Triumphant advance in hairpin production
23rd February 2015
The new Triumph hairpin bender by Burr Oak Tool is said to deliver unprecedented productivity, quality, and value to heat exchange component manufacturers.
Burr Oak says the Triumph’s smooth and fast all-electric design produces at least 70% more hairpins than previous OAK hydraulic vertical bend hairpin benders, depending on hairpin length. Particularly impressive is the 100% increase in cycle speed for 4m hairpins. The Triumph also produces more hairpins per cycle than previous hydraulic models – up to eight tubes per cycle for 5-10mm tubes, resulting in even greater productivity gains.
The Triumph is designed to accommodate uncomplicated and time-saving length and tooling changes. Its swift 30sec length change is enabled by a simple entry on the machine’s interface, while previous hydraulic-style benders require upwards of 20 minutes, as well as a host of trial-and-error adjustments. The Triumph’s 1-hour tooling changeover also saves manufacturers a great deal of time compared to the hydraulic machine’s requirement of 3hr. This improvement is a result of the Triumph’s insert-style tooling design which employs fewer tooling components than previous machines. Additionally, these quick changes allow for more production flexibility and render machine dedication unnecessary.
The quality of hairpins produced by the Triumph is exceptional. Instead of the traditional roller-based tube straightening system, the Triumph employs a revolutionary new stretch-straightening technique. This new method involves clamping the leg inside the boom to prevent it from moving; the other leg is free to move during the bend and is cut to an accurate length after the bend is completed. This process has eliminated “peg-leg” length discrepancies and has greatly reduced work-hardening of the tube material, resulting in more accurate hairpins, decreased scrap, and improvement in downstream expansion and brazing processes.
The Triumph’s fast cycle times, exceptional quality, and ease of use all contribute to a tremendously inexpensive cost per hairpin. A significant factor in The Triumph’s ability to provide low cost hairpins lies in its unmatched production capacity and reduced scrap rates. Another feature that enables the Triumph to provide a lower cost per hairpin includes the new clamp-hitch feed system, which fosters lower maintenance costs due to fewer wear-items and better hairpin quality, particularly for small-diameter tubing. Additionally, the innovative tube break-away system brings the machine to a stop if tube feed resistance occurs. This feature protects expensive tooling, simplifies the removal of defective tubing, and allows production to resume more promptly in the event of a tube mis-feed problem. Also noteworthy is the Triumph’s modular design, which OAK is able to deliver more quickly and economically than previous models.
