Machsupport Forum

General CNC Chat => Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) => Topic started by: zafarsalam on January 10, 2009, 05:11:33 AM

Title: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: zafarsalam on January 10, 2009, 05:11:33 AM
Recently finished a pipe bending machine's control. See it in action at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFkmAgNX1Hg . Used AC servo motors for pipe feed and rotation axes, encoder feedback for the bending axis and stepper driven positioning of the bending angle setup switch. Designed the screens with Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9 and Screen4.

Zafar
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: chl on January 10, 2009, 06:31:56 AM
Very nice .....good job

Christer
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: zafarsalam on January 10, 2009, 09:23:06 AM
Thanks for the compliment Christer  ;D
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: Hood on January 10, 2009, 10:15:48 AM
Saw it a while back when you first put the vid on the youtube Mach page, very impressive :)

Hood
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: RICH on January 10, 2009, 11:07:25 AM
Interesting and now all you need is the different output from the pipe or tube iso's to agree
with on your software end.

Back over 40 years ago major pipe fab shops would automaticaly select appropriate material from storage, have the material conveyed to the machine, index, bend, add additional items like back up flanges, lap the ends of the pipe
or tube, etc. You had to see the "key punched cut cards" to appriciate. Additionaly orbital welding machines woud weld in sections. To make all work, the sketches had to take into consideration the fabrication.

Still neat posting and just thought i would throw out some history.
RICH
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: zafarsalam on January 11, 2009, 05:32:52 AM
Rich,

Nice to hear how they used to do it 40 years ago. I was learning to walk at that time :)

Zafar
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: Overloaded on January 11, 2009, 09:16:40 AM
Hi Zafar,
  I really enjoyed your video. Just wondering....do you have a CAM program especially for benders that uses a dxf like machining, or do you have to write the code manually ?
  I can only imagine the pile of scrap I would have before I got the final part bent correctly.
Thanks for your time and vid,
RC
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: RICH on January 11, 2009, 10:25:15 AM
RC,
Zafar is very frugal.  :) He's only shows the good bending  ;) all the rest are sold as band instruments   ::) to
pre-schoolers.  :D Carefull Zafar, on what you disclose,  :-X Rc and another moderator  >:D are trying to perfect
bending gun barrels  ;D that would shoot around corners.  ??? Word out on the street  8)  is that their scrap is
being used as re-bar for building foundations and it dosn't neet code requirements.  >:(

Wont say anymore   :-[ and should have posted this sort of thing a long tiime ago.
RICH
 
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: Tweakie.CNC on January 11, 2009, 11:04:00 AM
Brilliant machine and expert programing, I just pity the poor old electrician trying to get  his wires down that conduit.

Tweakie.
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: zafarsalam on January 12, 2009, 01:40:17 AM
Programming is done manually here from the customer's drawings. Use of macros with mach3 simplified the programming a lot. We tried each bend on smaller pipes before switching to the final one. The scrap wasn't much and after perfecting the program they are producing 700 pipes a day with manual loading and unloading.

Zafar

Hi Zafar,
  I really enjoyed your video. Just wondering....do you have a CAM program especially for benders that uses a dxf like machining, or do you have to write the code manually ?
  I can only imagine the pile of scrap I would have before I got the final part bent correctly.
Thanks for your time and vid,
RC
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: zafarsalam on January 12, 2009, 01:46:14 AM
Especially when it is installed in the fuel line of a local tractor ... ;)

Zafar

Brilliant machine and expert programing, I just pity the poor old electrician trying to get  his wires down that conduit.

Tweakie.
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: zafarsalam on January 12, 2009, 01:52:51 AM
LOL. Didn't know that this information is classified. Gotta go underground for a few years now ;)

Zafar

RC,
Zafar is very frugal.  :) He's only shows the good bending  ;) all the rest are sold as band instruments   ::) to
pre-schoolers.  :D Carefull Zafar, on what you disclose,  :-X Rc and another moderator  >:D are trying to perfect
bending gun barrels  ;D that would shoot around corners.  ??? Word out on the street  8)  is that their scrap is
being used as re-bar for building foundations and it dosn't neet code requirements.  >:(

Wont say anymore   :-[ and should have posted this sort of thing a long tiime ago.
RICH
 
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: Overloaded on January 12, 2009, 07:31:21 AM
Thank you Zafar,
   700 per day....WOW ! Impressive for sure. I could afford to have a small "set-up" scrap pile with that output.
Thanks again for sharing with the forum,
RC
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: Tweakie.CNC on January 12, 2009, 11:57:26 AM
Just a thought Zafar, does that mean 700 tractors a day ?

