Total Hydraulic Solutions Ltd (THS) of Rotorua, New Zealand, has purchased a new all-electric ‘Breeze’ 65 mm single-stack tube bending machine from UK-based Unison Ltd. THS modifies new excavators from global brands such as John Deere, Caterpillar, Hyundai and Kobelco to accept forestry harvesting equipment. The company also provides a wide range of maintenance and support services for users of hydraulic equipment.

Currently in transit to New Zealand, THS’s new Unison Breeze machine will manufacture small batch runs of heavy-gauge tubular components from either stainless steel, black schedule steel or carbon steel. It will replace an older hydraulic tube bender that has been in operation at the Rotorua site for several years.

While visiting Unison Ltd for factory acceptance testing of his company’s new Unison Breeze machine, joint owner of THS, Andy Bedford, said: “The obvious question people will ask is why we chose to travel halfway around the world to buy a new tube bender. The fact is, after considering machines from several manufacturers and dismissing those which failed to meet our exacting requirements for quality, reliability, repeatability and support, we were directed to the Unison website by a company we know and respect in Australia.”

He continues: “A conversation with Unison’s sales projects manager, Steve Chambers, then followed. Steve clearly understood our need for a robust single-stack machine that offered easy set-up, rapid programming and fast tooling changes.All of this is essential as, with small production runs, we typically need to change bend tooling up to 20 times a day. In our busy manufacturing facility, the near-silent operation of anall-electric machine was also highly appealing, while Unison’s intuitive Unibend CNC meant training future operators would be very straightforward.”
For further information www.unisonltd.com

VGPNext is the new CADCAM programming software for BLM Group tube-bending and wire-bending machines that tackles the latest technological challenges. The software features a completely revamped graphical user interface, with a wealth of features just a click away, designed to make the operator’s job easier and machine programming more practical and simpler. VGPNext improves the synergy between machine and software by simplifying core functions for more user-friendly programming.

With VGPNext, users can identify the part program right away, simulate the job and start production in just a few clicks. It is possible to choose a program from the library using an archive containing images and technical data. The library collects all the programs on the server in one place, providing the convenience of preview images and numerous search filters to make this step even easier. Customised tags are assignable to the various part programs and users can filter searches by tag, section, material, date, machine and much more.

The Bimport module can call up a tube or multi-tube assembly in STEP or IGES formats in VGPNext to obtain theoretical co-ordinatesautomatically. This saves a lot of time and allows less experienced operators to become familiar with the program.

The entire programming flow is more user-friendly with the help of a ribbon bar that assists the operator by indicating missing steps, incorrectly entered data, default data and user-modified data. In this way, VGPNext considers all possible variables – including theoretical co-ordinates, springback, material elongation, bending feasibility and choice of tools – and indicates how to intervene. The operator can switch from one step to the next without losing valuable data.
For further information www.blmgroup.com