HELINER

Industrial CNC Routers, Laser Machines, and Robots – for New Zealand Manufacturers

Superior finish with 20 to 30% timesaving

Heliner

Metal Works Innovation in Mount Maunganui fabricates aluminum, wood, and plastic components for other product manufacturers. 

Les Coenraads, the business owner, tells us how a Heliner CNC machine has transformed their operation. 

A positive introduction

“We previously outsourced our machining, but I wanted more flexibility and control by doing it ourselves. I was looking for CNC routers on the Internet, but good information was hard to find. I also asked some other engineering places for their thoughts. 

James’s name was mentioned, so I called him. He was quick to respond and sounded professional. Then I visited his warehouse to see a machine in action, and I was happy with the quality of the finish I saw. 

So James recommended a machine for us and I ordered it.”

Quickly productive

“After the arrival of our machine, it only took two days to set up by James, and it looked very well put together. We got our IT man on the job, and we were up and running the next day. Fantastic! 

I was surprised how quietly it ran, and it has been running smoothly ever since.” 

Precision and finesse

“The machine has added finesse to our production, enabling us to fine-tune our products for a better quality finish.

The precision is absolutely perfect, with consistent results.”

Efficiency gains financially rewarding

“With functions such as welding preparation and automatic tool changing, the machine is very efficient. It can do the job of two people using manual processes, so is very cost-effective.

The efficiency gain extends right through our processes with 20 – 30% time saving across thousands of products, which amounts to a lot of time and money.”

Game-changing flexibility and control 

“It’s great being able to quickly customize the parts we produce. We couldn’t do this before when we farmed out the machining to others, where it was a lot more rigid and time-consuming to organize.

James provides the tools and backup support that we need to achieve this agility, which has been a real game changer for our operation and business. The machine is everything we could have asked for and does 90% of what we do. The next step will be to ask James for a second bigger machine to add to our production.”

Auto Tool Change CNC Router H-2060
H-2030 5-Axis Column Machining Centre

Wilde Signs create outside-the-square signage with unique personality, in all shapes and sizes, including 3-D display props. Precision engineering is required for this, going beyond the limits of traditional materials and components. 

Ryan Rogers, owner/director, is from the U.S. out of the film industry, and wanted to do something different with signage. He tells us about his explorative journey and how Heliner has enabled him to realise his creative visions…

First step – DIY 

“I was working in digital effects for Weta workshops for many years and wanted a change, with a break from the long hours. With my love for building challenging stuff, I thought I could innovate the signage market with bolder aesthetics like I’d seen in the U.S., beyond the flat panels I saw around New Zealand. 

I knew the engineering would require a CNC router, so I researched and built one myself. But I came up against limitations with that, so went to Google to find something with more capability.”

The step-up solution

“I came across James and he seemed to have the best equipment, considering my big concerns about robustness and reliability. The price point was well below machine imports from the U.S. or Germany. After speaking to James, I knew straight away that I could trust him, that he was the real deal – a nice guy and very knowledgeable. 

He delivered the machine, and I found it straightforward to learn after my previous experience, so I was able to ‘take it off to the races’ pretty quickly.”

Flexibility and innovation from machining in-house 

“Unlike most sign shops who outsource their CNC machining, having it in-house has big advantages. We can play around, test, and innovate to find better ways of doing things. Whereas with outsourcing, you only get one shot at it. It also cuts out the turnaround time so we can deliver quicker.” 

Branching out to architectural, museum, and film sectors

“The machine is now the heart of our business, where each job is an engineering project. It’s been our workhorse for over four years and hasn’t stopped a beat, which is much appreciated. This has enabled us to branch out to different markets, including architectural products, museum pieces, and film props.”

The reassurance of local support

“It’s been great to have James on-hand locally for short-notice help when we need it to do new or tricky things on our path of innovation. He is providing a great service and will be the first person to call on for any future upgrades or developments.”

H-1325M Quick Tool Release CNC Router
Auto Tool Change CNC Router H-1325AC 1300 x 2500 x 300mm

Step Ahead Stairs is a company specialising in the manufacture and installation of residential and commercial stairways. Their concentrated focus means they can deliver a high-quality product at an economical price, more efficiently than general builders who use them a lot.

Ryan Kaden, the business owner, tells us how CNC routing has transformed their prefabrication process.

Looking ahead outside the square

“I came back from mining in Perth a couple of years ago to take over the business from my father, who wanted to scale down his work. I was wondering about technology to improve production efficiency and I heard about CNC routers. 

