Marcus Hunt
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Hi guys,
I've just got back from a weekend in Antwerp, Belgium where I was lucky enough to be the guest of 'The folks from Kansas' and Alexandre Sidorov. Whilst I was there I was also lucky enough to be able to play with the prototype/pre-production model of the new Airtact, at my leisure. There was no 'Show' pressure or other people eager to try it out so I was able to assess it freely and pass my comments/critique and observations directly to Mr Glasser.
Before I pass these observations to those of you who choose to read this I'd like to start with a brief preamble. This review is only my opinion and in no way meant to start any 'tools wars' or 'mines a better system than yours' postings. We all know there are 2 air-assist systems out there and it's purely up to the individual which they choose. We each have our own preferences and there is nothing wrong with that. There sometimes seems to be almost an evangelical following for certain tools which becomes boring in the extreme. Try and buy what is best and what most suits you. I freely admit my preference is for the GRS system, but that is just my preference. So please, don't try to convert me as it won't work. The other system I tried at the time just didn't justify the extra cost of retooling plus I didn't like the way it worked for me.
However, no tool is perfect and for me the one thing I've always hated was the foot pedal. Although the graver became an extension of my hand, the foot pedal always made me feel a bit divorced from the actual work piece. There's something not quite right in "the brain says 'go' which is then interpreted by the foot and carried out by the hand." I started out hand pushing and for me I've always dreamed of having a way my hand could naturally and completely control the air-assisted graver. Foot pedals have always ended up causing me back strain because of the hours spent seated with one foot in an unnatural position. When I met DJ Glasser last year I almost begged him to come up with a hand controlled system which used the existing GRS technology. My father, Ken Hunt, was with me and he agreed wholeheartedly. Now Mr Glasser has not only us engravers to consider but also the jewellers and stonesetters who use his equipment; so he has designed a hand operated system that would appeal and could be fine tuned to the operator's individual needs. The beauty of this system is that it can be retro fitted to any GraverMax or GraverMach at very reasonable cost and it doesn't involve dropping one system (that some of us like) in order to use a hand-controlled graver.
My first impressions of the Airtact was that it was actually a lot smaller than it looks in the picture of it on the website.
This box is the brains of Airtact and does away with the need for a foot pedal entirely. A new ultra slim, low profile pedal is available however to make certain actions such as stippling easier. The box also does away with any exhaust noise which comes from the standard pedal so the whole system, apart from the handpiece hammer, is now silent. Emerging from the black box is a new slim hose and it's this that controls the system. What happens is a small amount of air comes out of this hose, close it off and the handpiece opperates, simple!
It's the beauty of this simplicity that makes the whole system so great and it can be customised in so many different ways according to what the opperator prefers. This can be a small rubber pad on the actual handle or placed differently so it can be controlled by the thumb. But if you wanted to strap it to your opposite hand and squeeze it againt the vise as you work that would work too. There are almost limitless ways the operator could set it up. My preference was for the hand control unit which is a small rubber pad built into the back of the handpiece. All I had to do was squeeze the handle and away it would go, just like when I used to hand push except the pneumatics now assist instead of raw muscle power. At first I found it a little jumpy but after a few hours practice and fine tuning of the controls to do slightly different actions (such as shading or fine bulino or heavy scrollwork) I found it so natural that I'm hating the thought of having to go back to the foot pedal for everyday work. In fact I managed to cut a pannel of English small scroll with it, and because all you have to do is stop squeezing to stop the graver, the true plunge cut at the end of each cut was easy to attain.
Having left it over night I wondered if my feelings about it would have changed but on the Sunday morning I just picked it up and started cutting in an even easier and more relaxed manner. There was no jumpy start up or any over runs and for me it was a truly natural experience as I became more accustomed to the unit.
I was ready to pick it to pieces when I went across to Belgium having read some of the previous comments but when I came to use it I honestly thought I must have been on a different planet! It was wonderful and smooth to use, but like anything it took an amount of time to adapt to something new.
The points that I addressed to Mr Glasser were that if it were possible, I would prefer a much smaller box or failing that, some way of mounting it under the bench. The 2 hoses looked untidy also, but this is a pre-production model and I'm assured that a one piece, twin extruded hose will be used on the production model so there will be no need to tape the 2 hoses together.
In conclusion all I can say is that if they'd given me that prototype there and then I'd have been in Airtact Nirvana* as it really was that good. This is going to be a truly great system for GRS users, I really, really want one and want one now!!!!
