A new version of the TubeWorks tube bending CAD/CAM software, which now provides tubular metal fabricators with powerful pre-production tools for laser cutting as well as tube bending, is available from the tube bending machine manufacturer Unison. Developed by the UK-based software consultancy 3DCompound, TubeWorks is a specialist add-in module for the popular SolidWorks mechanical CAD package. By combining powerful visualisation capabilities with automatic code extraction and file generation, the software enables metal fabricators to substantially increase the productivity of their tube handling operations through optimal use of manufacturing data. The time that it takes to develop programs for CNC tube bending and laser tube cutting machines, for example, is typically reduced from hours to just minutes.

For tube bending, the software automatically extracts key manufacturing information such as bend angles and rotations from a native SolidWorks model or a common CAD file such as STEP, IGES or ParaSolid and creates the bend table for immediate use on a CNC bending machine, as well as the XYZ coordinates and a 2D drawing of the modelled tube.

Version 2.6 of TubeWorks extends this functionality significantly, by enabling users to 'unbend' the CAD models of bent tubes into flat (or straight) configurations containing full details of all holes and cut-outs, to provide the input data for laser tube cutting machines. Manually flattening a CAD model of a bent tube part requires specialist skills and is a notoriously time-consuming and potentially error-prone task. For example, flattening the model of a tube part that features five or six multi-plane bends and a couple of holes could take a designer several hours. In contrast, achieving this using TubeWorks merely involves a few mouse clicks and takes about 30 seconds.

Unison has one of the most extensive portfolios of tube bending technology in the industry. As well as an exceptionally wide range of bending machines, handling systems and automated work cells, the company offers productivity enhancing software tools covering every aspect of tubular metal fabrication - from design and manufacture through to final inspection.

Alan Pickering, Unison Ltd, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1723 582868.
Email: enquiries@unisonltd.com