Uralla, Australia
Uralla, Australia-based Phoenix Foundry specializes in the manufacture of customized plaques and castings, which can range from the simplest forms to the most intricate designs. And when it comes to equipment that can save time, Phoenix Foundry’s Compositor Manager, Charlie Rudd, is always more than interested.

“We use sculptors to produce originals of the designs, which can be very labor intensive, and therefore expensive,” he said. A few years ago, the company looked at harnessing 3D technology to reduce these costs and to alleviate the irregularities they’d get with a hand-made left and right side of a design. They soon discovered Roland’s MDX-15, a 3-dimensional digitizer and 3-axis milling machine in one.

According to Rudd, the MDX-15 revolutionized the firm’s production capabilities. A couple of years ago, following this success, the company decided to expand their production capabilities even further with Roland’s latest 3D technologies.

“We purchased Roland’s PIX 30 3D digitizer along with the MDX-650 3D milling machine, and we haven’t looked back,” Rudd said. “The PIX 30 is a very clever piece of equipment, enabling us to digitize even the most intricate hand-made roland usa master in-house. Once digitized we can

scale it to the size required, create a flipped version which is an exact replica of the other side, and then export the file to the MDX-650 for the next stage of production.

This technology has enabled the company to create a library of scaleable images that can be accessed when needed, which eliminates the need to get a sculptor involved. “This not only saves us money, but time as well since we’ve got the digitized master on file,” he said.

The MDX-650 has also boosted the company’s production capabilities dramatically, enabling them to machine out and quickly make large patterns out of wax and mdf timber. Rudd cites the MDX-650’s ability to upgrade to a fourth axis as another important feature.

“Together, the two machines provide us with a very versatile package that’s easy to use and is enabling us to do work that we couldn’t have touched before, mainly due to the labor component,” he said. “And because they operate on an international standard we are able to use standard CAD files. As a result, we are now getting work from all around the world.”