Tube bender

A new automated tube bending machine has been developed by Unison that provides loading, end-forming, bending and a vision inspection in the footprint typically required for a standalone tube-bending machine.

Called Uni-vercell, the machine is suitable for the fabrication of tubular components for high volume applications such as those associated with the automotive industry.

In the Uni-vercell, the tube bender's carriage has been replaced with an articulated robotic arm. By adapting the arm with a simple collet for gripping and rotating a tubular part, the arm is able to hold and manipulate the part continuously from pick up, through end forming, tube bending and inspection stages, to final release.

This eliminates the cost of the carriage and the large space required for the carriage bed, as well as numerous intervening reference points, jigs and handling equipment that might normally be required when building a cell from discrete components.

Unison's first implementation of Uni-vercell is for fabricating tubular parts with diameters up to 16 mm, and sits in a footprint of just 4.5 square metres. The machine includes a tube loader, 6-axis robotic arm with a 6 kg payload, 2-stage end-former, a multi-stack mandrel-less tube bender and the vision system.