The new range was unveiled at Kasto's HQ, right at the edge of the Black Forest in Germany, on Wednesday 7 May, a day that also marked the firm's 170th birthday.
Machinery magazine attended the celebration and watched as managing director, Armin Stolzer, unveiled the new KASTOwin exactly 170 years on from when his great, great, great, grandfather, Karl Stolzer, founded the company as a carpentry business.
Kasto has called it the 'win' on the basis that it believes it will be a 'win win' for companies in terms of both price and performance. Kasto says the KASTOwin has better technical features compared to competitors' bandsaws at the same price point. It's also a lot less money than the Kastotec bandsaw, putting in reach of most companies looking for a good all-rounder.
The new technical features are fully automatic cutting, vibration control, ballscrews for feeding the saw down and new sensing technology, called KASTOrespond, to ensure that the same chip load is kept on the material throughout the cut.
Kasto built up anticipation by showing the Kastowin covered up to the press the day before its official unveil
And when it was unveiled, it was unveiled with smoke and flickering silver tape
One of the best features is that the saw doesn't stop above the material anymore; it goes straight down into it. This would normally destroy the blade, but Kasto's new software constantly senses the power being used to run it and backs off when it's becoming too much.
Another feature is the vices, which have been designed to automatically move and prevent the workpiece from catching on them when moving material in for the next cut. Kasto UK's managing director, Ernst Wagner, says this "makes this automatic machine, a proper automatic machine".
Mr Wagner (pictured below) demonstrated the KASTOwin A 3.3 in action and said: "Kasto is the best at vibration control. We are better than everyone else because we have been so focused on this. You can only run a bandsaw fast if you understand the vibration."
While a KASTOtec saw is comparatively expensive and the choice for high volume use, Kasto says the KASTOwin is a more affordable machine, in reach of all.
Five sizes are on offer and the smallest is the KASTOwin A 3.3 (for cutting through 330 mm thick material). The firm has made the KASTOwin extremely energy efficient, so much so, that the lower electricity usage means the machine could pay for itself in just 21 months.
The largest version is the KASTOwin A 10.6 (pictured below and can cut material 1,060 mm thick). Sizes in between are 4.6, 5.6 and 8.6.
From the outside, the KASTOwin, might not look like a bandsaw, but that's because the blade is partly hidden by two safety doors. These doors open up by pulling on the orange-swish handles (mimicking Kasto's logo) and inside you'll see the two pulleys that the bandsaw wraps around - and these pulleys hydraulically put tension in the saw for cutting.
And because the saw is fully automatic, Kasto says you can put a bar on the machine on a Friday night and let it run – and if something goes wrong, it will stop.
Operators can also enter the type of material they're cutting, its diameter or thickness, and the number of pieces to be cut. The feed rate and downfeed are then displayed on a screen on the front door, showing both what they should be and what they actually are.
Kasto is marketing the KASTOwin sawing machine series as an "all-rounder" and the firm has even made a microsite for the new range at
www.kastowin.com
