TPT July 2023

TECHNOLOGY

Unison EvBend manual CNC tube bender removes need for 50,000 soldered joints

Additionally, such a large number of soldered joints would clearly increase the likelihood of leaks – and that was a risk we were not prepared to take. Hence, we took the decision to see if a suitable, capable, high-quality CNC tube bending machine existed. When we’d looked in the past, we couldn’t justify the cost. However, after a little bit of online research, we came across the EvBend 1000 manually operated CNC machine from Unison.” A meeting with Unison’s key account manager, Steve Haddrell, and a machine demonstration convinced the TROX UK team that the Unison EvBend 1000, a machine widely used for bending precision components across the aerospace and motorsport

AIR handling specialists TROX UK, a manufacturing of chilled beam air handling systems for use in the ‘smart building’ refit of London’s iconic 17-storey Space House office development, recently required a solution for its bending requirements. That solution came in the form of a manually operated EvBend 1000 CNC tube bender from UK-based tube and pipe bending machinery manufacturer Unison Ltd. With a conventional ducted HVAC system considered impractical, as it would significantly reduce the ceiling height of each floor in the 255,000ft 2 circular building, TROX UK was asked to create a chilled beam solution that would be concealed between each of the ceiling coffers that radiated outwards from the centre of the structure. With 17 floors to consider, as well as a link bridge to an adjoining office block, however, that equated to some 2,500 chilled beams, each containing four water coils served with hot and cold water by standard 15mm copper pipe. “It’s fair to say that the complexity of the project presented very real manufacturing challenges,” said Martyn Mills, chief design engineer at TROX UK. “In reality, we were looking at a task that would involve some 15,000m of copper pipe, with approximately 50,000 soldered joints. Even if they could be recruited, the number of plumbers required to cut the copper pipe to size and solder the joints – never mind the associated cost – would be considerable.

Unison EvBend 1000 manually operated CNC tube bender

site, we are now better equipped for the most challenging of HVAC projects. In fact, we have incorporated the EvBend’s capabilities into our design for manufacture production strategies.” “It was a pleasure to supply TROX UK with a new Unison EvBend 1000 machine,” said Mr Haddrell. “While we typically recommend EvBend models for specialist, low volume applications, such as those found in aerospace, Formula One and the oil & gas industry, it was rewarding to see that our manually operated, CNC-controlled tube bending machine is equally suited to pipe bending challenges such as these.” Unison’s EvBend 1000 is a high precision 3-axis machine that was developed to reduce the entry cost to precision rotary draw tube bending. The machine combines manually operated feed, tube rotation and bending force, with CNC-controlled braking on the carriage feed, rotation and bend arm axes. Typically used for low volume, high-accuracy production and prototyping, Unison EvBend machines offer accurate multi-plane bending at a much lower cost than many CNC benders.

sectors, would more than meet its needs. Due to the urgent nature of TROX UK’s requirement, Mr Haddrell arranged for them to take delivery of an EvBend 1000 machine that had previously been on display at a machine tool exhibition. Reconfigured with a longer bed to take copper pipe of up to 3m in length, the machine was installed at TROX UK’s Norfolk manufacturing facility. “Following guidance from Unison and a fairly steep learning curve in bending copper pipe, we got off to a flying start,” added Mr Mills. “In fact, we were confidently producing accurate and repeatable offset bends within a few days – bends that would otherwise have involved an awful lot of pipe cutting and soldering. Our Unison EvBend 1000 machine is simple to programme, easy to use and affordable. “Between August last year and March 2023, the TROX UK production team successfully bent no fewer than 20,000 lengths of copper pipe, enabling the manufacture of all the chilled beams required for Space House to be completed on time. “Using the EvBend 1000 also halved our production costs, meaning the machine paid for itself over the course of the project. Perhaps, most importantly, with a highly capable and versatile manual CNC pipe bender on

Copper pipe bent during a typical shift

Unison Ltd www.unisonltd.com

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JULY 2023