Tweakie.
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: zafarsalam on January 12, 2009, 11:35:26 PM
It's also for Trucks and buses, apart from tractors.

Zafar
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: Chaoticone on January 13, 2009, 07:56:58 AM
Very good!  I really like seeing the odd aplications Mach is used on. Just proof of it's flexability. That is certainly a nice machine and 700 pieces a day............. that's great.  :)

Good job Zafar,
Brett
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: Tweakie.CNC on January 13, 2009, 09:52:33 AM
I think Zafar is to be commended on his use of Mach. We all know how good it is but it takes a lot of (I don't know the best word to use) 'flair' to apply the program to an unusual application.

Well done Zafar.

Tweakie.
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: CNCwt on January 21, 2009, 07:14:43 AM
Hi, Zafar.

Nice CNC Pipe Bender. I am in the negotiation stage with a customer to cnc retro their Japanese made small diameter CNC Wire/Tube Bender that uses obsolete/discontinued standalone hardware pulse generator card, Vexta old stepper motors/drivers.

Zafar has been very gracious and kind in assisting me to understand how he did his retro as his and my prospective projects are very similar.

Attached pictures are:
1) The actual cnc wire bender machine
2) My unfinished Mach3 screen to control the CNC Wire/Tube Bender

Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: poppabear on January 21, 2009, 07:45:05 AM
Very nice screen I really like the graphic of your E Stop Button, I almost wanted to push and then twist it..............hehehehe

scott
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: zafarsalam on January 21, 2009, 07:52:38 AM
Weedy,

Good luck with your project. It gives me real nice feeling that my efforts have sparked another good project at your end. Looks professional indeed.

Zafar

Hi, Zafar.

Nice CNC Pipe Bender. I am in the negotiation stage with a customer to cnc retro their Japanese made small diameter CNC Wire/Tube Bender that uses obsolete/discontinued standalone hardware pulse generator card, Vexta old stepper motors/drivers.

Zafar has been very gracious and kind in assisting me to understand how he did his retro as his and my prospective projects are very similar.

Attached pictures are:
1) The actual cnc wire bender machine
2) My unfinished Mach3 screen to control the CNC Wire/Tube Bender


Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: CNCwt on January 21, 2009, 07:53:28 AM
Hi, Poppabear.

Thanks for the compliment. When the EStop button is pressed, it turns green and has the wording "PRESS TO RESET" in lieu of the "PRESS TO STOP" and it alternately flash red and green.
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: CNCwt on January 21, 2009, 08:06:16 PM
Zafar,

If my cnc wire bender project pushes through, then you are the man behind the success :)

I used Illustrator to create vector graphics as it allows me to readily revise, change, move, and create effects. I then export it as png format. If changes need to made, I can always go back to Illy to make the changes. Drawing programs like Paint Shop, Photoshop, etc. takes much longer to make changes or corrections as it is in bitmap format.
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: ccoleman on June 08, 2009, 11:11:08 PM
It's been a while since anyone posted here but...

Very nice work.

I've been thinking about building a cnc bender for awhile now, but curious about one thing, how have you dealt with spring-back? or do you just handle in your manual programming?

Chris
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: zafarsalam on June 09, 2009, 01:02:30 AM
Exactly. All the bends are done in the manual mode first and adjusted for the pipe springback. Final Gcode is fed to the machine after testing all the bends separately. It takes 3 to 4 hours to program a part like this if you have your checking fixture ready.

Zafar
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: BluePinnacle on September 02, 2009, 05:07:21 PM
Just seen this - Excellent work, very useful. More uses for Mach I hadn't thought of! I hadn't really considered where bent-up fuel lines came from. Very impressed.
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: zafarsalam on September 05, 2009, 04:19:34 AM
Thanks for the compliment. Final testing is underway these days for another all electric pipe bender built from scratch. I'll post it's vids soon.

Zafar
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: zafarsalam on July 20, 2011, 08:58:20 AM
Here's another CNC pipe bender I have developed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLw6qhW3wlA

It is 7 Axis servo motor controlled, all electric model. No pneumatic or hydraulic power at all. It can bend pipes over 3 different dies at a time and can handle pipes from 4 to 8 mm in dia and up to 2 meters in length. Programs are made through a wizard which takes L,R,A and tool no. data and converts them to G-codes.

Zafar
Title: Re: CNC Pipe Bender
Post by: Tweakie.CNC on July 20, 2011, 10:53:10 AM
Excellent !

Tweakie.