TPT September 2015

Bending machinery & tools

From a coil of tubing to a finished tube connector in six seconds

TUBE connections used in automobile manufacturing must be robust, durable, clean, and demonstrate long-term leak- tightness. transfluid Maschinenbau GmbH has developed an automation system for the t-motion part of its port- folio that ensures the rapid and precise manufacturing of short elbow tubing sections. These special connections are used in car radiators and air conditioning. The transfluid manufacturing cell enables the coil to be handled directly. In the first manufacturing stage, the tubing (in a diameter range from 8 to 22mm) is unwound, aligned and cut. The orbital chip-less cutting of the tubes can be performed up to a minimum length of 34mm. Clean cutting is key to enabling subsequent processing steps to proceed immediately, as it excludes the possibility of contamination, which could endanger subsequent system use. The manufacturing cell from transfluid enables the production of a number of different tube connectors

The forming unit of the transfluid system

which means there are practically no straight sections. “The challenge during development was quite clearly combining the high quality requirements with a time-efficient manufacturing process,” said Stefanie Flaeper, managing director of transfluid. A cycle time of six seconds makes the production method an economical solution, especially for short parts. transfluid Maschinenbau GmbH – Germany

After the cutting process, the tube ends – where the hose is connected – are compressed in a transfer line. A subsequent component of the line rolls and polishes the surface. This rolling technology from transfluid allows for short clamping lengths and the forming of practically any geometry. After the axial and rotary end-forming process, the t-motion manufacturing cell automatically bends 80 per cent of the parts by 40° to 120°. The particular benefit of the process as a whole is that the extremely short parts must be formed and then bent on both sides,

Email: info@transfluid.de Website: www.transfluid.de

Apollo presses with bending tools ITALIAN company Apollo has developed a wide range of tools for its manual and NC horizontal presses, projected to be used with different kinds of materials. The V-shaped-groove tool features a mobile die with reader for angle adjustment, and allows the bending angle to be programmed. The tool repeats the bending moves until the material reaches the set angle. It is also possible to program the angle on a Windows-based computer with USB stick connection. The tool bends copper bars with a bending tolerance of 1/10 degree; the maximum size of the bars to be bent is 120x10mm. The rotary tube-bending tool combined with the positioner allows the precise distance between two curves to be determined, with the possibility of graduated rotation of the tube. It performs curves of high quality, and can be fitted with mandrel, core and core extraction device. With the suitable dies the tool can bend tubes up to 42mm in diameter, and it performs curves up to 180°. The minimum bending radius is 60mm; maximum bending radius is 127mm. The two-rotary-jaws tube-bending tool allows the user to obtain curves with different rounded corners, as standard up to 90°, but can also perform curves up to 180° if equipped with a pair of swinging fly presses; the bending capacity reaches a maximum diameter of 60mm. The rotary bar bending tool is designed to bend flat bars up to 60x8mm. It performs curves up to 270°, and bending radiuses up to 80mm can be obtained. Apollo Srl – Italy Website: www.apollosrl.com

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S eptember 2015