Spotted!

One of the regular readers (Michael) spotted a very rare beast indeed in the aisle of his local Masters store. (Thanks for sending through the pic).

This would be the first time that any of the box warehouses has had this particular item in stock for a very long time – perhaps as far back as when Bunnings refused to stock any more GMC products (which included Triton), back in August 2008.

So this is a sight for saw eyes (yes, the pun is intentional).

I’m surprised it is not the WC7 model – fresh start, fresh product.

Checking the model number, it looks to be 101956.

Been so long since I’ve seen one!  I think the fence is on the wrong side, but it is only a hazy memory these days.  Can’t imagine if things went full circle, and a demo program started again.  That’d be too funny (in an ironic kinda’ way).

Definitely brings back fond memories.  I’d even go to a demo night if one was on, just to experience it again.

George Lewin

(Story relocated to here, and expanded to full length version)

For those of us who started our woodworking aspiring to own some of the magnificent looking orange machines we had seen on display, and on demonstration at the local Bunnings, this name would be very familiar.

To those less certain, George Lewin has been one of the most influential people in Australia, let alone the planet in getting people’s foot in the door of woodworking, having been the inventor of the Triton Workbench, and what became the Triton system.

My big foray into woodworking was based entirely on the Triton brand, and as my workshop grew, it became more and more Triton orange.  I took to demonstrating Triton in Bunnings, Mitre 10 on occasional weekends, and at wood shows, and was president of a Triton Woodworking club at Holmesglen (as well as creating their website, which became the largest Triton-based woodworking website in the world).

So it came as a complete surprise the other day when I had an email from the legend himself, saying nice things about Stu’s Shed, and asking about his beloved Triton.
George has kindly agreed to give us some background, of what he (and Triton) did back in the day, and also where he is and what he is up to today.

Please note, these will be in installments as George has time to write them.

George at 66, looking relaxed and kickin’ back in Thailand.

UPDATE: The article has now been relocated and extended, so check out the new, complete article here.

The Torque and the Triton

There is a NZ author called Hugh Cook who wrote a series of 10 fantasy books which all had titles “The something and the something“, such as “The Wordsmiths and the Warguild”.  He was planning a series of 60 books, but sales didn’t eventuate, which is a pity. I’d have needed another bookcase though!  Nothing else relevant in this, other than whenever I read (or write) “The something and the something“, I’m reminded of Hugh Cook.

Back when I bought my Triton Workcentre – the Workcentre 2000, I was concerned if there was going to be a 2002 version that was going to supersede it – the danger of using a name that also depicts a year.  A lesson that Microsoft are starting to learn – your product is dated by the name.  As it turned out, the WC2000 was the final version – a newer version that was ready for prototyping was binned by GMC when they took over.  When Triton still existed as a company, they did get the occasional prompt to bring out a new version – a 2005 version for example.  This never happened (obviously), but there were a number of existing owners who wished it would happen.

As I was assembling the TWC, a feeling of familiarity, and deja vu struck, and stuck.  Even though I found I didn’t need any assembly manual to put the TWC together, the home-grown aspect to both companies did come through, but the differences also came through strongly – one being thin pressed metal and aluminium section, the other being steel, steel and more steel.

Despite there being no commonality between the companies, or between the workcentres (other than both being Australian Engineering, both being called workcentres, and both being woodworking related), there is a degree to which the Torque Workcentre (TWC) could be regarded as being a logical upgrade to the Triton.

Consider each function:

The Tablesaw.

The biggest criticism Triton owners hear, is the money they spent on the Triton Workcentre system over the years could have bought a significant tablesaw.  There are counter arguments to that, but not relevant for this article.  They then have a brushed-motor circular saw secured by plastic under a pressed-metal top, in an item that weighs around 30-40kg.  (Again, there are all sorts of other pros and cons, not my intent to discuss).  It can handle (with the extension table) a 2400×1200 sheet, with a cut depth of around 65-67mm.  A plastic-thread height winder.

The Torque workcentre is not an ideal tablesaw, and if you already had a tablesaw you wouldn’t consider the Torque as a replacement.  However, despite having a very good cast iron tablesaw I am still looking forward to being able to process sheet goods on the Torque with ease – being able to lay the goods out, and bring the saw to the sheet (with all the control the TWC offers) to safely process the sheet into the required sections.  For ripping, a tablesaw is still the preferred method, whereas for crosscutting, the TWC has it all over the Triton, as with a saw attached it effectively becomes a radial arm saw, which until the development of the SCMS (sliding compound mitre saw) was held in very high esteem in many, many workshops (and still is by existing owners).  The TWC could potentially give a radial arm saw some serious competition – increased range, support at both ends of the arm for 90 degree cuts etc.  A top quality RAS would most likely win, but for most workshops, the Torque makes the grade.

