Unison Tube’s vice president Stuart Singleton with Tim Morrow, owner of Accurate Tube Bending Inc

FABTECH 2022 held in Atlanta earlier this month, has been heralded as a big success for Unison Tube LLC, the North American arm of UK-based Unison Ltd — the inventors of all-electric tube manipulation.

Unison machines on show at FABTECH included an all-electric Unison Breeze Twin Head tube bender and one of the company’s all-new ‘Synergy’ hybrid multi-stack models. The Synergy machine on display — a 2in collet, multi-stack model — was quickly snapped up by full-service precision tube bending specialists, Accurate Tube Bending Inc of Newark, California.

The Breeze twin head bender, a machine developed for the high-speed manufacture of symmetrical tubular shapes, such as those typically found in automotive, agricultural and furniture applications, was purchased by a leading street furniture specialist.

In addition to showcasing several of its CNC machine tool technologies at FABTECH, Unison also used the event to launch Opt2Sim Tube, the latest addition to its industry leading Opt2Sim tube simulation software suite, with delegates being invited to enter a draw to win one of several Opt2Sim Tube software licences. With the opportunity to benefit from speed enhancements of up to 25%, depending on the component being bent, Unison’s recently upgraded Unibend CNC also caught the attention of delegates.

First-class tube manipulation technologies
Unison Tube LLC’s vice president Stuart Singleton said: “FABTECH 2022 was a great event for us. Quite apart from selling two of our display machines on the first day of the show, we gained an exceptional number of high-quality leads from manufacturers and sub-contractors — industry professionals, who clearly know their tube and were looking for first-class tube manipulation technologies.

“Our newly-released Opt2Sim Tube simulation software attracted considerable interest thanks to its ability to make it easier than ever to create virtual parts, ready for precise bending data to be uploaded to the bending machine. We met friends, customers and colleagues old and new; we sold our display machines — and we came away with some excellent leads.

“All in all, it was fantastic to be back at FABTECH for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, it will be no surprise to hear that, after such a great exhibition, we are already thinking about what we will show at FABTECH 2023 in Chicago.”

New Opt2Sim tube simulation software — a complete end-to-end solution Continuous innovation has ensured that Unison’s Opt2Sim suite of 3D simulation software programs remains a firm favorite among users of Unison and other brands of tube bending machinery. Perfected for ‘Design to Manufacture’ production strategies, Opt2Sim tube bending simulation software uses machine and component data to provide a precise, virtual insight into the tube bending process before a single part is bent.

In new Opt2Sim Tube, Unison gives users the ability to drag and drop STEP files into the software program and extract tube data instantly. Parts can also be drawn by simply entering XYZ or YBC coordinates and viewed in 3D. Bend data is quickly converted into printable reports and individual tube data can be extracted.