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Success Story

Small Shop Leaps into 4 & 5-axis Milling

Small Shop Leaps into 4 & 5-axis Milling

Customer challenge

AA Tactical is a Veteran owned, family operated, facility which was a smaller machine shop with 3-axis milling capability. Their customers included inventors and manufacturers that had requirements for more advanced parts. AA Tactical realized that in order to meet these demands, they would need to invest in 4 & 5-axis CNC equipment as well as related CAD/CAM software and support services. AA Tactical was already successfully using Autodesk Fusion 360 with FeatureCAM as their CAD/CAM solution, which they had purchased from ProFORCE. ProFORCE is an Authorized Autodesk MAKE Partner who was already actively supporting their CAD/CAM needs for 3-axis, but additional CAD/CAM training and services would be required in order to support their 4 & 5-axis mill requirements.

Project goals

AA Tactical had 3 primary goals: 1) Purchase a 4-axis and a 5-axis CNC milling machine in order to expand shop capabilities. 2) Ramp up on the advanced capabilities already included within their existing CAD/CAM software, and also add POST Processors. 3) Secure training to allow their personnel to successfully program and produce good parts.

Solution

AA Tactical chose to stay within the Haas VF-Series line and purchased machines that had similar controllers as their existing CNC’s. The 4-axis machine was configured with a HRT210 and the 5-axis included a TRT210. They would require FeatureCAM POST Processors for these machines, and procured them through ProFORCE, who then worked closely with the AA Tactical CAD/CAM programmer to confirm that all programs from their FeatureCAM ran successfully on their new machines. Part of their strategy for growth was to recruit military veterans, and AA Tactical was able to locally hire veterans who then contributed to making parts on their Haas 3-axis machines. Having limited experience with 4 and 5-axis, they again reached out to ProFORCE and purchased training and support. ProFORCE provided on-site training and furnished training laptops for student use. The ProFORCE trainer was able to go beyond basic CAD/CAM training materials, and included subject matter such as tooling and workholding.

Business outcome

AA Tactical was able to accomplish the goal of expanding their shop and is successfully producing advanced 4-axis and 5-axis machined parts. This increased capability greatly expanded their capabilities, allowing them to cater to customers that have more complex parts to be manufactured. As a result, AA Tactical has won more business and has experienced rapid growth. They have outgrown their current facility and are in the process of moving to a larger shop, which will allow them to buy more machines and hire more personnel.

Conclusion

“ProFORCE has been there for us as a CAD/CAM partner, and was instrumental in assisting AA Tactical to ramp our shop up to pursue advanced manufacturing opportunities. We now have a larger foundation that will allow us to continue to grow our business.” – Andrew Rencich, CEO, AA Tactical Inc.

Project summary

    Duration & delivery

  • 5
  • 2021-07-21

    Autodesk solutions

  • Fusion 360
  • FeatureCAM

    Services provided

  • Product Training
  • Post Processor Development
  • Technical Support

    Customer industry

  • Design & Manufacturing
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