{"id":3914,"date":"2016-09-14T07:24:34","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T14:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/?p=3914"},"modified":"2016-09-14T07:35:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T14:35:00","slug":"johan-sandflo-unites-loves-golf-machining-using-fusion-360","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/johan-sandflo-unites-loves-golf-machining-using-fusion-360\/","title":{"rendered":"Johan Sandflo Unites His Loves for Golf and Machining Using Fusion 360"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the town of Trollh\u00e4ttan in southwestern Sweden, engineer Johan Sandflo spends his days managing his precision machining business. At night, he perfects designs for SandFlo Golf<\/a>\u2018s custom putters. He\u2019s come to rely on Fusion 360 to help him follow both of those passions.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI love [all] the machining stuff,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s not work if you do what you love.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"johan1\"<\/p>\n

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The Long Road Back to the Family Business<\/h2>\n

Sandflo began his career at Volvo Aero (now part of GKN),but he took a circuitous route to his current work. Even though it was \u201can excellent job,\u201d he gave up the secure job at the big company after three years. He remembers thinking, \u201cSoon I\u2019m going to wake up and I\u2019m going to be 65 years old, and I\u2019m going to be working at the same place for my whole life. I don\u2019t want to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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That was 15 years ago. After working odds jobs and traveling as far afield as Australia and Switzerland, he returned to his hometown. Today, Johan owns Sandflo Mekanik, (previously his father\u2019s company),which does precision lathing, welding, and sheet metal machining for GKN and other manufacturers.<\/p>\n

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From CAM to CAD in Fusion 360<\/h2>\n

\"sandflo1\"Sandflo started using Fusion 360 in the shop late in 2014 after he stumbled across it on YouTube. Once he downloaded a trial version, it didn\u2019t take him long to get hooked, especially considering the responsiveness of the Autodesk team and user community online. \u201cI tried it for a few weeks,\u201d he says, \u201cand haven\u2019t looked back.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In the job shop, CAM reigns supreme, especially for setting toolpaths. Sandflo particularly likes Fusion 360\u2019s \u201cawesome\u201d adaptive clearing functionality for roughing out machined parts. In the past he\u2019s used about ten different CAM applications, most recently a combination of Mastercam and OneCNC, but found that none of them worked as well: \u201cNothing compares to Fusion 360 for the kind of jobs that I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

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When getting started with Fusion 360, Sandflo explains, \u201cI went down the CAM side first,then kind of discovered the CAD side.\u201d The CAD features make it simple for him to streamline his machining work, for example by taking a customer drawing and turning it into a proper CAD model.<\/p>\n

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Finding a Business Advantage in Design Software<\/h2>\n

Sandflo says he believes that \u201cI have an advantage over other companies my size when I use Fusion 360.\u201d In part that comes from the software\u2019s functionality and cloud-based approach. But he also says that the thinking and interactions around the software are a refreshing departure from the rigid enterprise model that typically prevails. \u201cIt\u2019s a modern take on it,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s not like anything else in the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And then there are the costs. Not only is Fusion 360 much cheaper than comparable programs, but you don\u2019t have to pay extra for training. \u201cIt\u2019s amazingly affordable,\u201d Sandflo says, adding, \u201cWhy would you use something that\u2019s ten or twenty times more expensive? . . . I can invest that money elsewhere to make the business grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Designing Custom Putters in Fusion 360<\/h2>\n

Even better, the software has allowed Sandflo to extend his passion for golf. It makes him happy \u201cto get a few hours in with friends, have a good laugh,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201c\"sandflo2\"Being a golf nerd,\u201d he adds, \u201cit\u2019s always fun [tinkering] with equipment.\u201d He began to look online for clubs that were \u201cexotic, more personalized,\u201d and then realized he could make his own. As he puts it, \u201cI have the knowledge to do something like this myself. I have the machines. Why not start modeling something, see what happens?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Before he discovered Fusion 360, it was slow going. He didn\u2019t have enough CAD skills to do what he wanted to, and found the combination of SolidWorks and Mastercam unwieldy. Then everything changed. \u201cWhen I found Fusion 360, that was the turning point,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTo make the changes \u2014 the small iterations, the small tweaks \u2014 it is so easy,\u201d he adds. Fusion 360\u2019s cloud-based approach is especially useful for him because it lets him squeeze in design work whenever he has time. \u201cFor me as a small business owner,\u201d he says, \u201cthe ability to work at home at night when the kids are asleep is second to none. It\u2019s so easy and convenient, and you have all the files available at a mouse click. . . . When I get to work the next day, it\u2019s all done. So I can keep the machines turning.\u201d<\/p>\n

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When Social Media Meets Custom Design<\/h2>\n

What\u2019s so special about Sandflo\u2019s putters? \u201cThe uniqueness,\u201d he says \u2014 the ability to make it your own with custom engraving, weight distribution, and patterns.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEverybody can buy a putter off the shelf,\u201d he adds, so his desire is to create one-off designs that will be special to each customer. For example, he made a putter for his father-in-law specially engraved with the names and birthdates of his children, and, as this video shows, he recently gave Autodesk staffer Curt Chan a putter engraved with the Fusion 360 logo:<\/p>\n

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