Home Fixated: Welcome again from sunny Las Vegas, where the tool-crazed journalists all travel in the depths of winter. But it’s not just the sunny warmth we seek, it’s really all about the tools, gear, and building technology showcased at the 2019 World of Concrete (WOC) trade show.
3 comments:
It was really cool to see some of the innovative equipment that is in a world that isn’t too far off from our construction world. Of course it was also great to see some cross-over into carpentry tools and quite frankly I was surprised that Bosch had yet to have some of the carpentry tools that were exhibited here, like a track saw. Some of the innovation in the development in the tools like the control of kick-back and things of that nature are really impressive and great in terms of safety. Though I could relate to the author when he was hesitant to leave his smart phone next to a drill for fear the drill might order some fancy bits while he ate lunch, it is a bit insane how far tools have come. I also found it interesting of some industry ways to get around OSHA standards like refraining to call saws “saws” and instead calling them portable cutters. Concrete is an interesting world that I doubt theatre will get into but has quite a great deal of overlapping technology.
Boevers recommended this article, so I figured I would give it a read, and wow are these some heavy duty tools. I have never thought about concrete as a whole industry, just a building material that is a part if a lot of other construction industries, so it is interesting to me that there is a World of Concrete convention, but retrospectively I am not surprised as there are a ton of tools showcased just in this article that are pretty specific to tooling concrete. It is interesting to see how some of these tools look like a woodworking power tool with some adjustments to them – like the Medusaw is like a circular saw with a arm on it to use while also standing, and the mud mixing tool is a high torque drill with a handle on the top to steady it out. So many of these tools are so high tech too. I have never seen a power tool with a HMI display module on it before or a drill that can adjust for the ideal motor speed based on whatever you are doing. It is a little frightening to see how much computer technology have merged with power tools.
I always find it super interesting to read about new tools every year after World of Concrete. Almost every major, heavy duty, tool company released their new line of tools at this conference. This year absolutely did not disappoint. The tool that really grabbed my attention was the giant concrete wall cutting saw. While it is a tool I don't think I will ever need or even use, it is still super interesting. This seems like something that could make what is now a super labor intensive job that much easier. I can only imagine a construction worker trying to man handle a handheld, gas powered, concrete saw at the level of, or even above their head in order to cut down the height a wall. This new tool seems like, once set up, only takes one person to run with little effort. That being said, how hard is it to set up?
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