Advanced Tube Measurement at an Affordable Price

Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division (North Kingstown, RI) launched TubeShaper software platform in 2015 after close collaboration with the world’s leading tube manufacturers. Important new functionalities in TubeShaper v2 include inspection of rectangle-section tubes and a licensing concept that makes it more economical for multiple users to share measurement results and bending plans across different locations.

The low-price offline license allows production supervisors, engineers, and designers to work on TubeShaper projects separately from operators measuring tubes on the shop floor so more tasks can run concurrently, saving time as well as minimizing software investment.

“Efficiency is key in tube production because the volumes are so high, so with this new version we focused on how to save customers time,” says Product Manager for Portable Measuring Arms Anthony Vianna. “The offline license is designed to allow design teams to create and plan measurements without creating bottlenecks that disturb the operators on the shop floor.”

With this update, the range of benders with which the software is compatible is expanded to include machines made by Eaton Leonard, BLM, Addition MT, Numalliance, and more.

The update still features spring-back management and in-bend measurements for more accurate results in deep or shallow bends. The ‘sketch’ function allows users to create a first tube from a few digitized hard points, while automatic report creation ensures results can be shared instantaneously to any location.

Designed to maximize production efficiency and reduce scrap, features such as offline licensing, direct import of CAD models and an intuitive modern graphical interface allow tubes to be designed, checked, and corrected with speed and precision. Direct connection to a wide range of CNC tube bending machine brands ensure bending corrections are applied in real time on the shop floor.

TubeShaper enables users to fully harness the measurement power and versatility of the Absolute Arm for all inspection applications. Noncontact tube probes allow soft rubber tubes to be measured; tactile probes can also be used to reverse-engineer or inspect complete tube fixtures. Uniquely, TubeShaper also allows for measurement of rectangle-section tubes.

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