So I looked to Google to see what was out there and found James. It was great that he was local, unlike most of the suppliers who were in Auckland. I didn’t want to have to get them all the way down here to deal with issues.”

The right solution for us

“So I met James and we talked about machine options. He offered a very competitive price compared to others. We went through the investigation process and I ordered a machine. 

When it arrived, there was a lot to take in, but James got us through it all. We just had to get ‘time in the seat’ to get the hang of it.”

Faster and Sharper

“Now we can cut out staircase stringers, treads, and risers in 1/4 of the time instead of previously with a template and hand-router. The CNC router cuts it out precisely to fractions of a millimetre, making a better finish for the product.

He’s currently helping with a program to fabricate kite winders, where the staircase turns 90° with three, four, or five steps, like cheese segments.”

Immense support

“James has been amazing – an understatement – doing everything from designing to fixing. Without him, we would have been way behind.

Whenever we need anything, James puts his foot forward to take care of it. He’s extremely helpful and is only 15 minutes away.”

H-1325EOT Auto Tool Change CNC Router with Electric Oscillating Knife 1300 x 2500 x 300mm
H-1325AC4 4-axis Auto Tool Change CNC Router 1300x2500x400mm

Revelation Cabinets manufactures affordable high-quality cabinets for kitchens, laundries, and home renovations. They bought a CNC router from China to improve their production, after using machine saws previously, but couldn’t get it working properly with their design software.

Vik Sharma, Director, tells us how they finally got it all humming.

Wanting to step-up productivity

“We started business with just a $2k panel saw, but we wanted to take it to another level with a more sophisticated machine. So I found a company in China and bought their CNC router. I was hoping to get it to talk to our 3D design software using my technical knowledge, but I couldn’t get it working properly.

We had technical support from China, but the language barrier made it difficult.”

“Only if you buy from us”

“I asked around a few places for help, but nothing much was forthcoming. I was told 8 to 9 week response times. They weren’t really interested unless I bought their product, and even then they’d charge $110 an hour for support.

One guy came and said he couldn’t do anything with my machine, but suggested getting rid of it and buying his machine… “No thanks”.

Help at last

“I came across James and contacted him. He seemed very open and approachable, and I found him to be very knowledgeable with a can-do attitude.

He came up to visit us and looked at what we were doing, then fixed our problems and showed us how to get the router working optimally with our design system. Since then we’ve had occasional issues coming up, so we just sent him some photos and he came back to us with “do this, this, and this”.

40% time saving

“With the router working so well, we can produce a complete flatpack kitchen in three days instead of a week previously with manual processes. So, the machine has now more than paid for itself.

It does everything, including cutting and drilling, ready for our edge bander to complete the fine finish.”

Goes out of his way

“Our experience of James has been very good with his technical knowledge and willingness to help with an invitation to call him when we need to.

He sees the bigger picture of client needs instead of just selling machines, and goes out of this way when it’s inconvenient and not very profitable for him.

We’ve developed a good friendship with him.”

How do you identify a quality CNC machine? It’s a complex question, requiring deep engineering and industry knowledge. Without access to expertise, CNC router and laser cutter designs can seem identical, especially in the modern world of mass production. 

Perhaps a more important question then is “how can your business know if a CNC router or laser cutter is worth a closer look?” While Heliner always recommends seeking expert advice, the most powerful tool you have is to ask the manufacturer what the max feedrate is. 

Max feedrate gives an overview on the quality of a CNC machine. It is the product of every imperfection in the parts, assembly, and design. Issues with alignment, part quality, and material treatments place stresses on the machine during high speed travels. Performance will also quickly degrade at higher speeds if the parts and overall rigidity of the machine only just meet spec. 

As a case study, let’s look at some of the manufacturing decisions that go into making the table of a CNC machine. Our tables are milled after construction to ensure flatness and alignment. The entire table is heat treated pre and post-manufacturing to prevent warping as the material relaxes. Finally, all mating surfaces are hand scraped for perfect levelling. All of this ensures the linear rails and other moving parts are in perfect alignment, preventing the buildup of stresses and loss of accuracy. Our machines are widely known to be extremely quiet during operation, even at high speed. This level of precision and care can be tracked throughout the design, manufacturing and testing of every part of our machines. Many manufacturers don’t take this level of care, because it is quality that isn’t immediately visible. 

Our CNC routers achieve a max feedrate of 45 metres per minute, while our laser cutters can exceed 60m/min. This makes us unbeaten on the cost to quality ratio. This shouldn’t be the only metric used to make your final decision, but it is a useful tool for narrowing down your choices and streaming your decision making process. 

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