I've just got back from a weekend in Antwerp, Belgium where I was lucky enough to be the guest of 'The folks from Kansas' and Alexandre Sidorov. Whilst I was there I was also lucky enough to be able to play with the prototype/pre-production model of the new Airtact, at my leisure. There was no 'Show' pressure or other people eager to try it out so I was able to assess it freely and pass my comments/critique and observations directly to Mr Glasser.
Before I pass these observations to those of you who choose to read this I'd like to start with a brief preamble. This review is only my opinion and in no way meant to start any 'tools wars' or 'mines a better system than yours' postings. We all know there are 2 air-assist systems out there and it's purely up to the individual which they choose. We each have our own preferences and there is nothing wrong with that. There sometimes seems to be almost an evangelical following for certain tools which becomes boring in the extreme. Try and buy what is best and what most suits you. I freely admit my preference is for the GRS system, but that is just my preference. So please, don't try to convert me as it won't work. The other system I tried at the time just didn't justify the extra cost of retooling plus I didn't like the way it worked for me.
However, no tool is perfect and for me the one thing I've always hated was the foot pedal. Although the graver became an extension of my hand, the foot pedal always made me feel a bit divorced from the actual work piece. There's something not quite right in "the brain says 'go' which is then interpreted by the foot and carried out by the hand." I started out hand pushing and for me I've always dreamed of having a way my hand could naturally and completely control the air-assisted graver. Foot pedals have always ended up causing me back strain because of the hours spent seated with one foot in an unnatural position. When I met DJ Glasser last year I almost begged him to come up with a hand controlled system which used the existing GRS technology. My father, Ken Hunt, was with me and he agreed wholeheartedly. Now Mr Glasser has not only us engravers to consider but also the jewellers and stonesetters who use his equipment; so he has designed a hand operated system that would appeal and could be fine tuned to the operator's individual needs. The beauty of this system is that it can be retro fitted to any GraverMax or GraverMach at very reasonable cost and it doesn't involve dropping one system (that some of us like) in order to use a hand-controlled graver.
My first impressions of the Airtact was that it was actually a lot smaller than it looks in the picture of it on the website.
This box is the brains of Airtact and does away with the need for a foot pedal entirely. A new ultra slim, low profile pedal is available however to make certain actions such as stippling easier. The box also does away with any exhaust noise which comes from the standard pedal so the whole system, apart from the handpiece hammer, is now silent. Emerging from the black box is a new slim hose and it's this that controls the system. What happens is a small amount of air comes out of this hose, close it off and the handpiece opperates, simple!
It's the beauty of this simplicity that makes the whole system so great and it can be customised in so many different ways according to what the opperator prefers. This can be a small rubber pad on the actual handle or placed differently so it can be controlled by the thumb. But if you wanted to strap it to your opposite hand and squeeze it againt the vise as you work that would work too. There are almost limitless ways the operator could set it up. My preference was for the hand control unit which is a small rubber pad built into the back of the handpiece. All I had to do was squeeze the handle and away it would go, just like when I used to hand push except the pneumatics now assist instead of raw muscle power. At first I found it a little jumpy but after a few hours practice and fine tuning of the controls to do slightly different actions (such as shading or fine bulino or heavy scrollwork) I found it so natural that I'm hating the thought of having to go back to the foot pedal for everyday work. In fact I managed to cut a pannel of English small scroll with it, and because all you have to do is stop squeezing to stop the graver, the true plunge cut at the end of each cut was easy to attain.
Having left it over night I wondered if my feelings about it would have changed but on the Sunday morning I just picked it up and started cutting in an even easier and more relaxed manner. There was no jumpy start up or any over runs and for me it was a truly natural experience as I became more accustomed to the unit.
I was ready to pick it to pieces when I went across to Belgium having read some of the previous comments but when I came to use it I honestly thought I must have been on a different planet! It was wonderful and smooth to use, but like anything it took an amount of time to adapt to something new.
The points that I addressed to Mr Glasser were that if it were possible, I would prefer a much smaller box or failing that, some way of mounting it under the bench. The 2 hoses looked untidy also, but this is a pre-production model and I'm assured that a one piece, twin extruded hose will be used on the production model so there will be no need to tape the 2 hoses together.
In conclusion all I can say is that if they'd given me that prototype there and then I'd have been in Airtact Nirvana* as it really was that good. This is going to be a truly great system for GRS users, I really, really want one and want one now!!!!
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