and white oak, hard and soft maple, white and yellow birch, cherry, walnut, white ash, poplar and eastern white pine are available in the form of furniture squares and rounds, edge-glued dimension, glued moulder stock and blanks, cut-to-length strips, bending stock, and green and kiln-dried lumber.
Enter No. 550 on the reader service card.
End Caps and Tube Enclosures
A broad range of plastic end caps and tube enclosures are available from Hughes Supply of Thomasville, NC. Standard lines include round, oval, rectangle, square, flat, angled and domed in all popular sizes. Clear, white, black, gray, brown and beige are among the in-stock colors. Hughes designs and manufactures to customer specifications in virtually any color and all thermoplastic materials, according to the company.
Enter No. 549 on the reader service card.
Holz-Her U.S. Inc. E-Z Reference
Holz-Her says having a valuable “tool” like The Sourcebook of Technical Information close at hand in your shop, means speedy access to electrical formulas, metric system conversions and vise versa, decimal equivalents, rules relative to the circle, glue charts, dust extraction velocity recommendations, international electrical schematics, solid surface cutting tools charts
Enter No. 551 on the reader service card.
Staple Gun
Power Shot Tool Company’s Forward Action™ staple gun features a patented design that works with the staple instead of against it, so it’s easier to use, reports the company. The tool’s ergonomic design requires pressure on the front of the handle, which puts force over the staple, making it easier for the user to control and drive the staples flush. The PowerShot® Forward Action™ staple gun also fires 9/16” brad nails and features a non-slip rubber handle for extra comfort, a drop-in staple chamber for easier loading and a window for an easy view of remaining staples.
Enter No. 532 on the reader service card.
Media Storage System
Typically fitted into self-assembly wooden cabinets and rigid office furniture, the vertical media racking by Titus is particularly suitable in designs for the rapidly growing small office/home office market, says the company. The integral spring action provided by a plastic finger means that no more than fingertip pressure is needed to release individual CDs or audio and video cassettes otherwise held firmly in precise alignment at the front of each shelf. Installation requires 32 mm drilling centers, pre-location pegs and screws.
Enter No. 553 on the reader service card.
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