AW Machinery: Engineering Solutions for Industry Gaps
When AW Machinery’s employees become aware of a customer need that cannot be addressed by existing industrial woodworking machinery, they take it as an invitation to innovate.
“We’ve seen gaps in the market where standard, off-the-shelf equipment doesn’t work for some customers’ applications — they need something more specialized,” CEO Isaac Roth explains. “So we’ve invested in our own brand — Stonewood USA — to fill some of those gaps by either designing new concepts or modifying equipment from manufacturers.”
The company builds the resulting innovations at its Apple Creek facility and sells them alongside machines manufactured by industry-leading brands. The goal? To offer customers the most comprehensive range of solutions for their needs.
New Concept: The High Production Return Conveyor System
One of the company’s most helpful innovations, a decade in the making, is the High-Production Return Conveyer System. With its multi-direction receiving deck, the machine helps ripsaw operators by simplifying their workflow.
When operating a ripsaw to cut boards to produce what the woodworking industry calls “glue-up panels,” the operator sometimes needs to make multiple cuts on the same board to square its edges.
“Without a return system on your ripsaw, you need a guy on the other side to manually return boards to the operator,” AW Machinery engineer Alan Troyer explains. “So we built a system that automatically returns the boards.”
With the return system, the operator can send newly ripped boards in two directions after completing cuts. Finished boards go to the right.
“If he needs to cut it again,” Troyer continues, “he’ll flip the switch and send it to the left.” The conveyor system then returns the board to the operator for additional cuts.
This system can be used in conjunction with a variety of rip saws, offering flexibility to shops interested in improving their capabilities.
New Concept: Table Sander with Auto Travel
“One thing we really like to do at AW Machinery is listen to our customers,” says CEO Roth. “We learn about their pain points and help them find the right equipment solution to address those pain points and make their business more efficient.”
One table manufacturer’s pain point? Sanding.
“A local customer came in one day ten or twelve years ago and said he wanted to eliminate hand sanding,” Alan Troyer says. “People’s arms get tired.”
This led Troyer to create a table sander with auto travel.
“It’s not common for shops to have a wide, expensive belt sander they can feed their tables through,” Roth says. “So Alan created this machine with a wide, horizontal belt that circulates through it, and you place the slab you want to sand underneath it.”
When the operator engages the belt drive, the machine uses compression to apply pressure to the sanding head, which the operator can then move back and forth over the length of the slab while the machine automatically travels across its width.
“Before this, operators would use a hand sander or orbital sander to work across the table,” Roth says. “It’s meticulous and takes a lot of time. Alan’s machine is probably 80% faster, so it increases productivity. It also results in a smoother, better finish on the product.”
Modifying Existing Equipment
Roth is proud of the work AW Machinery does to adapt machines for the Plain community.
“Most of the machines in the industry run on electricity,” he explains. “We convert them to run on alternative power that is approved within some Amish churches.”
That power source is an 80-horsepower diesel engine that drives what is known as a line shaft — a rotating shaft that runs throughout a shop, supplying power to multiple machines.
“We replace equipment motors with direct drive to line shaft to run at the proper gear speeds,” Roth continues. “Over the past ten years, we have done hundreds of conversions like these. We honor and respect their faith and try to help shops do what they need to do while staying within their church’s practices.”
Custom Solutions That Work for You
Visit AW Machinery’s website to schedule a consultation with us today. Our experts are ready to listen, discuss your shop’s needs with you, and offer solutions that will help your business succeed.
We invite you to visit our showroom, too. We enjoy showing customers our machines, including our Stonewood USA offerings. If your needs cannot be met by any existing machine — or you need us to modify existing machinery for an application — we accept your invitation to innovate!