Tools for the trade at MAFS

Leitz Tooling actively participated in the recent Materials & Finishes Show 2024, held at the NEC, Birmingham, with its focus on showcasing the latest tooling solutions for the furniture and joinery markets alongside a heavy focus on their Lignum window and door tooling system with The Joinery Network. Tooling from Leitz was also featured on Vertongen & Martin machinery on their respective stands.

In addition to exhibiting at the show, Leitz was heavily involved in the show’s demonstration zone, and in 2026, will be the official partner to the Materials & Finishes Show.

Leitz says its Tooling stand was very busy over the four show days with a lot of interest over the new HeliCut Monoblock system – a versatile tool designed for drilling and milling within one tooling solution. Taking the concept of shrink fit collets chucks one step further, this tool boasts a monolithic design, making the tool very stable and dampening vibrations for lower noise and longer tool life. Equipped with 4-sided turnblade knives for fast knife changes and reduced downtime, the HeliCut Monoblock can be used for various applications such as drilling holes, pockets, tenons and rebates in perfect quality. Eliminating downtime from tool changes between applications and increasing productivity.

Suitable for all types of joinery machines, this tool comes in many variations for mounting on machines; such as HSK variants or a S30 shank.

For edgebanding operations, Leitz Tooling showcased the award-winning FlexTrim profile cutter for Homag Edgebanders. Machinists in furniture production today work with a mix of different types of edgebanding materials and thicknesses. With batch sizes becoming ever smaller, this mix of materials and profiles can only be mastered economically with fast profile changes in edge refinishing. Leitz FlexTrim profile cutters allow simple profile changes via the machine control due to the multi-profile technology. This saves time and increases finish quality. With the FlexTrim3, the higher productivity through less adjustment effort is supported by a possible combination of tools running with and against the feed.

The Joinery Network’s Owen Dare demonstrated machining a timber sash window on two Wadkin Bursgreen spindle moulders provided by AMS, twice a day. With one machine set up for profiling and another for tenoning, each demonstration lasted just over an hour and showcased the efficiency and quality of the Leitz Lignum tooling system as well as covering the changing legislation in the industry such as PAS24 and changes to relevant building legislation.

“The demonstration zone was probably the biggest success of the show” said Ben Mitchell, Marketing Manager at Leitz Tooling “It was great to see how much interest there was for our window making demonstration. We had people from all over the industry attend our demonstration, from joiners and students to kitchen manufacturers.”

The demonstration zone was so popular for The Joinery Network, AMS and Leitz that they ended up running extra slots throughout the week, despite only being scheduled for two demonstrations per day.

“One thing that stood out was the interest from non-joiners, I think a lot of the topics we covered such as removing the need for sanding and efficient set ups really spoke to pain points from across the industry, regardless of product,” Ben added.

Alongside promoting its own products, Leitz Tooling’s Brian Maddox, National Sales Manager, accompanied by Owen Dare (The Joinery Network) and Steve Windscott (Nine Zero Joinery) to discuss how joiners can reduce costs and increase profitability through a wide range of topics.

The panel discussed preventative maintenance, efficient factory set up, impact of tool sharpening and the future of joinery within their talk at the seminair theatre.

“I think that our talk opened a lot of eyes” said Brian. “The problem is, you don’t know what you don’t know. Hopefully today we have been able to pass on some of our experience and knowledge to the market and get woodworkers thinking about the entire set us and production process.”

Precision tools and tooling systems | Leitz