Unison Ltd

Groundbreaking software to manage the tube bending process from programming to production is being launched by Unison - the pioneers of all-electric CNC tube bending technology. Its latest software tools package provide significant progress in three areas: simulation, machine programming flexibility, and data collection. The resulting optimisation and versatility of tube bending will help tubular part manufacturers to substantially boost the productivity of operations.

Unison will release groundbreaking new machine control software at MACH. Among numerous new features are an extended 'teach' facility giving users unprecedented access to the underlying machine control code - effectively allowing virtually any aspect of machine operation to be controlled. All a user needs to do is right-click on the relevant part of any tube bending program, and the underlying code is presented in an easy to understand and editable form, allowing rapid changes to be made.

Unison has installed and commissioned the world’s largest and most powerful all-electric pipe bending machine, at the Norwegian offshore and maritime services company, Westcon Yard AS. Capable of generating a colossal 660,000 Nm of continuous, servo-controlled torque, the custom-designed machine will be used for precision bending of thick-walled carbon steel pipes up to 10 inches (273 mm) in diameter.

Unison’s new North American support office in Asheville, NC, has received its first order for an all-electric CNC tube bending machine, just five weeks after opening. The order was placed by Byers Precision Fabricators, Inc., of Hendersonville, NC, for a versatile dual-head machine that is capable of meeting a diverse range of tube and pipe bending needs.

Unison has won an order for a custom-designed tube bending machine and special tooling from Cybex International. Incorporating a unique servo-driven wiper die mount, the machine has been specifically designed to enable Cybex to reduce waste material costs by eliminating the need to cut shorter tubular parts to length after bending.

Unison launches what it believes is a new category of tube bending machine designed to substantially lower the cost and skill level required to produce precision tubular parts in small volumes. Target sectors for the new machine - which can bend tube diameters of up to 2 inches/50 mm - include shipbuilding, and equipment for oil, gas and other processing sectors.

Directors of the tube bending machine manufacturer Unison have received the Queen's Award for Enterprise from The Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Barry Dodd. 

Unison has commissioned what is believed to be the largest all-electric tube bending machine ever produced, at Newport News Shipbuilding - supplier of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines to the US Navy.

Unison has won a significant order for tube bending machinery from the precision aerospace engineering company, Supercraft. The machinery will help Supercraft to expand operations at its new manufacturing facility in Brough, UK, in preparation for contracts recently secured from major aerospace customers. It will also provide the software flexibility needed to enhance productivity of specialist low volume parts through use of ‘closed-loop’ manufacturing techniques.

Scarborough's annual Engineering Week event aimed at encouraging youngsters to consider careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) has just held its most successful event - attracting over 3000 schoolchildren and young students.

The CAD/CAM software TubeWorks has been enhanced to provide tubular metal fabricators with powerful pre-production tools for laser cutting, as well as tube bending. Available from Unison and devloped by 3DCompound, TubeWorks is a specialist add-in module for the popular SolidWorks mechanical CAD package.

Unison today launches a new generation of its all-electric bending machine featuring mechanical architecture and control software improvements that substantially reduce tubular part fabrication times. The redesign reduces the time required for all the intermediate handling and movement of the tooling configuration tasks the machine performs before and after a bend by as much as 40%.

The benefits of all-electric tube bending machines for precision aerospace manufacturing applications will be highlighted by Unison at the 2012 Farnborough International Airshow. Unison machines feature a bending system based on precision digitally controlled servomotors. This all-electric architecture provides significant performance benefits in terms of rapid and repeatable software-based set-up, and lower energy consumption and noise, compared with traditional hydraulically powered machinery.

2012 is set to be a groundbreaking year for the Scarborough-based builder of tube bending machines, Unison. In the first quarter alone, the company has tripled the size of its order book and the rate it is building machines compared to the same period last year.

Unison has supplied two all-electric tube bending machines to tube fabrication specialist Iracroft, to help meet the company’s expanding production needs for high accuracy parts. The machines – 30 mm and 40 mm models from Unison’s Breeze range – have just been commissioned at Iracroft’s facilities in Blandford, UK.

Unison is helping the Angelic Bulldog Project – an attempt on the world motorcycle land speed record – by creating the roll cage for the streamliner bike. Unison's work included the manufacture of custom tooling to accommodate the unique shape of the bike, together with the bending of various tube sections on a precision all-electric bending machine.

For the third year running, Scarborough's leading precision engineering companies are organising a fun event aimed at teenage students considering careers in engineering. Scarborough Engineering Week 2011 takes place at The Scarborough Spa from the 10th to 12th of October. Exhibits include innovative engineering from the past and present - and hopefully the future as well. For instance, there will be a wooden 1920s coach - rebuilt by apprentices - a modern Formula 1 racing car and speedy JCB Fastrac off-road vehicles, plus a preview of the 'Angelic Bulldog' motorcycle that's being built to try and break the world land speed record.

Today, the all-electric tube bending machine innovator Unison launches a machine with a novel rotating tool head that allows left- and right-hand bending to be performed in one rapid and continuous automatic cycle. The development greatly enhances both the ability to fabricate extremely complex tubular shapes, and to increase production throughput.

A unique calculator for evaluating bending machine tooling is now available for the Apple iPhone. Developed by tube bending machinery specialist Unison, the calculator enables users to quickly and easily determine the tooling needed for performing a particular bending task on any type or make of tube bender.

The tube bending machinery specialist Unison has won UK distribution rights for the VTube-STEP and VTube-LASER software packages from Advanced Tubular Technologies.