The Router Table.

The Triton router table was the first item that I left behind as my woodworking improved – I felt held back by its limitations – the top wasn’t flat enough for my needs, and I headed down paths seeking more and more accuracy, precision and flatness.  There is a definite benefit to a table-mounted router, but one thing I found missing (and had no solution for) was the ability to have the router controlled in an overhead position, without having to hand-hold it.

This is where the Torque absolutely kicks butt.  Even when all the other parallel functions being discussed here are removed, replaced with dedicated machines, you’d still look at the Torque Workcentre as an overhead router system – it is what the TWC excels at, and the primary reason for buying one.  All other functions of the workcentre are secondary to this – bonuses. IMO that is! There is so much potential that overhead routing capabilites provides, I’m going to be exploring it for a long time yet!

Now this doesn’t mean the table-mounted router is obsolete – far from it.  How I have dealt with that, is combining the two tools, and I have an area where the table-mounted router resides in the top of the Torque workcentre, and at this stage I don’t believe it does anything to detract from either machine.  While the table-mounted router is in place, I loose about 300mm of total capacity of the TWC because I have placed it at the end where there is some dead-space anyway, and I can regain that area by simply lifting the table-mounted router out to regain the full TWC capacity. The best of both worlds you might say.

When in place, the table-mounted router has the advantage of a cast-iron top (which I added), and the Incra LS Positioner and Fence, so that is pretty optimised, and yet I also have the overhead TWC to complement it.

I’ve long seen the router table as being a compromised tool – most workshops that have one have had to make it themselves (other than the low-cost Triton, GMC or Ryobi tables).  To get a machine as serious as the tablesaw as a router table, you’ve had to turn to the spindle moulder, and that machine has a very limited top speed, and is not effective for small router bits. (Not that I am belittling the Spindle Moulder – it is a very capable machine, and can be found in many professional workshops, but it isn’t designed for modern router bits.) The TWC is a machine built specifically for the router.

Drill Press.

Like the tablesaw, it is an additional (rather than primary) solution.  Like the Triton, take a hand power tool and give it extra functionality by providing a solid mount.  But again, in a pretty serious way – a drill press that can drill materials up to around 1300mm from the support pole, has massive work support, can handle angles, and drill points in arcs.

Jointer/Planer/Thicknesser.

There isn’t to my knowledge a jointer on the market that can allow you to prepare the face of a board 2000×1300, yet that is bread and butter for the TWC.  And anything smaller.  I’d say many workshops will still have a dedicated machine, but when its capabilities are exceeded, the TWC takes over.  If you don’t have a jointer yet, the TWC puts off the requirement to invest in one.  It doesn’t do the jointing the edge to 90 degrees to the face however (although you can use a router bit to run down the edge to perform that role).  You can also thickness with it, and again with significant capacity beyond any affordable thicknesser on the market!  For smaller items, a dedicated machine will be faster and easier, but the TWC can still substitute until you have the dedicated machine.

So, what do you think?  Could the TWC be regarded as an upgrade to the Triton system?  Both fit hand-held power tools to increase their safety and functionality.  One weighs a substantial 200+kg, so has the stability (with a corresponding loss to portability).

A Story!

In traditional Frederick Forsythyesque style, a combination of fact, rumour, innuendo, speculation and fiction results in the following:

A Story.

Once upon a time, in the Night Garden….. (you can tell I watch too much 2 year-old TV!)

After many years, (6 for me), and meetings (approximately 60), the Triton Woodworkers Club, Holmesglen is no more.  From it’s height where membership was around 70 (and coincidentally I was President for a couple of those years), to the point where but a 1/10th were left, the club had no option but to dissolve.  Today was the last meeting (although given current Bond fever, “Never Say Never”) and while we are quoting movies and books, a quote from the book of a movie from 1984 “The world ended not with a bang, but a whimper”, and the club closed its doors.

It is a reflection on a number of things, although not the current financial crisis (that comes into play a little later), but the main being an apparent steady downturn in Triton sales, combined with the ongoing increase in ever-increasingly affordable big boys toys such as tablesaws.  Of course, referencing straight back to the current financial situation, with the plunge of the Aussie dollar, I wonder how cheap these large tablesaws will be shortly – perhaps the WC2000 is not such a bad option again after all.

