Teksign enhances its forming capabilities

With a history that dates back over seven decades, Teksign based in Brantford, Ontario, makes signs for the petroleum, automotive, hotel and agricultural equipment industries. For its forming needs, the company was using an older press brake that was labour-intensive.

“With the press brake, the operator would have to set up for every single bend, every time,” said Jim Hahn, production control manager at Teksign. “It would take two operators to manage the bends on a number of jobs we did.”

The company decided it was time to update its forming capabilities. Teksign has high-mix/low-volume production needs, and several of its projects are repeat business. This led to an investment in a CNC-equipped folder.

Teksign purchased the RAS TURBO2plus metal folding machine. The machine has several features that are ideal for the company’s fabrication needs. With the RAS Bendex software, an operator can automatically program parts, use alternative bending sequences and view the bending sequence on the monitor in 3D. The machine has a 3.2 m bend length and accommodates tool heights up to 127 mm.

“Its ability to store a significant number of programs simplifies our bending operations substantially,” says Hahn. “I’d say that we are cutting our forming time by 50-60% just in set-up time alone, between our former requirements of having to change dies and other actions. Now we can build much more, much faster, because we can easily switch from one job to another with the press of a few buttons.”

Teksign can also manage maintenance concerns remotely with its new RAS metal folding machine.

Says Hahn: “The team at RAS can take over our machine if we need something fixed or want something better explained. It makes it very user-friendly.”

RAS machines are available in the UK from Press & Shear.

For further information
www.pressandshear.com

Stauff invests in two more Unison machines

Stauff, a global manufacturer and supplier of precision fluid power products for a wide range of industries, has purchased two new Unison Breeze 35 mm (maximum pipe diameter) left- and right-hand pipe bending machines. One machine has been installed at the company’s manufacturing site in Sheffield, UK, with the other now in situ at a production facility in Sydney, Australia.

This latest purchase of Unison Breeze machines by Stauff follows on from the organisation’s recently signed five-year strategic partnership with Unison Ltd, an agreement providing all Stauff operations around the world with dedicated in-country support, assistance with product development and other benefits. Once both new Breeze models are operational, there will be no fewer than 15 Unison tube and pipe bending machines at Stauff’s manufacturing centres around the globe.

“We’ve worked with Unison for more than 10 years,” says Ken Cleal, head of production at Stauff UK and Stauff global production manager for tube and tube manipulation. “Throughout that time, we’ve received nothing short of the highest levels of service and support from them, whether that be assistance with product development, operator training, or machine tool maintenance. Unison machines consistently provide the uncompromising levels of accuracy and repeatability that are essential to our operations. Additionally, Unison’s Unibend operating system is exceptionally intuitive and user-friendly, making it extremely popular with our teams.”

Stauff’s new 35 mm Unison Breeze left- and right-hand machines will manufacture small-run complex components, such as hydraulic lines for braking systems. Materials bent will include aluminium, corrosion-resistant steel and exotic alloys. With the ability to bend in both clockwise and anticlockwise directions, the machines are ideal for parts of complex geometry.

For further information
www.unisonltd.com

150 years of machinery excellence

Morgan Rushworth is celebrating 150 years of trading this year and says it is proud to be the longest established supplier of metal fabrication machinery in the UK.

From humble beginnings in 1872 with the opening of the Rushworth factory in Sowerby Bridge for manufacturing plate working machinery, and the establishment of Morgan and Co in 1906 as a manufacturer of manual sheet metal machines, Morgan Rushworth has become a familiar name in the supply of specialist sheet metal and fabrication machinery built to exacting specifications and standards.

To mark the start of its anniversary year, the company has unveiled a new look Morgan Rushworth website, complete with detailed specifications on its machine range and a timeline of its history. The company will be adding new content on its machines and anniversary celebrations as the year progresses.

The company also points out that the Government’s Super Deduction scheme means that now is a great time to upgrade to a new Morgan Rushworth press brake. A new press brake with an easy to use CNC control can deliver considerable time savings over older machines. In some case studies Morgan Rushworth has been able to reduce production time to 10% of the time taken with a manual machine.

Morgan Rushworth can also support financing arrangements through its selected partner Amica Finance, a specialist machinery finance broker.

For further information
www.morganrushworth.com

LVD launches advanced bending cell

LVD used the recent Blechexpo towards the end of 2021 to introduce a new bending cell that requires no robot teaching. The new Ulti-Form robotic bending cell keeps bending productivity at its peak, handling short and long production runs efficiently, says the company. The innovation was nominated for the Blechexpo Award 2021.

According to LVD, Ulti-Form offers a fast ‘art to part’ process based upon the company’s programming software. CADMAN-B automatically calculates the optimal bend program and imports all bending data into the robot software CADMAN-SIM. Notably, no robot teaching is required. CADMAN-SIM automatically calculates gripper positions, generating the fastest collision-free path for the robot before feeding the information back to CADMAN-B, enabling the operator to work with just one program.

LVD’s auto-adapting gripper accommodates a number of part geometries, automatically adjusting to workpiece size. This smart design saves investment in different grippers and gripper changeover time.

Ulti-Form features a 135-tonne automated tool-changing press brake with built-in tooling warehouse integrated with an industrial robot. The cell handles parts from 50 x 100 mm, up to 1200 x 800 mm, and weighing up to 25 kg.

Equipped with LVD’s Easy-Form laser-adaptive bending system, LVD says that Ulti-Form guarantees angle accuracy, ensuring consistently accurate bending results.

LVD also took the opportunity at Blechexpo to demonstrate the Phoenix FL-3015 fibre laser cutting machine with new 20 kW power source, as well as the updated CADMAN v8.7, a software suite designed to empower the smart factory.

For further information
www.lvdgroup.com

All roads lead south

Southern Manufacturing 2022 takes place this week on 8-10 February. From modest beginnings as a regional event, Southern Manufacturing has evolved into a fully-fledged national show, with increasing influence across continental Europe and further afield. In 2018, the event entered its third decade with a move into its new permanent home, the £35m Farnborough International Exhibition and Conference Centre, a 20,000m sq m complex offering world-class facilities, easy access and free onsite parking.

Although the event is important enough to attract big name manufacturers, it is also an extremely accessible show for the rich eco-system of engineering SMEs operating across the UK, and increasingly, mainland Europe. As usual, MTI magazine will be present at the show. From Stand G230, passing visitors can pick up a copy of our show issue, or call in to learn more about the industry’s easiest way to buy and sell machine tools.

For further information
www.industrysouth.co.uk