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Preview: Unison at Fabtech 2015, Chicago, 9-12 November (booth: #N2055)
Precision tube bending performance reaches new users and applications
Candler, NC, August 3, 2015 --- The tube bending machine innovator Unison will demonstrate the right-first-time capability of all-electric machines at Fabtech - and show a novel new machine architecture designed to dramatically lower the costs of CNC precision tube bending.
Right-first-time, scrap-free production demonstrations will be given on a machine capable of bending tube diameters up to four inches. In addition to the benefits of the all-electric architecture - with its software-controlled set-up and servomotor-powered bending precision - the demonstration machine is equipped with Unison's laser-based springback correction system. This unique system accurately measures bend angles as they are produced, and automatically applies any necessary correction to compensate for the tendency of tubes to spring back slightly after being bent.
A key message from Unison at the show this year is the fact that all-electric tube bending machines are now available for much larger sizes - including tube and pipe diameters up to 10 inches. "Unison pioneered all-electric tube bending machines back in the 1990s, and we are now able to make economic servo-powered bending machines for pipe diameters all the way up to 10 inches," says Stuart Singleton, Vice President of Sales at Unison. "This is opening up major new efficiencies for users in areas including shipbuilding and processing plants - allowing them to replace older hydraulically-powered benders with state of the art software-controlled machines."
Another major attraction is Unison's unique, manually powered tube bender - EvBend. This machine greatly reduces the entry costs to precision rotary draw tube bending. It uses manual operations to feed and rotate tubing and apply bending force, but employs smart CNC-controlled braking on the carriage feed, rotation and bend arm axes to ensure part shapes are formed with the highest accuracy. The EvBend 1000 is believed to be the simplest high precision CNC tube bending solution available today for small-diameter tubing up to 22 mm, and is currently in use with well over 100 companies from general fabricators to aerospace and motorsports manufacturers. Unison has also recently introduced a larger version. This machine extends the manual operational principle by providing some servo-based power assistance to allow bending of tube diameters up to 2 inches.
"The EvBend concept is ideal for companies producing high-precision tubular parts in low volume production environments," adds Stuart Singleton. "Among the key markets for this bending machine are small-batch production needs, as well as prototyping, repair or reverse-engineering requirements."
ENDS
About Unison
Unison started in business by developing control systems for metalworking machinery – supplying a number of prominent UK machine manufacturers in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1991 the company moved into machinery design, focusing on tube bending. At that time, tube bending machines were powered hydraulically. In the early 1990s Unison invented a range of machines employing electric servomotors for controlling bending motion. These were the world’s first 'all-electric' machines for tube bending. The performance of Unison's new machine design – with its fast and repeatable software-controlled set-up, right-first-time action, low power consumption, and quiet and clean operation – was an instant success. The company has progressively led the tube bending machinery industry by increasing the tubing diameters that can be formed using all-electric motion and is now one of the world’s leading manufacturers of tube bending machines and associated software. In 2014, Unison took another quantum leap in tube bending machine performance by developing a servomotor-powered machine architecture that is capable of bending thick-walled piping with diameters of 10 inches/273 mm and more. The company opened its own direct support center in North America in 2015. www.unisonltd.com
For more information about Unison, please contact Dale Coates at:
Unison Tube LLC, 1465 Sand Hill Road, Suite 2016, Candler NC 28715, USA. t: 828 633 3190; toll-free: 844 734 1533; fax: 828 633 3188, www.unisonltd.com
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