Digital Templating

[Laser Guy]

Hi all,

I was wondering if somebody could help me.
Our company supplies a Laser Templating device called the LT-55XL which we are succesfully selling into the Granite worktop trade.
It is a 2D system that created a .dxf file ready for use with any CAD/CAM or CNC software.
I am just wondering if it would be applicable to the woodworking market as it is not a trade i am very familiar with.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.



Thanks,

Carl

 

[wizer]

If it is the same thing as this:

http://www.lasersquare.com/products/lt55.asp

Then I assume it is some sort of measuring tool? Recording measurements and outputting them to be displayed on a computer later?

That site quotes over $10k, so I guess you sell this in the region of £6-7k?

Dunno, I am not a trade woodworker, but I can't see 6 grands worth of benefit, unless you can convince us otherwise?

 

[Laser Guy]

Hi Wizer,
http://www.laserproductseurope.com/products/lt55.shtml
that is our European site but it is the same yes. The XL version is slightly more money than the original LT-55. But the cost is not the issue for me.
The reason i ask is that yes in the Granite worktop trade it is worth the money as it saves an immense amount of time not only on acutally templating things, but on the programming as well.
We have over 1600 units worldwide but all of these are in the Granite or Solid surface trades, so it is a well known and respected tool in our trade but i'm not sure if it is of any benefit to the woodworking trade or not.

 

[wizer]

We have some resident pro's here. I am sure they will let you know what they think. I guess it could be useful for built-ins. But still seems expensive to me.

 

[Oryxdesign]

Can I have one on trial for a couple of years?

 

[Laser Guy]

Well if you want to try it out, come to the W8 show at the NEC next week where we will be exhibiting. You can have a play with the system there.

 

[lomaximus]

My Nephew works for Sheridans templating and he got one of these about 2 months ago.
I do agree with wizer though it does seem a little expensive

 

[hpl]

So is this rather smart gadget able to take the template and then the file is right ready to load into a CNC machine to cut out the worktop from? If so it looks like it is rather too advanced for timber worktops. These are usually supplied at a standard size and then cut to fit on site. As timber is much easier to cut than granite this is easy to do on site so an accurate template is not needed. From what I have seen of Granite templating we would cut the timber worktop to size nearly as quick as the template is made for the granite. This makes templating for timber worktops unnecessary. Maybe others can see another use for this tool, but not for me. Even if I was fitting kitchens every week I can't see how it would help me at all.

Johnny B

 

[Chris Knight]

It's not clear if it also measures in the vertical plane. This would be important to anyone using it for built ins - which is the only place I can see it being useful in the woodworking field.