And another quote, this time from the Wachowski brothers (or is that now the Wachowski brother and sister?) “Everything that has a beginning has an end”

With interesting things happening in China, the dollar, downturns in the (tool) marketplace, deals with the jolly green giant, and rumours of the sale of Triton to a European company looking at the Oz market, the next 6 to 12 months could be an interesting time.

Has Triton been sold?

Are the Germans coming?

Will an Australian Company beat them to the punch?

Will that result in the reemergence of the replacement for the WC2000, or will something new be coming?

Will we ever get to see a cast iron top workcentre with drop-in induction motor?

Will it have a SawStop mechanism and finally be able to tilt?

Will the old SuperJaws make a reappearance with the new one taking on a decidedly red (at least figuratively) colour scheme?

Will George himself make an appearance once again?

Will there be a three way deathmatch at the next Melbourne Woodworking Show, with the Chinese SuperJaws battling a new (old) Australian SuperJaws, with the Jaw-Horse doing a superplex off the top rope into the fray?

What the hell has Stu been smoking out in his shed?

Needless to say, that if the last 12 months were quite a storm of events, the next 12 will be a positive malestrom.

Triton Project Plans / Free Project Plans!

The Triton Mk3 Project Book is no longer commercially available, so Triton have released the projects from that book as PDFs. Despite being written for the Mk3, they are still very suitable for WC2000 owners (and are just good projects for non-Triton users as well).

Plus (!) This is the Triton Workcentre Jigs Triton Jig Guide

• Advanced Project Sheet – Buffet Unit
• Advanced Project Sheet – Butchers Block
• Advanced Project Sheet – Chest of Drawers
• Advanced Project Sheet – Dining Room Setting
• Advanced Project Sheet – Display Cabinet
• Advanced Project Sheet – Toy Front End Loader
• Adavanced Project Sheet – Kitchen Dresser
• Adavanced Project Sheet – Queen Sized Bed
• Adavanced Project Sheet – Reclining Verandah Chair
• Adavanced Project Sheet – Swing Set
• Adavanced Project Sheet – Writing Desk
• Intermediate Project Sheet – BBQ Trolley
• Intermediate Project Sheet – Bird Feeder
• Intermediate Project Sheet – Coffee Table
• Intermediate Project Sheet – Entertainment Centre
• Intermediate Project Sheet – Garden Bridge
• Intermediate Project Sheet – Outdoor Furniture
• Intermediate Project Sheet – Outdoor Timber Stairs
• Intermediate Project Sheet – Sun Lounge
• Intermediate Project Sheet – Wooden Filing Cabinets
• Intermediate Project Sheet – Work Bench
• Intermediate Project Sheet – Childs Desk
• Intermediate Project Sheet – Computer Desk
• Intermediate Project Sheet – Garden bench
• Intermediate Project Sheet – Japenese Pen Box
• Intermediate Project Sheet – Rocking Horse
• Intermediate Project Sheet – Simple Wall Unit
• Intermediate Project Sheet – Toy Box
• Intermediate Project Sheet – Wooden Bath Mat
• Beginner Project Sheet – Bar Stool
• Beginner Project Sheet – Coffee Table
• Beginner Project Sheet – Breadboard
• Beginner Project Sheet – Child’s Bed
• Beginner Project Sheet – Folding Picnic Table
• Beginner Project Sheet – Letter Box
• Beginner Project Sheet – Blackboard Easel
• Beginner Project Sheet – Toolbox
• Beginner Project Sheet – Picture Frame
• Beginner Project Sheet – Planter Box

Triton have also released a number of videos about Triton tools and techniques on YouTube- Triton

(There are also a number of GMC videos available here)

Series 2000 WC Part 1 (Introduction)
Series 2000 WC Part 2 (More applications)
ETA300 Extension Table
BRA200 Bevel Ripping Guide
WCA390 Height Winder Kit (Assembly)
RTA300 Router Table
BJA300 Biscuit Joiner
FJA300 Finger Joiner
TRA001 ½” Router
PRA001 Powered Respirator
TA235CSL Circular Saw
SJA001 Superjaws
SJA200 Superjaws (New)
MSA200 Multi-Stand

Episode 33 Review of Triton 2300W Circular Saw

Episode 33 Review of Triton 2300W Circular Saw

Local Manufacturing

I was down at Triton’s factory earlier today – always like having a look around, and had a chance to pick up a replacement top for the workcentre (need mine to look good for demos / videos / photos etc).

It struck me as I was watching the top being assembled just how much I appreciate having things manufactured in my own country – being able to actually see the work that goes into producing something.

For example, the tracks that get riveted to the top (which are straight) would become warped by the riveting process, leaving the ends sticking out proud of the surface if not for the fact that before they get inserted, they are put into a press and pre-warped to counteract the rivets’ forces.  That is just so cool.

