A tube bending machine that’s ideal for subcontractors

Tube manipulation and pipe bending subcontractor, T&T Tubecraft, has invested in an new all-electric 130mm diameter multi-stack CNC tube bending machine from Unison.

This is the third Unison tube bender to be purchased by T&T since 2014. It joins a 50mm Unison Breeze machine and a 100mm Unison Breeze multi-stack model that are in daily use at T&T’s facility in Woking.

Offering exceptional power and flexibility, Unison says the 130mm machine is the ultimate tube bending machine for subcontractors.

“Of all our tube benders, the 100mm Unison machine is easily the busiest,” comments T&T managing director, Ross Turner. “This is largely down to its user-friendly programming, fast tool changes, automatic set-up and uncompromising levels of accuracy and repeatability.

“Ironically, when we purchased the 100mm Unison machine back in 2015, we didn’t have a vast amount of work for it. This quickly changed, however, as we gained the ability to take on new projects. The new 130mm machine will increase our capability even further, both in terms of capacity and the ability to tender for an even greater range of projects. We expect it to be of particular interest to customers in the aerospace sector.”

The bigger brother of the Unison 100mm multi-stack machine, the Unison 130mm tube bender purchased by T&T is particularly 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 6.2m 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 8.7m long. As a result of this capability, T&T believes that, out of all UK tube manipulation subcontractors, it may provide the longest bending range.

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.

A further feature which attracted T&T to the Unison 130mm machine is the standard-fit rise and fall pressure die. This can result in significant savings in tooling costs and allows tools of very different radii to be used on a part within a cycle.

Like all Unison machines, T&T’s new 130mm 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,” Mr Turner adds.

The 130mm machine has been networked to T&T’s CAD facilities and a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) for verifying bend accuracy and design conformity. 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 set-up of our Unison machines offers major advantages over hydraulic machines,” continues Mr Turner. "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, typically only taking 15-20 minutes.

“As a subcontract tube manipulation company, we also quickly get to hear how well new machines are viewed by our teams,” he says. “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 extremely user-friendly.”

“It is always satisfying to receive repeat orders, especially when they are from such a well-respected company as T&T Tubecraft,” adds Unison key account manager, Steve Haddrell.

“What was particularly rewarding in this instance, however, was the opportunity to work closely with the customer to deliver an already exceptionally capable, powerful and robust multi-radius/multi-stack machine with the additional component length to give them a real edge in the marketplace.”

T&T Tubecraft www.tubecraft.co.uk

Unison www.unisonltd.com