Tube production for ships, the chemical industry or power plant construction is associated with huge quantities. Central production processes such as bending the many different tube types must happen highly effectively. Frequent and long conversion work on the bending machine is a criterion that has the potential to bring production to a standstill. With the CNC 220 HD MW tube and profile cold bending machine, the bending specialists from Schwarze-Robitec have developed a plant that tackles this task highly efficiently with one multiple bending tool. At the same time, the plant's measuring system ensures accuracy.

Tube bending machines in ship building, in the chemical industry or in power plant construction must be extremely flexible and able to process tube bends in different nominal diameters and materials in very quick succession. At the centre of this is the bending tool, as Schwarze-Robitec Marketing Manager J?rgen Korte points out: "if a user has to convert the machine every time a new tube bend is to be produced, the total production would be much too time-consuming and drawn out. The set-up times therefore need to be kept to a minimum with the aid of multiple bending tools."

This demand has now also characterised the construction of a large hydraulic plant at Schwarze-Robitec: the CNC 220 HD MW is a tube and profile cold bending machine with a total weight of 32 tonnes. It is able to process tubes with maximum diameter of 219.1 by 12.7 millimetres - at a tube length of up to 6 metres. Despite its size, the plant is extremely flexible to handle: with the multiple bending tool, up to 70 percent of the set-up times of conventional plants on the market can be saved. It is therefore possible to process tubes in different materials such as steel, copper-nickel-iron alloys and stainless steel on one tool and with no conversion work. At the same time, thin-walled and thick-walled tubes with different diameters can be bent. "With this clever tool concept, we can handle the broadest range of material standards and tube shapes. The set-up times between the various versions are minimal. There is no need for conversion of the plant. A variety of production data are saved in the system," bending specialist Korte explains further.

Precision Guaranteed

At the same time, outstanding precision is ensured. The integrated Spring Matic measuring system determines the rebound of the tube after initial bending. It is then immediately "re-bent". The result is convincing: the bend is executed to accuracy of half a degree. "This is an exceptionally precise value considering the size of the plant and the tube," Korte says. The fact that this plant concept guarantees great economic advantages for users is obvious. The short set-up times ensure that downtimes remain low and machine use high. As such, the market success of the CNC 220 HD MW is no surprise: Schwarze-Robitec has sold this machine type to customers from shipbuilding, the chemical industry and power plant construction around 50 times. Having been founded in 1903, Schwarze-Robitec is among the international leading experts in the area of tube bending machines. Since 2011, the company has been run by Managing Directors Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Bert Zorn and Dipl.-Betr.-Wirt (FH) Hartmut St?hr.

(Contact: Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Bert Zorn, Schwarze-Robitec GmbH, Germany. Tel: +49 (0)221 89008-0. Fax: +49 (0)221 89008-91. Email: sales@schwarze-robitec.com)