Member News

“It was a pretty easy choice for me,” says Aaron. “I looked at all my options and decided I wanted to go with an Australian-made machine as I knew the quality of the TECHNI machines was world class. It also helped that the TECHNI head office was local, so if we needed any support, the guys were very close. “I started the business back in 2008 as I thought there was a gap in the market for a waterjet cutting job shop here in the area. At the time I didn’t really know which way the business would go, but I was confident that we could build a strong business providing a quality service. Eleven years later, we now have a total of six TECHNI Waterjet machines – eight cutting heads, running 10 hours a day.” Soon after he opened Aztech Cutting Solutions and the business began to grow, Aaron knew he needed more support.…

Australian Made Chief Executive Ben Lazzaro highlighted the importance of supporting local businesses this Australia Day, especially those in regional and bushfire affected areas, to help communities bounce back in what are extremely challenging times. “Australian-made and -grown products play an important role in our economy. It’s been tough for Aussie farmers and manufacturers, particularly those in rural and regional areas affected by fire and drought,” said Lazzaro. “We need to rally behind our local businesses. Every dollar spent on locally made and grown products will have a direct impact on the livelihoods of Aussie farmers and manufacturers, as well as the wider community. “We are so lucky to have access to some of the best products in the world made right here in our backyard. Shoppers should look for the Australian Made logo to be sure they’re buying genuinely Australian products.” These sentiments were echoed by Australian Made licensee MiniJumbuk, located in the country town of Naracoorte in South Australia. MiniJumbuk…

Owned by Australian farmers since 1895, NORCO recently invested in a Micro-Vu Vertex Multi-Sensor vision system, supplied by Hi-Tech Metrology, to enhance the production and quality of its injection-moulded ice cream containers. According to Trent Dobrunz of NORCO: “We needed a better way of measuring the dimensions on an ice cream container. As they are flexible with no straight edges conventional methods proved difficult, unreliable and definitely not repeatable, which prompted a call to Hi-Tech Metrology.” NORCO had previously been using a Go/No-Go gauge that was highly susceptible to operator influences, making it very difficult to obtain reliable results. As the ice cream containers are flexible the solution needed to be non-contact, so the search began for an automated measuring system that utilised vision technology. The system ultimately chosen for the task was a Micro-Vu Vertex, supplied complete with a suite of fixtures and part programs to measure a variety of…

Already examples are emerging, such as the 3D-printed titanium brake caliper for the Bugatti Chiron. Produced as a single unit from titanium through the layering process in the build chamber of an SLM 500 multi-laser machine, it features a tensile strength of 1,250 N/sqmm and a material density over 99.7%. On testing the parts, Bugatti found the 3D-printed components sustained strength and  retained stiffness amid the high temperatures witnessed at the speeds of more than 375km/hour achieved by these high-performance sports cars. When BMW redesigned the folding mechanism of the BMW i8 Roadster and built it in the metal-powder bed fusion chamber of an SLM Solutions laser machine, it found the part to be 10 times stiffer than the plastic injection moulded counterpart. It was also 44% lighter as it was built from AlSi10Mg. Traditionally the folding mechanism of the i8 Roadster’s soft top is cumbersome, loading the car with unwanted additional weight, and taking up boot space. The new folding mechanism reduces all of these…

The affordable desktop 3D printer has composite-ready performance and an efficiently small footprint to fit easily on any desktop. Packed with the latest technology, the Ultimaker S3 offers disruptive businesses a cost-effective way to adopt and drive in-house 3D printing. The new Ultimaker S3 seamlessly integrates into Ultimaker’s open ecosystem. The feeder wheels are made of hardened steel and together with the CC print core, users can print with almost any 2.85mm filament – such as PLA, ABS, Nylon, third-party materials and abrasive materials. Engineers can design, test, and produce models and custom end-use parts with the widest range of materials for their manufacturing needs. The wider nozzle coverage ensures that no space is wasted, which offers an increased build-volume-to-size ratio. The Ultimaker S3 contains an award-winning touch interface and predefined print settings that facilitate more precise 3D printing as part of any workflow. A heated build plate, advanced active levelling, a stiffer build platform and accurate stepper drivers result in the highest print quality…

An ideal complement to the company’s existing infrastructure, Paul Hughes, Managing Director at Integra, explains that one of the biggest advantages the P2 delivers is a boost to his business’ design capabilities. “Most of our customers want something that’s functional but also aesthetically pleasing,” Paul expounds. “Sometimes, though, you’re compromised with sheet metal work in what you can actually achieve in terms of aesthetics because of the limitations of what you can fold. Essentially, we needed a lot more capacity in metal folding, because that’s a critical part of what we do, and we wanted something that was different to what we already had in terms of conventional CNC press brakes. “Most of our jobs now require design and prototyping. The P2 also needed…

