How 7D Team Uses 3D Laser Scanning to Keep Mining Heavy-Duty Components on Track

When you are manufacturing components for mining, power stations, and heavy industry, getting the dimensions right is only part of the job. The bigger question is whether a new component will actually fit where it needs to go.

For 7D Team, 3D laser scanning has been helping answer that question for more than 20 years.

About 7D Team

Based in Western Australia, 7D Team is an engineering and manufacturing company focused on mining equipment, with particular expertise in slurry and dewatering pump technology. The company works across machined castings, new product development, pump servicing, critical spares, and remote monitoring, combining engineering know-how with hands-on experience in the field.

What sets 7D Team apart is its focus on improving existing equipment rather than simply replacing it. Its engineers use laser scanning, wear analysis, and materials expertise to re-engineer components, extend service life, and develop solutions suited to the harsh conditions of mining operations. That practical, problem-solving approach has been at the heart of the company since it was founded in 2016.

For a company working with large, complex pump components every day, accurate dimensional data is a key part of that process. This is where 3D laser scanning has become an important tool for the 7D Team engineering workflow.

7D Team: helping mining teams achieve performance and reliability

“We’ve been using 3D scanning since 2001,” says Mark, Engineering Director at 7D Team. The company designs and manufactures parts for the mining and heavy industries, where existing equipment often becomes the starting point for a new component.

Rather than relying solely on drawings or measurements taken by hand, the team scans the existing product and uses the resulting data to understand its actual footprint. That gives the engineers a much clearer reference when redesigning a component—and, importantly, helps make sure the new part fits first time.

Scanning Is Part of the Job, Not an Extra Step

At 7D Team, laser scanning is used well beyond a single inspection. The team uses it from the initial data capture stage through to checking castings, patterns, and finished machine components. In other words, the scan is part of the engineering workflow rather than something brought in only when there is a problem.

One recent application involved a large, multi-stage volute for a slurry pump. The team scanned the component and used the scan data to check it against the pump’s QA requirements. For large industrial parts like this, being able to take the scanner to the component can make a real difference.

3D scanning the slurry pump with FreeScan Omni

Why FreeScan Omni?

For this project, 7D Team chose the SHINING 3D FreeScan Omni.

The reasons were straightforward: wireless scanning, portable and high accuracy for onsite scanning, an integrated inspection module and a built-in screen that allows the team to inspect directly on site.

The wireless setup is particularly useful in an industrial environment. With the FreeScan Omni, the team no longer needs to bring a laptop and separate power supplies along for its scanning work.

As Mark puts it, this makes scanning onsite “a lot easier.”

Real-time mesh display on the screen

That matters when the component is large, difficult to move, or already installed in the environment where it needs to be inspected. Instead of moving the part to the scanner, the scanner can go to the part.

Simpler Data Capture, Right Where It Is Needed

Since introducing the FreeScan Omni, the feedback from 7D Team’s engineering and QA teams has been consistent: the process is simpler, the scanner is easy to use, and the accuracy meets their needs. For 7D Team, that simplicity is important because 3D scanning is not an occasional task. The company says it laser scans everything it produces.

One Workflow, From Scanning to Inspection

The scan is only part of the job. With SHINING3D Inspect, 7D Team can move from data capture to inspection in the same workflow. The software can be used on a computer for detailed analysis, or integrated directly with the FreeScan Omni for onsite inspection. With inspection templates, it also makes repeated checks more consistent and efficient, especially when the same requirements need to be applied across multiple components.

Integrated with SHINING3D Inspect module, on device inspection is available

SHINING3D Inspect software on PC

Using 3D scanning across its product range has helped the team carry out inspections in a way it describes as “perfectly, seamlessly, consistently.”

More Than a Decade with SHINING 3D

The FreeScan Omni is the latest addition to a relationship that has been going on for around ten years. 7D Team has been a SHINING 3D customer for approximately a decade and has purchased around five scanners during that time.

For a company that uses 3D scanning as part of its everyday engineering and QA work, the choice of scanning equipment comes down to something practical: can it capture the data accurately, can the team use it easily, and can it work where the component actually is?

For 7D Team, the FreeScan Omni has become part of that workflow—bringing high-accuracy 3D laser scanning directly to the job site and making inspection a simpler part of the manufacturing process.