The Ultimate CNC Tube Bending for Subcontractors
Unison’s 130-mm diameter tube bender is a robust, multiradius and multistack machine with the benefit of additional component length to give buyers an edge in the subcontractor marketplace. Users are able to achieve right-first-time manufacturing for repeat subcontract work.
Posted: February 23, 2021
Offering exceptional power and flexibility, the all-electric 130-mm diameter multi-stack CNC tube bending machine from Unison Ltd. (North Yorkshire, UK) is the ultimate tube bending machine for subcontractors.
The bigger brother of the Unison 100 mm multi-stack machine, the Unison 130 tube bender is well-suited to bending exotic alloys such as titanium and Inconel, as well as Super-Duplex stainless steels. Able to push bend tubes of up to 6.2 meters in length when in standard mode, it also features a hitch-feed facility, whereby the machine carriage retracts by the length of the next feed, enabling mandrel bending of tubes of up to 8.7 meters long.
Multi-stack tool holding allows the most complex of parts to be formed in one uninterrupted manufacturing cycle, while Unison’s bar code scanning system ensures that only the correct tools are installed while also configuring the machine automatically. Unison 130 includes a standard-fit rise and fall pressure die, which can significantly reduce tooling costs and allows tools of very different radii to be used on a part within a cycle. Like all Unison machines, T&T Tubecraft’s new 130 mm machine is also highly powerful.
“This is a significant advantage for us, as it provides the reassurance to achieve high quality thin wall bending, even on high yield-strength alloys such as Inconel,” said Ross Turner, managing director at T&T Tubecraft, a recent buyer of the Unison 130.
The tube bender can be programmed manually or from CAD data using industry-standard IGES or STEP files, while data obtained by the CMM from the first manufactured part can be used to make automatic adjustments to the machine prior to commencing a manufacturing cycle.
“The all-electric architecture and automated Unibend software-controlled setup of our Unison machines offers major advantages over hydraulic machines,” Turner said. “Bending accuracy and repeatability are dramatically improved. We achieve right-first-time manufacturing for repeat subcontract work and typically expect even the first bent trial component at the start of a project to be very close to what we are looking to achieve.
“Machine configuration is also rapid,” he said, “typically only taking 15 to 20 minutes. As a subcontract tube manipulation company, we also quickly get to hear how well new machines are viewed by our teams. Unison machines are very well received by our workforce. Unison’s Unibend operating software is exceptionally intuitive, meaning much faster programming and accelerated training for new staff members. Our operators consider the Unibend control system to be exceptionally user friendly.”
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