Since expanding overseas, Sutton Tools has been able to continue to manufacture high-end tools here in Australia because we have access to global markets. As a family business founded in 1917, that is important to us, as it is to our many local customers. It also means we’re competing with global tool manufacturers on their own turf – so we need to hold our own and prove it as well. This is why we put extensive time and effort into testing our tools in our R&D Lab. To compete, our products must offer a technical advantage over their competitors: longer tool life, faster cutting speeds, smoother loads or another measure of value to manufacturers. An example is our range of tapping solutions for automotive applications. Our taps for forming threads in steel forgings are used in components such as crank shafts, cam shafts, connecting rods, steering and suspension parts for both through and blind holes. We have engineered these taps for high-volume thread production, so they need…

Already examples are emerging, such as the 3D-printed titanium brake caliper for the Bugatti Chiron. Produced as a single unit from titanium through the layering process in the build chamber of an SLM 500 multi-laser machine, it features a tensile strength of 1,250 N/sqmm and a material density over 99.7%. On testing the parts, Bugatti found the 3D-printed components sustained strength and  retained stiffness amid the high temperatures witnessed at the speeds of more than 375km/hour achieved by these high-performance sports cars. When BMW redesigned the folding mechanism of the BMW i8 Roadster and built it in the metal-powder bed fusion chamber of an SLM Solutions laser machine, it found the part to be 10 times stiffer than the plastic injection moulded counterpart. It was also 44% lighter as it was built from AlSi10Mg. Traditionally the folding mechanism of the i8 Roadster’s soft top is cumbersome, loading the car with unwanted additional weight, and taking up boot space. The new folding mechanism reduces all of…

The metalworking industry adopted high-speed machining (HSM) in the 1990s. This method was engrained in various industrial branches and caused significant changes in technology and machine tool engineering. The well-known advantages of HSM are repeatedly cited in various books, guides, magazines and other sources of information. Recently, there has been a significant interest in accurate HSM and, more specifically, in precision and other characteristics of cutting tools and toolholding devices intended for this purpose. Accurate (or precise) machining means maintaining repeatable strict tolerances during cutting operations. The level of such a “strictness” depends on the machining method – for example milling, turning, or drilling – and the type of operation: rough, semi-finish or…

Manufacturers and machinery engineers in these sectors are adopting engineering plastics* to maximise advantages in applications where outstanding hygiene, corrosion and deterioration resistance, low friction, automation and safety are critical, according to engineering plastics innovator Laurie Green, Managing Director of Cut To Size Plastics. “Australia and New Zealand are starting to catch up with pan-Asia and global trends towards the use of engineering plastics in expanding uses to which they are eminently suited,” says Green. “Metals are great for some applications, but manufacturers, operations managers, processors and infrastructure specifiers here are waking up to opportunities to optimise their low-maintenance infrastructure and automation applications with plastics.” Cut To Size has more than 40 years’ experience in engineering plastics applications throughout the Asia-Pacific, and distributes advanced materials from international leaders in plastics technology including Licharz, Gehr and Beck-Wefapress. The company has just launched a new website to help groups such as engineers, operations managers, safety managers and others to decide whether…

In agriculture, most production processes have gone from manual manufacturing to industrial production. Agricultural product that used to be processed with simple farm machinery is now undertaken using equipment that is often highly automated, in processes that have to be designed along rational lines. This applies to all areas of agriculture, from tractors to combine harvesters and driverless machines for many different applications, but also to comparatively small pieces of equipment and accessories. As a specialist in tube processing machines and systems, transfluid has already been delivering its solutions to this sector for many years. “The developments are very exciting and we are happy to continue to contribute to that”, says Stefanie Flaeper, Managing Director at transfluid. “When we look at the tube processing for the manufacturing of agricultural machinery we see two key types: heavy tubes and profiles, that are often used in the construction of frames; and on the other hand the large hydraulics systems.” Hydraulics is a method…

With new orders again in negative territory in December and trending down since March, the Ai Group believes that current weak conditions for manufacturers are likely to continue into the New Year, with the strong food & beverages sector a notable exception. Among the six manufacturing sectors in the Australian PMI, only food & beverages expanded in December (up 0.6 points to 61.8) while machinery & equipment (down 1.0 points to 50.4) and the chemicals sector (down 0.9 points to 49.3) were broadly stable. The metals products (up 0.6 points to 45.0), building materials, wood & other manufacturing (down 3.4 points to 38.1) and TCF, paper & printing (down 0.1 points to 41.6) sectors all contracted again in December (according to trend data). “2019 closed on a disappointing note for Australian manufacturing with production and employment both weaker in…