Panel bending now fully automatic processing with top part flexibility

By Niraj M Wanikar, Chief Editor, CNCTimes.com, 2016-10-26 12:12:00

Panel bending with maximum part flexibility is now even faster – with the TruBend Center 7030, TRUMPF’s new and fully automatic bending cell. The machine turns the parts automatically, freeing up the operator and increasing the productivity of the bending process. The usual benefits of TRUMPF panel bending are retained: short side lengths, small profiles, and parts with formed sections, recesses, diverse radii or multiple negative bends – the machine reliably bends them all with precision. The laser-based ACB angle measurement system enables operators to work with greater precision and, in conjunction with TRUMPF TecZone Fold (the fastest offline programming tool on the market), more efficiently than ever.

Fully automatic machine with top part flexibility
Using the new rotary part manipulator, the TruBend Center 7030 can bend parts fully automatically. The manipulator secures the sheet and rotates it as needed into the required position. Here, axis speeds of 3,000 millimeters per second make it possible to achieve significantly increased productivity compared to the semi-automatic TruBend Center 5030 panel bender.

When it comes to positioning smaller parts, the patented 2-axis part manipulator also comes into play. The synchronized interaction of rotary and 2-axis part manipulator allows what is for fully automatic panel bending an unusually large degree of freedom to shape components. With its TruBend Center 7030, TRUMPF is alone in the industry in offering a fully automatic panel bending machine with an additional vertical axis for the 2-axis part manipulator. This makes for unprecedented flexibility, since the gripper modules can fasten onto parts in a variety of positions, making it possible, for example, to secure narrow profiles on their edge or grip them with clamps and bend them. This benefit is offered only by TRUMPF. Without this additional feature, many parts would be impossible to manufacture. The vertical axis also ensures that the operator can easily remove parts with downward edges.

The TruBend Center 7030 is designed to allow for a wide range of shapes and formats, including sheets of aluminum up to 4 millimeters thick, mild steel up to 3 millimeters thick, or stainless steel up to 2.2 millimeters thick. The machine handles extremely short side lengths, boxes up to 220 millimeters deep, small profiles, narrow or negative bends, and diverse radii. A single tool can be used to achieve these different bending radii very quickly – and that increases both creativity and productivity by allowing product designers to incorporate more curves in trim panels or create exceptional geometries. Because the machine operates with extremely high precision (the accuracy of repetition is precise to within hundredths of a millimeter) and uses bending tools that are mechanically stable, it can process with a minimum of tool marks – which is a great advantage in the case of stainless steel and painted sheet metal.

First angle measurement system for automatic panel bending
Precise angles are essential for bending. The main threats to achieving this precision come from variations in material characteristics such as strength, spring-back and fluctuations in material thickness. To ensure precise angle measurement, the TruBend Center 7030 is fitted with TRUMPF’s tried and tested Automatically Controlled Bending (ACB) solution. This makes it the first fully automatic panel bending machine to have an angle measurement system, which means quality parts from the outset. The two ACB laser modules for negative and positive bends are placed with the additional bending tools, and they automatically move into position for the measurement process. The laser then projects a line onto the sheet and a camera detects the position of the line and calculates the part angle in real time.

Another special feature of the TruBend Center 7030 is the extremely powerful TRUMPF programming software TecZone Fold. This is the fastest programming tool on the market, and it has already won over users of the TruBend Center 5030. TecZone Fold automatically creates bending programs in a few seconds – as well as 3D-simulations complete with collision monitoring, which makes efficient workshop programming possible for the first time for panel bending. This operator-friendly software is included in the base model, and it runs on the control unit as well as on the office PC (as an offline version). That makes the TruBend Center 7030 extremely economical even for manufacturing small batches or single parts.
Digital photographs in print-ready resolution are available to illustrate this press release. They may only be used for editorial purposes. Use is free of charge when credit is given as “Photo: TRUMPF”.

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