Tube forming machines and tube bending machine directory including tube bending equipment, tube end forming machines, swaging machines, tube endforming machines and flanging machines.  

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About Tube Forming Machinery

Tube forming machines include all machines that are used to perform various tube forming processes, such as tube end forming, bulge forming and bending. Tube forming is a secondary process of tube fabrication and is important to many different industries that use tubes and pipes, such as the automotive and aerospace, which require fuel lines, exhaust pipes and brake pipes. Because these tubes often need to be formed into complex shapes, the tube forming machines involved requires a high level of accuracy. Some examples of these tube forming machines are dedicated machines and automated manufacturing cells. Tube forming machine manufacturers can build dedicated machines that are built for a specific job and cannot accommodate design changes, leaving them with little to no value when the job is finished, or they manufacture automated manufacturing cells, which are able to combine the high production rates of dedicated machines with the versatility of CNC machines.

One type of tube forming performed by tube forming machines, tube end forming, can eliminate the need for a connector and will potentially cut production time in half. Beading, a versatile end-forming technique, is used to interconnect exhaust tubes or low-pressure fuel lines, dampen vibration in solid lines or increase the effectiveness of a seal. Tube flanging allows the joining of pipe sections without the need for costly welded flanges and is typically used in chemical plants, petroleum refineries, power plants and pipelines. Tubes that are squared, deburred or flared form liquid- and air-tight joints. These are commonly used in hydraulic systems and fuel lines in the aircraft, automotive and heating and cooling industries. Additionally, double-lap flares provide joints that are stronger and more resistant to fatigue and have a better seal than single-thickness flares. These tube endings are used in applications in which joints are subjected to shock, vibration or high internal pressure, and require the appropriate tube forming machine manufacturer to create the particular machine.

Another main process for tube forming machine manufacturers is tube bending, which involves creating an arc in a tube with a specified degree of bend (DOB). The appropriate method for the application is determined by several factors: outside diameter (O.D.), wall thickness, bending radius (typically measured from the centerline) and the material of the tube. The first three of these are the most important. Other factors include part configuration and required bend quality. The necessary bending data includes the DOB, distance between bends (length, feed or position) and plane of bend (twist, rotation or orientation).

CNC tube benders are widely used, self-sequencing tube forming machines into which data is entered to produce repeatable, complex geometric parts. The tube is fed into the machine by the operator, who then presses the start button and removes the part once it is finished. Automated part loading and unloading is available and can reduce the need for an operator and increase production rates. CNC machining provides maximum accuracy and repeatability, low labor input for production sequences, a high degree of control, quick change-over and versatility. Unfortunately, CNC tube forming machines require capital expenditure, computer familiarity and maintenance department aptitude stress. The tube forming machines may also require amounts of water, air and electrical power. However, after one project is completed, the CNC tube bender can be reprogrammed for other jobs.

Featured Articles

“Tube Bending, Form and Fabrication”
http://www.tubenet.org.uk/technical/blm_m.html
 
“State of the Art CNC Tube Bending”
http://www.tubenet.org.uk/technical/addison_m.html

Types of Tube Forming Machinery

• Bending machines are CNC machines used to bend metal tubes.
  
• CNC machining is a type of machine used in the draw bending process that is quick, reliable, dependable, fast and flexible and produces precise, repeatable high quality bends. CNC machines are simple to set up and program and are capable of having a large quantity of specifications entered into the system to produce complex bending geometries.
  
• Hydroforming is a process in which fluid pressure is used to form the tube to the die, allowing for severe shape deformation. Hydroforming typically produces strong parts of uniform thickness.
  
• Swaging machines use high pressure to permanently join tubes.
  
• Threading is the process in which raised helical ribs are formed on the end of a tube. Threading can be accomplished by either keeping the tube stationary and rotating the machinery or by rotating the tube on stationary machinery.
  
• Tube bending involves using a variety of machines to bend the tube to preset specifications.
  
• Tube bending equipment includes all those machines used to bend, swag, and form tubes.
  
• Tube end forming is a process in which the end of a tube is formed to exacting specifications for a particular use.
  
• Tube end forming machines increase or decrease the diameter of a pipe at its end.
  
• Tube swaging machines use high pressure to connect tubes together at a permanent joint.