It is a pressed metal top, so it isn’t as robust and inherently flat as a cast and machined top, but I was also impressed that before the top was handed over, it went onto another table and had a straight edge put across its surface, and any slight high or low spots were then subjected to another press to remove them.

It is no wonder that the Triton Workcentre occupies so many home workshops in Australia (and elsewhere).  It may not have the 0.001″ accuracy of my new tablesaw, but it is definitely more than sufficient for a majority of home workshops.  I know they have their detractors, but to put it simply, if it wasn’t for the fact that there was this range of tools that escalates the backyard shed into a small woodworking workshop, and that it was (and is) Australian made, then I can say with a pretty high level of confidence that I wouldn’t be pursuing this passion (obsession) today.

Local industry, despite the extra costs, are worth supporting.  I know they will all fade and be gone soon enough to a Chinese or Indian factory near you, but until then….

Reminds me actually of a tour I did a few years ago (must be 10 years ago now – where does the time go?) of the large engineering firms in England.  There’s a country with a large manufacturing arm!  Wonder how they are traveling these days?  I went right through the Rolls Royce Gas Turbine plant, and Dunlop Aerospace Braking Systems (Dunlop may make tyres, but then you also need good brakes to stop an aircraft, and that is some amazing engineering if you consider what those components actually go through – it may feel gentle inside the plane, but those wheels and connected components are slammed heavily into the ground with a very heavy plane above them, and the forces are quite unbelievable!), and a number of other heavy engineering industries.  Fascinating things to see, and a real loss I believe if it all gets shipped to 3rd world countries just because they pay peanuts instead of wages.

However, it is hard to deny that we have tools in our workshops now that we’d never have dreamed of owning in the past because of it.  I still think though, that we will rue the day that we lost our own manufacturing capacity.

Tablesaw Engineering

I recently started a thread on a woodworking forum bemoaning the lack of good engineering on so many tablesaws out there.

To recap:

“Went for a bit of a tour of what sort of tablesaws were available out there. I haven’t covered the range by any stretch of the imagination, but I was quite surprised how …um…. average so many were.

I saw poor designs, shocking fences, ordinary guards, unwieldy splitters, poorly positioned power boxes (blocking components), and was rather uninspired. Some mitre gauges I saw I couldn’t believe existed – such crummy designs.

Overall, what the hell were the engineers / designers thinking???

I so wish the engineers that came up with the 2000 and all the decisions to optimise design while coping with the significant limitations imposed by working with folded steel had had a chance to have a crack at designing a decent saw table from the ground up. Perhaps that is the sort of thing that resulted in the SawStop. Pity I can’t afford one of them, because they at least look like they were designed properly. I’m sure there are other models out there as well that fit the bill, so I will have to ferret them out.

I mean, a cabinet saw is meant to be a major step up from a Triton WC2000, and I came away wondering why there are so many detractors of it. Ok, a solid top would be great, and a mitre slot an added bonus, but in terms of general functionality, is just the ability to angle the blade the only real gain?

Sure, I know that the solid (flat) top is significant etc etc, I mean, I do plan to get one (soon), but as I said at the start, I was rather dismayed just how many quite expensive table saws would still require me to turn a blind eye or accept compromises that I didn’t expect would be needed after moving up from a Triton.”

It did lead to a number of interesting comments and discussions, some of which directly reinforced my final choice of tablesaw.

It is perhaps then a little surprising (to me as well), that I ended up choosing a tablesaw that I had never actually seen, but such was the strength of argument. Forums are a great resource if you haven’t come across them before!

So I have been unpacking, and looking at the TS10L with a critical eye, and have thus far been very impressed. The build quality is superb, and as yet I haven’t been able to fault the machine (other than the instruction manual, but that is nothing new!) Even when it comes to placement of the switchbox, it doesn’t block any componentry and in fact as it has been placed on a corner which is not 90 degrees, you might expect them to shy away from that location – a bit complicated getting the angles right. Not so here, and that may seem such a minor thing to be impressed by, but it is small details like this that give you an idea that overall a lot of care and consideration has gone into the design and manufacture.

I still haven’t finished assembling the unit – been a bit busy with the shed itself, but I did manage to turn it on for a few seconds and cut some timber! This is not a commissioning of course – as is done in the Navy, you do tests and trials of a new ship before actually commissioning it into the fleet, so I am doing the same here! I think I am going to discover the pleasure of having a tablesaw again! I first found it when I got the Triton workcentre a number of years ago- a world of possibilities opened up, but over time I found that my enjoyment waned and I started not so much shying away from using the saw, but looking forward to other aspects of the project. Sizing the timber was not a stage I found myself enjoying anymore, and looked forward to having the timber cut ready for joining techniques on the router table, or prior to the saw – machining the raw stock.

