& Construction
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Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
& Manufacturing
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Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
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Success Story
Finding a software platform that could meet their growing needs, particularly for their own-brand product design and manufacture, was the key challenge for TNN.
Established in 1994, TNN Engineering is a second-generation Brisbane-based engineering machine shop servicing customers around Australia. Led by General Manager Tin Hua, the business’ B2B offerings include CNC machining, steel fabrication, laser-cutting and pressing.
In 2017, they launched an own-brand B2C enterprise with the KAON range of 4x4 after-market accessories, including storage shelves, brackets and mounts.
TNN handles almost every part of the KAON product pipeline. They initially used SolidWorks for CAD and CAM, but the increasingly complex design processes demanded a more capable and powerful software platform.
TNN’s main objective was to implement software powerful and flexible enough to handle complex 3D scans, designs and models. ‘A lot of the success of the KAON brand has come through our adoption of 3D CAD / CAM and scanning,’ explains Tin, ‘and these processes really drive the product pipeline. They had to work for us, not the other way around.’
TNN acquired some initial licences direct from Autodesk, but as licensing complexity grew, they built a partnership with Cadpro to add more licences. Following the initial implementation, Cadpro visited TNN to gain insights into their processes, from which they were able to suggest ways the company could make more use of Autodesk Fusion’s broad functionality.
Says Tin, ‘We got a lot more traction when we moved over to Autodesk Fusion. At first we didn’t realise the capabilities Cadpro offered, but now we use a range of complementary services we lean on when necessary. Thanks to Cadpro, today we use Autodesk Fusion for the whole process – through data acquisition, design development, prototyping, documentation and machine production.’
Autodesk Fusion has allowed TNN to create bigger and more complex models, with greater detail than before. ‘Vitally, it handles scans and big meshes really well,’ notes Tin. ‘And from that initial modelling stage, we design using the CAD function, which fast-tracks our ability to bring to market a product that fits 4x4 vehicles like a glove.
‘We can transition to prototypes, which we either 3D print or send off to be laser-cut and pressed. For some parts, we use the CAM package within Autodesk Fusion to programme the CNC machines in-house. The sheet metal unfold function is really useful, for instance. Documentation, rendering, product images for media . . . we use the software a lot.’
The collaborative functionality of Autodesk Fusion has helped, and having file management in the cloud means revisions are much more straightforward. That said, another benefit is being able to programme offline – ‘it’s made a massive difference’, adds Tin.
Cadpro’s input has been invaluable. ‘For a start, they made licensing very easy,’ says Tin, ‘and they streamlined our access to deals and promotions. Beyond that, they’ve boosted our learning curve with Autodesk Fusion. Scott from Cadpro helped our machining team create templates and shared libraries to make programming and tool path generation faster and more reliable.’
While Autodesk Fusion is delivering on TNN’s objectives, Tin is quick to point out that this is just the start of the journey with Cadpro. ‘There is endless opportunity to do more with Autodesk Fusion. For instance, we’d like to explore stress and strain analysis. And the fact that Cadpro understand the full range of software applications takes us a long way down the road. We now know that if we’ve a specific goal, there’s someone who can help us achieve it.’
Project summary
Duration & delivery
Autodesk solutions
Services provided
Customer industry
Construction Firm Leverages BIM Collaborate for Model Coordination
Clearwater Construction are a construction firm with offices in Auckland and Christchurch New Zealand, who offer services in design and build, construction and interiors for the apartment, commercial and industrial markets. Established in 1984, Clearwater Construction has built a solid track record of innovative design and smart structural solutions for the NZ construction market. Clearwater Construction traditionally relied on manual coordination of construction models. This was both time consuming and inefficient. With a tight construction program to work with and a desire to maintain quality control across the wider design teams, Clearwater’s main challenge revolved around reducing timelines and improving their overall construction coordination process.
Atco Steel Embraces Digital Transformation with Autodesk BIM 360 Build
Atco Steel Developments are a structural steel firm in Wellington New Zealand, who specialize in the fabrication and installation of structural steel for the residential, commercial, and earthquake strengthening markets. Established in 1939, Atco Steel has built a solid reputation providing turn-key solutions for the NZ construction market. As a result of increased emphasis on health and safety protocols, quality assurance, and quality control processes, Atco Steel were looking for a suitable software solution to manage their construction processes. They required a cloud-based solution that would enable teams to connect and collaborate in real-time between office and field.
Cadpro custom post-processor gets a small business off the ground
Erik Cortina of Cortina Precision manufactures barrel tuners for competitive long-range sports rifles. Erik’s barrel tuner system contains a muzzle brake that threads onto the end of the barrel with a series of ports to redirect gasses outwards to avoid recoil. Prior to contacting Cadpro, Erik had been unable to get his barrel tuners to market, as the machining of the ports on the muzzle brakes was proving challenging. Erik has a DMG Mori NLX 2500SY CNC lathe that he operates with Autodesk Fusion 360, but required an additional B axis in order to machine the ports on the required angle. The advice Erik received from other sources was that he would need very expensive software to machine the ports, a cost he could not meet as a small start-up. Erik’s machine manual had unclear instructions, making the path to a solution more complicated. As he explains, “The main challenge was the fact that the programming manual had a specific set of instructions, however, the instructions weren’t clear.”
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