In aerospace tube bending, speed is rarely the defining requirement.
Precision and control are.
Aerospace manufacturers need to bend difficult, often expensive materials into demanding geometries, repeatedly and with confidence.
Titanium hydraulic lines, fuel-system components and engine pipework leave little room for uncontrolled movement in the bending process.
These were exactly the kinds of manufacturing challenges that led Unison to invent the world’s first all-electric tube bending machine.
Traditional tube bending machines relied heavily on hydraulic actuation.
Unison saw an opportunity to approach the bending process differently: replace hydraulic control with individually controlled electric axes and create a machine in which bending movements could be precisely programmed, controlled and repeated.
That thinking led Unison to develop the world’s first all-electric tube bending machine.
For aerospace applications, the principle remains particularly relevant.
The objective isn’t simply to move the tube through the machine faster. It is to control what happens to it.
Accurate electric axis control allows bending movements and positions to be precisely managed and repeated. But that control also depends on the mechanical platform beneath it.
A precise control system needs a rigid machine.
During bending, substantial forces are transferred through the tube, tooling, bend head and machine structure. Unwanted movement or deflection within that system can affect the finished component.
That’s why rigidity is fundamental to the design of Unison’s aerospace tube bending machines.
The mechanical structure, bend head, electric axes and tooling are designed to work together to maintain control of the tube throughout the bending process.
For demanding aerospace components, the tooling cannot be treated as an afterthought.
It is the interface between the machine and the tube.
The bend die, clamp die, pressure die, mandrel and other tooling elements determine how the material is supported and controlled as the bend is formed.
This becomes increasingly important with thin walls, tight bend radii and materials such as titanium, nickel alloys and specialist stainless steels.
Unison manufactures its own tube bending tooling for precisely this reason.
It means we can consider the machine, tooling and component together, manufacturing tooling for the tube diameter, wall thickness, material, bend radius and geometry of the aerospace application.
The result is a much more complete approach to precision – a rigid machine, precisely controlled electric axes and tooling engineered for the application.
That combination – rather than speed for speed’s sake – is at the heart of Unison’s approach to aerospace tube bending.
Have you got an aerospace tube bending challenge?
Send your drawings and production requirements to sales@unisonltd.com, and let’s discuss the right bending solution for your application.
