{"id":81625,"date":"2025-11-21T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/?p=81625"},"modified":"2025-11-25T16:56:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T00:56:36","slug":"hangar-outdoor-scales-hvac-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/hangar-outdoor-scales-hvac-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"From Patio Project to Apple Campus:\u00a0Hangar Outdoor Scales HVAC Innovation\u00a0With\u00a0Fusion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Portland-based designer Braden Planz set out to cover the outdoor mini-split air conditioner on his patio, he assumed he\u2019d find a quick fix online. Instead, he discovered a market gap. \u201cHangar Outdoor<\/a> was a COVID-19 project,\u201d Planz recalls. \u201cI couldn\u2019t find a good cover for my air conditioner, so I decided to build one.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All images courtesy of Hangar Outdoor.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Early prototypes were made locally, but the cost and limitations of one-off fabrication pushed him to look overseas. After contacting about twenty fabricators and testing multiple samples, one manufacturing partner stood out, and the first production run of Hangar\u2019s covers was born. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That first batch revealed an even bigger challenge: the HVAC industry was full of nonstandard sizes and needs. What began as a quest to solve a simple design problem quickly turned into a lesson in manufacturing and scaling production. <\/p>\n\n\n

Finding simplicity in sheet metal design <\/h2>\n\n\n

In the early stages, Planz relied on SketchUp and Illustrator to draft concepts. Those files were later converted into SolidWorks drawings by a local prototype shop\u2014a costly and time-consuming process. \u201cI would send the design to the shop that did the initial prototype, and they charged me a bunch of money to put it together in SolidWorks,\u201d says Planz. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Needing to iterate from there, Planz also tried using SolidWorks to make adjustments to the design. \u201cI started fumbling around in SolidWorks, and that\u2019s when I remembered using Fusion a couple of years ago for another project,\u201d he continues. \u201cI went down the rabbit hole on sheet metal design with Fusion, and it was super easy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Autodesk Fusion<\/a>\u2019s intuitive sheet metal environment gives Hangar direct control over every bend, fastener, and cutout. It replaced a disjointed workflow with a single, cloud-based platform for modeling, testing, and collaborating with overseas partners. \u201cWe put in all our components and do our modeling in Fusion. The factory takes that all straight out of the STEP file<\/a> and knows precisely what we\u2019re trying to do.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

Building a streamlined workflow in the cloud<\/h2>\n\n\n

Hangar\u2019s design process now flows from concept sketches to fully detailed Fusion models. Planz often begins with contractor feedback, then prototypes new versions using Fusion\u2019s modeling and simulation tools. \u201cIf a block of ice falls off somebody\u2019s roof, I can quickly calculate what that force is and then put that into Fusion,\u201d he says. \u201cI can then show a customer and confidently say, \u2018This is going to be your actual deflection.\u2019 I don\u2019t have an engineering background, but it\u2019s very easy for me to jump into Fusion and do that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When working on custom hail guards for a school in Indiana, he applied a design agency approach by creating several design concepts before moving into Fusion to expedite precision modeling. \u201cWe designed a handful of concepts, made prototypes, got up on the roof, and tried to install them. It didn’t work perfectly right away, but that\u2019s part of the design process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

Designing for bigger challenges<\/h2>\n\n\n

When Johnson Controls (JCI)<\/a> reached out after discovering Hangar online, Planz already had the foundation to take on a much larger challenge: supplying custom hail guards for the Apple<\/a> campus in Texas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[JCI] called\u00a0us asking for\u00a0a smaller version of the\u00a0industrial-scale hail\u00a0guards, which we didn\u2019t even\u00a0produce\u00a0at the time,\u201d\u00a0he says.\u00a0\u201cIt was\u00a0pretty easy\u00a0to say,\u00a0\u2018ok, send us your drawings for the compressor unit.\u2019\u00a0We then took those drawings, put them in\u00a0Fusion\u00a0to create a concept,\u00a0and began modelling directly to those specifications.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Planz traveled to Texas to verify compressor measurements before finalizing models and sending production files to the factory. Fusion\u2019s simulation tools helped validate the structure\u2019s durability and guided refinements in manufacturing. \u201cWith Fusion, I was able to start from sketches, check tolerances, export the file for renders and factory use, and iterate with the factory until a production-ready prototype was achieved.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team uses Fusion\u2019s McMaster-Carr integration<\/a> to specify hardware components like fasteners<\/a> and share completed STEP files and redlined drawings with the overseas factory. \u201cFusion lets me create and modify production-ready models quickly and collaborate with our production partners in China efficiently. I can design, test, and send production files directly to the factory\u2014all from one place,\u201d Planz explains. \u201cThat used to take weeks; now it\u2019s just days. It\u2019s a huge time saver.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What began as a single-size air conditioner cover now includes multiple models, including the Snowcap<\/a>\u2014a wedge-shaped rain and hail cover that has become Hangar\u2019s most profitable product. \u201cContractors love it,\u201d Planz says. \u201cThey order them in bulk and put them on all their projects basically as insurance.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Fusion at the core of its design process, Hangar has cut iteration time dramatically and improved communication between design and manufacturing. \u201cNow I have all the tools to start from scratch and design something rather than trying to edit other people\u2019s models. We can go from idea to installation faster without losing creative control.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hangar Outdoor leveraged Autodesk Fusion to turn a simple need for outdoor AC covers into a scalable manufacturing business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4033,"featured_media":81672,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[478,480],"tags":[],"coauthors":[597],"class_list":["post-81625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-case-studies","category-manufacturing","dhig-theme--light"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHangar Outdoor Scales HVAC Innovation\u00a0With\u00a0Autodesk Fusion - Fusion Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hangar Outdoor leveraged Autodesk Fusion to turn a simple need for outdoor AC covers into a scalable manufacturing business.\u200b\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/hangar-outdoor-scales-hvac-innovation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hangar Outdoor Scales HVAC Innovation\u00a0With\u00a0Autodesk Fusion - 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