Tradeshow: FABTECH

Every year we exhibit at FABTECH in the tube and pipe section of the show.

The show alternates between cities:

• 2017: Chicago
• 2018: Atlanta
• 2019: Chicago - November 11-14
• 2020: Las Vegas - November 18-20
• 2021: Chicago - September 13-16

The next FABTECH will be in Chicago at the McCormick Center.

In the 2018 show, we were directly across from the UNISON LTD. booth - and were connected to their 25mm electric bender.

1. Click on Systems Options in the toolbar at the top of the screen.
   
   
2. Enter the Measure 2 tab menu.
   
   
3. Enter the Setup Benderlink Network menu.
   
   

1. Choose an unused row in the grid for a new HERBER bender setup.
   
   
2. Assign a bender name that will help operators identify which bender this is. This text will be displayed at the top of the Bender Setup menu.
   
   
3. Assign the HERBER MES+SOL protocol.
   
   
4. Enter the path to the shared drive or folder in the NetPath field. This path should point to the HERBER folder that will receive MES files from VTube. (The value shown on the screen is only an example.)
   
   
5. Enter the IP address in the PING IP ADDRESS field if it is a fixed field. (This is not required. It allows VTube to ping the address to see if the network location is active before trying to open communications.)
   
   
6. If the HERBER rotates the Clockwise positive, then select YES in the CW Rotation Positive cell.
   
   
7. Press Close to save the settings. VTube will save these values to a persistent configuration file that will not change unless you change them in this grid.

Bend the tube in the HERBER bender.

Measure and align the tube to determine if it qualifies by falling within the envelope tolerance for the tube shape.

In the screen shot on the right, the red on the top left shows that the first END "A" LENGTH is out of tolerance.

Also, the red cells in the tangent point grid show that the measured tube centerline shape is out-of-tolerance.

Also - VTube is very visual. The solid model on the right shows exactly where the part is out is exceeding the tolerance. Click on the image to zoom in to see the values.

Click on the BENDER SETUP button in the Navigation Pane.

Set the correct bender number at the top of the window.

You can select up to 100 different benders.

The Bender Protocol should say "HERBER MES". (This assumes that you have already configured VTube's Benderlink in the Systems Options as described in the previous section.)

If this is the first correction, then the Bender Setup screen may show no data. If this is the case, then it is necessary to update the Bender Setup screen from VTube-LASER's main memory like this:

• Press "Setup this Window".
• Press "Copy Master LRA to Setup LRA".

You can manually change the ADJUSTMENT values before sending corrections if you want to. Some users like to set the first and last Length adjustment to zero in order to keep the start position of the carriage in the same place - for when they have extra length on the ends.

If you want to, it is even possible to invert the rotation direction to keep the tube from hitting the bender during rotations.

Press "Auto SEND Bender CORRECTIONS". VTube-LASER will let you select a path, then save a MES file to that path.

A window should appear for a few seconds indicating that the Send to the Bender is complete.

You can allow this window to close on its own in a few seconds, or press the close button to close it immediately.

Move to the HERBER control and follow these steps:

• Click on “Read measurement from machine” in the Communications menu.
  
  
• Select your measuring system (VTube).

• Select the .MES file VTube-LASER just created. When you click OK, the HERBER software will ask if you want to delete the MES file after importing.
  
  
• To apply all corrections from the mes file, click on “Save all measurements” and continue bending. You are not required to stop the machine to do this. The HERBER cell allows for correction in an automated production cell in realtime. The corrections will be applied for the next part bent.

• It is also possible to delete or save individual correction values by marking a bend and opening the measure tab.

Bend the corrected tube starting in Step 1, then measure it again (Step 2) and follow the rest of the steps until the part is within tolerance.