Belgium-based LVD, a leading manufacturer of sheet metalworking equipment, has introduced Ulti-Form, a new robotic bending system which features an automated tool changing press brake.

It follows the success of LVD’s Dyna-Cell robotic bending cell and takes automated bending technology a step further by incorporating an automated tool changing press brake to keep bending productivity at its peak, handling both small batches and long production runs efficiently with minimal changeover time. Ulti-Form delivers high productivity bending with unattended operation.

Ulti-Form features a 135-ton press brake designed using the ToolCell platform, LVD’s top-rated automated tool changing system, integrated with an industrial robot. The press brake houses a built-in tooling warehouse and uses a gripper mechanism in the machine’s back gauge fingers to quickly and efficiently change tools.

The robot and press brake work together in synergy to keep changeover time to a minimum — as the robot picks the first workpiece from the input stack and centres it, the press brake completes the tool change. Ulti-Form handles parts from 50 x 100mm up to 1,200 x 800mm that can weight up to 25kgs.

No robot teaching is required
Ulti-Form is automation that is easy to use with a fast ‘art to part’ process thanks to LVD’s programming wizard which enables programming of both the press brake and robot to be handled offline and no robot teaching is required. CADMAN-B software automatically calculates the optimal bend program.

The robot software imports all bending data and automatically calculates all gripper positions taking into account the gripper force, collision detection and robot reachability. It generates the fastest collision-free path for the robot across the complete bending operation. The system’s database contains all the set-up information needed for the press brake and robot so that Ulti-Form is quickly readied for production.

Meanwhile, the Ulti-Form robot gripper is an auto-adapting design engineered by LVD (patent pending), which has the flexibility to accommodate a number of part geometries, automatically adjusting to the workpiece size. This allows a series of different part geometries to be processed without the need for a gripper change, keeping production continuous and uninterrupted.

Equipped with LVD’s Easy-Form Laser adaptive bending system, Ulti-Form offers automation with a quality guarantee. Real-time in-process adaptive bending technology adds advanced process stability to robotic press brake bending.

The Easy-Form Laser system adapts to material variations, including sheet thickness, strain hardening and grain direction, automatically compensating for any changes to ensure consistently accurate bending results.

Ulti-Form is a modern automated bending system with a small footprint of only 8 x 10m. The system includes three input pallets, a large output zone and drop zone for small parts, an automated pallet dispenser and conveyor belt to transfer full pallets out of the system.

Designed for flexibility, Ulti-Form can either operate automatically or in manual mode. Manual operation can be used for very complex parts and small series, while automated production is ideal for long series. Flexible, productive and easy to program and operate, Ulti-Form offers a quick return on investment.

Ulti-Form will make its debut at LVD’s forthcoming INSIGHTS Virtual and Live Tech events. Further details can be found at the website: www.lvdgroup-insights.com