Electric bending for high accuracy
The Unison Breeze machines represent Iracroft's first investment in all-electric tube bending technology
Tube fabrication specialist Iracroft has purchased two all-electric tube bending machines that will accelerate the production of high accuracy parts.
The machines – 30 mm and 40 mm models from Unison's Breeze range – have just been commissioned at Iracroft's facilities in Blandford, UK.
Iracroft specialises in the manufacture of rigid tube assemblies for high pressure hydraulic, pneumatic and coolant applications. Formed in 1972, the company has grown to become a leading supplier of formed metal parts for the construction, agricultural and automotive industries, with blue-chip customers around the world.
Its expertise spans all aspects of tube production, including cutting, manipulating, milling and drilling, end forming, fabrication and finishing. The company operates an extensive MIG and TIG welding facility, with more than 30 operational bays, as well as two of the largest fully automated zinc plating plants in the UK.
The Unison Breeze machines represent Iracroft's first investment in all-electric tube bending technology. Although the company currently operates 17 tube bending machines, including several CNC precision models, they are all hydraulically-driven and have begun to reach the limit in terms of bending accuracy. Compared with all-electric machine technology, they require longer set-up and batch changeover times, and have relatively high maintenance requirements. Consequently, when the company decided to expand its production capabilities, Iracroft chose to review the all-electric alternatives.
One of Iracroft's principal customers is a large British manufacturer of earth-moving and construction equipment, which makes extensive use of rigid high pressure hydraulic tubes. Typically, these tubes require a series of tight radius bends to be made very close together, which is time consuming to achieve with hydraulically-actuated bending machines. The servomotor-controlled Breeze machines provide the company with a much more flexible, fully programmable means of controlling the forces required to create these bends quickly and accurately.
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