In doing the couple of test cuts, I rediscovered something that I had forgotten existed – the pleasure of being able to accurately size timber for a project. Now this is not to criticise the Triton Workcentre, or its accuracy (which is still good for a well-tuned setup), but having a machine that you can still talk over while using it, that is HEAVY (yeah, contrary to popular belief, I like heavy machines!) and that has a good solid, flat top with real mitre slots actually tempts me to start new projects again.

I have been finding myself running the Incra 1000SE Mitre gauge up and down the slot just for the fact there is one that it fits, setting angles etc, looking forward to actually getting to use it! I haven’t done a rip as yet – still haven’t set up the rails or fence. (Haven’t even added the cast iron wings yet!) So as I stare into my crystal ball, I see a future with plenty of well cut sawdust approaching!

***Addendum*** I probably should add what annoys me most about poor engineering is in many cases there is only one of two things wrong.  Either a. ‘they’ have gone cheap, and taken a good (or at least reasonable) design and ruined it by using cheap, substandard materials when for a few cents more the right grade of steel/plastic/whatever would have resulted in a perfectly adequate machine (and not just tablesaws – this applies to everything manufactured).  Or b. (and the one that annoys me most) they have taken perfectly good material and ruined it by doing a substandard design.  Of course there is also c. substandard material with incompetent design which seems to be filling the shelves more and more recently.  There is also d. quality material coupled with inspired design which results in a product that is a pleasure to own and use.***

Triton in Australia

There has been much discussion recently here “downunder” wondering about Triton, the brand, and what was once the flagship – the Workcentre 2000. Traditionally, the centre of the Triton universe was a tablesaw (the Workcentre 2000 (WC2000) and the Router Table, and accessories to match (finger jointer, biscuit jointer, height winder and so on).

A bit of a revolution started when Triton then introduced power tools, not made in Australia (but designed there, or at least with the design modified by Australian Engineers). They were (and are) some of the best power tools out there for their designed role. The router in particular (and it’s more recent little brother) is arguably the best table-mounted router in the world.

Moving forward again to the present, and there is now a fleet of Triton power tools, and although the emphasis on innovative design seems to have tapered off, a collection of these orange tools makes any suburban shed a woodworking haven (or heaven!). We are still waiting on the promised lathe btw (and the collection desperately needs a planer/jointer).

There are some new tools on the horizon as well – (there’s an earlier thread here somewhere on the subject), and Triton sound like they are starting to do very well in the USA.

However, here in Australia, the core of the system (and their related products) seem to be fading in preference to the power tools (and getting to actually see them is difficult at best, which makes choosing a Triton x over its competitor tricky), and in a recent forum discussion I made the following comments, that I thought I’d relay here. It centres around the WC2000 and a possible need of a successor (a proposed new version with an extruded aluminium top currently looks unlikely). So at the risk of stepping on lots of toes, this is what I had to say (with some minor amendments):

Today’s the Day on Ebay

A bit of an era draws to a close today (although it is a bit of a soft ending). My Triton 2000 Workcentre and 2400W Triton saw will sell in a couple of hours time. Feeling a bit nostalgic about it.

Back in Christmas 2001 when my wife and I were married, I had a lathe on the wedding registry (little thing, but unbeknownst to me at the time, it was the key to a massive door that had been there in my periphery since almost forever). So I had this lathe, and I needed a bench to mount it to. Around our new property (bought 6 months earlier) there were a number of redgum sleepers, and I thought a couple of them would make a great lathe stand. I did have a handsaw, but no circular saw, and this was the justification I needed to head down to Bunnings and get one.

In Bunnings, I had long admired (from a distance) these amazing orange tools that looked to be for the professionals – workbenches that I hardly recognised what they were for (in hindsight, they would have been a Triton 2000, a router table, superjaws etc). But they looked GOOD.

So I went to get a saw. Dad’s had an Hitashi for a long time – serious looking tool, and so I had an idea of what I was wanting. While there, going through all the models, one that stood out was an orange beast – 2400W, 9 1/4″ blade (price tag to match), but it dawned on me that one day, I might, just might get one of those cool looking workbenches, so I might as well have the saw that matches. Boy, was that a good call.

Got home with this thing, and if you know me, you know I love toys (uh…..tools), and this thing looked mean. When I took it to the sleepers, I was in shock – it sliced the sleeper like butter, and that was it, I was hook line and sinker into Triton at that point.