TPT May 2012

T echnology N ews

Bending to the right and to the left without reclamping

AS the first supplier on the international market for tube bending machines, with the newly developed CNC 40 Rotary, Schwarze-Robitec GmbH offers a CNC- controlled, tube cold bending machine for bending tube systems to the left and to the right. This is facilitated by an additional CNC axis from the loosely mounted bend former in the innovative bending head. The CNC 40 Rotary considerably increases the flexibility of bending processes – even in the case of tubes with shapes already preformed on the straight tube and in the case of additional functions such as the filling mandrel device. It processes tubes with diameters from 8mm to 40mm. Schwarze-Robitec has developed the current solution in order to allow time and cost effective processing by users in the future. “Put simply, the use of the loosely mounted bend former allows the bending

of the tool,” said Schwarze-Robitec GmbH manager Bert Zorn. The advantage of this is that even tubes with the smallest bending radii and complex curve shapes after bending can be easily moved out of the range of collisions and interfering contours. As this new solution needs no second bending head, Schwarze-Robitec has been able to reduce the investment in the CNC 40 rotary by around 20 per cent when compared to conventional solutions, explains Schwarze-Robitec GmbH manager Hartmut Stöhr. Aside from these massive reductions of acquisition costs, the new tube bending machine, which works with up to 13 CNC-axes, is remarkable for its intuitive operator guidance on the control system. “A single day of initial practice is enough to understand the control concept and operate the machine intuitively,” added Bert Zorn. In addition to this new development,

The fully electric CNC 100 E TB MR is suitable for bending tubes with diameters between 25mm and 114.3mm. This machine is also equipped with a loosely mounted bend former and with transport boost and multi-radius technology, which allow automated bending on several levels. It also has a combined bending tool for mandrel bending with extra curve clamp jaws and a hydraulic separating unit. The advantage of this is that even tight radii and short intermediate lengths can be produced on one tube in a single operation. “Furthermore, the CNC 100 E TB MR is more energy efficient than comparable machines,” Schwarze-Robitec sales manager Jürgen Korte claimed. Other advantages, such as the ergonomic loading height and the fully automated level changing, come into effect both with the CNC 100 E TB MR and with the CNC 40 Rotary. The tube processing specialist from Cologne also showed the TPM-1 tube perforating machine, which punches entire rows of holes in tubes with a thickness of up to 2mm. The machine is able to process tubes up to 70mm in diameter and 500mm in length. It performs the processing stages of punching, perforating and cutting to length in one go. Schwarze-Robitec GmbH – Germany Email: sales@schwarze-robitec.com Website: www.schwarze-robitec.com

head to move independently

Schwarze-Robitec exhibited the high- performance CNC 100 E TB MR tube bending machine and the TPM-1 tube perforating machine at Tube 2012.

CNC 40 rotary tube bending machine

Orbital welding carriage increases production

GULLCO’S Pipe Kat ® automated pipe welding system with integrated wire feeder unit incorporates a 40 IPM welding carriage design with quick-action mounting for ease of installation. The carriage is equipped with a high- speed return feature for faster repositioning of the carriage.

The Pipe Kat is equipped with a linear oscillator with adjustable weave width and weld joint centreline adjustment, and all electronic motorised functions incorporate jog settings. The system is supplied with a main control box with 7,620mm (25ft) umbilical, wire feed spool capacity of 4.5kg (10lb), with a maximum wire speed of 89-

226cm/min (35-633 IPM) and a wire size range of 0.8 to 2mm. The welding torch uses standard consumables. Gullco International Limited – Canada Fax: +1 905 953 4138

Email: sales@gullco.com Website: www.gullco.com

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M ay 2012