![]() ![]() Matt was a former employee of Black+Decker who now works with tool manufacturing company Jinding Electric Tools. So, despite his difficulties bringing it to the large tool companies, Robert decided, “I’m going to make it,” and take on the manufacturing of the tool himself.Īfter making that decision, he connected with Matt Gennari of Gennari Consulting. He also had interest from end users in the tool, including some military use interested in using it to battle the high costs of corrosion. Robert had patented the Restorer and started his own separate company, Wellington Corp LLC, as the business entity responsible for the tool. There was interest there, too – but, after two years, the RIDGID brand manufactured by Techtronic Industries, which sells its tools via Home Depot, couldn’t get the retail price of the Restorer down to a level that the big box store would accept. The result, a while later, was a licensing offer that Robert declined because he felt the offer was too small.Īfter that, Robert met with Ridge Tool, the plumbing tool division of RIDGID tools on another invention of his, a plumbing wrench. As a result of that contact, he sent a prototype of the Restorer to FEIN’s headquarters in Germany. Early on, he got some interest from a representative of FEIN Power Tools, who happened to be assigned the booth next door to his at a trade show. Robert could see the possibilities in his tool, and started taking prototypes with him to trade shows he was attending as a representative of Kundel Cranes. Any roller you put in, you change the applications of the tool” – whether that’s for sanding, buffing, surface grinding, or whatever else is to come. He noted that it has uses for sanding paint and other debris off reclaimed wood plus sculpting freeform edges. “The harder you push in, the deeper you go,” Robert said. Rather than digging in to a work surface, the Restorer floats above it. The surface stays cool, which preserves abrasives. Unlike a belt sander, for instance, which “is so wide that it heats up the surface and makes paint gummy so that it sticks to the sandpaper, and ruins your abrasive,” the Restorer, on the other hand, “tends to flick material off: it works like a truck tire would throw mud,” Robert said. “I used it on my patio hand railing, and it stripped it down in seconds to brand-new wood,” Robert said.Īt this point, Robert started to think the tool could have broader applications. In order to tackle the flaking wood on his patio, Robert decided to bring his tool home and try it out. And, while he doesn’t call himself a woodworker, he does say, “I’m a DIY guy.” He had built his own wooden patio, which needed refinishing every year after being exposed to the elements in Ohio. That kind of early version of the Restorer tool “worked amazing on metal,” Robert said. So, in search of a cheap power supply, Robert purchased a $20 angle grinder from Harbor Freight, ripped its gearbox off, and installed it on a metal frame fabricated by fellow employee and former Delphi Electric tool and die maker Rich Schley. I originally thought I would just put rollers on a Dirt Devil” to create a handheld surface prep tool. He thought there had to be a better way to do it, so “I went home and took my wife’s Dirt Devil® vacuum and took it apart. ![]() They needed to be cleaned up before welding or painting. Robert got frustrated with trying to clean up dirt and grime, including rust, while getting around the corners, beams and pipes on the cranes under construction. They build cranes for projects all over the world (you might have heard of some their clients, like Ford, Uber and Tesla). Robert’s “day job” is the manager of the crane division, Kundel Cranes, for the family business, Kundel Industries, where he works with his dad, three brothers and a sister. While Robert Kundel, Jr., doesn’t consider himself a woodworker at all, his invention, the Restorer tool, has several applications in woodworking – and a fascinating backstory. ![]()
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