By replacing weld joints with quality angles, work increases twofold
Above: The EB76 Erco Bender 3-axis mandrel pipe bender’s extended head is able to bend complex shapes and profiles.
By replacing weld joints with quality angles, work increases twofold
May 2015 - If you’ve ever walked a hospital’s hallways late at night amid the sterile hum of medical equipment and fluorescent lighting, it’s easy to overlook the structural work that lies beneath. From the moment an architect designs each corridor to the steps fabricators took to create the structure, the goal is to ensure that strength will accommodate the weak.
Assembling entire buildings as well as such details as railings and interior stairways and clean rooms, Lawton Welding Co. Inc. is a structural fabricator and erector in Topsfield, Massachusetts. The company provides services from design to fabrication, creating structural work, pipe rails and rail systems from aluminum, stainless, carbon steel, brass and bronze. Typical sizes reach up to 2-inch Schedule 80 pipe rails, the majority being 1.25-inch-diameter Schedule 40 pipe.
Despite a slow recovery for new construction demand, Lawton Welding was able to justify investing in an automated 3-axis pipe-bending machine last year. The company purchased its third Ercolina bender in 15 years, a 3-axis model.
“The technology is more advanced now and it makes us fully automated,” says President Ray Lawton. “We have bending lines, CNC machines and bridge ports [because] we wanted to get out of manual bending. We have eight AutoCAD designers that do our drawings and send them to machines where the pipe is built automatically. Errors are kept to a minimum and the pipe bending is excellent.”
The other two older Ercolina models remain in use but “are not as technical or as advanced as the fully automated machines available,” Lawton says. Despite having two Ercolina manual benders, Lawton made sure to perform due diligence when looking for an automated solution for the shop.
“We did our homework. We looked at other options—in some cases, cheaper options—but after reviewing everything and flying out to the Ercolina plant in Italy, we decided to stick with Ercolina,” Lawton recalls.
New possibilities
Since going live, the 3-axis Ercolina bender lets Lawton Welding perform twice the amount of work and has even compelled the company to increase manpower. “It’s not because we need more people working the 3-axis machine; it’s because now we’re able to take on more projects and workers can focus on other tasks,” Lawton says. “The cost of foot-per-rail has gone down significantly and our quality is the best it has ever been.”
The company is a subcontractor on a 31-story building in downtown Boston, making stairs and structural railings. Projects like this would not have been possible in the past. “Before getting the 3-axis machine, it was just too much rail with too many bends,” Lawton says. “We used to do a lot of weld joints—making a joint and welding it together—which becomes very costly. You have to grind and sand down each joint. With a bender, it can bend that joint without all that welding.”
If a weld joint isn’t perfect, it is clearly visible and is not aesthetically appealing. “The bender has an internal mandrel and an automatic greaser which keeps tight into the bend,” Lawton explains. “The biggest problem with any bender is the deformity in the bend. It often crushes it. But this one keeps the pipe tight to the bend, maintains formation of the pipe in the same radius and doesn’t crush it. There is a noticeable bend difference.”
The new unit can place multiple bends progressively throughout the rail without having to stop and weld. “The more bends the machine makes, it automatically goes through the CAD program, meaning less human interaction and ultimately, fewer errors,” Lawton says.
Because Lawton Welding’s production “volume is up considerably,” the company has taken on more ambitious projects like fabricating aluminum and stainless rails for Kings Bowling Alleys in the Boston area, then polishing or brush finishing them.
Lawton acknowledges the technical prowess of the new machine requires some human know-how. “You need some tech-savvy people to run it, but that goes without saying whenever you automate anything—there’s a learning curve involved. It is worth the investment to take the time and resources to train operators properly.”
Machine breakdown
The Erco Bender 76 from CML USA Inc. Ercolina, Davenport, Iowa, is a 3-axis CNC bending machine. The Y and B axes use electro servo drive motors. The C axis is electromechanical on the bending head. Ercolina Vice President Dave Capper believes much of what separates his company’s equipment from competitors is that many features come standard. Examples on the Bender 76 include boosted pressure die, internal mandrel lubrication and motorized carriage positioning.
“The operating system we use is a Windows-based control system capable of importing files directly from CAD or design software and files are converted automatically, from concept to design to product in one fell swoop,” Capper says.
“The range of the internal mandrel on the Erco Bender 76 is from 1⁄2-inch up to 3-inch-diameter tube,” Capper says. The extended, compact head is designed to prevent interference issues because parts can readily swing beneath it.
Many off-the-shelf Ercolina machines are sold through machine tool dealers and wholesalers. Mandrel bending applications need a more customized approach. CML USA Inc. Ercolina works with both the customer and dealer to find the right machine.
“We want to make sure they’re getting the right product. In Ray’s case, they needed to have seamless importation of files as well as customized tooling,” Capper says. “If you need a small clamping distance, for example, we have modified tools for that as well to minimize the tangent between bends.”
Ercolina makes bending equipment. “That’s all we do,” Capper says. “With every machine, even our smaller non-mandrel machines, we have factory support to aid the customer before, during and after the sale. We’ve been in business 40 years.”
The software supporting the Erco Bender 76 is simple to run. Instead of limiting the people who can work the software to one or two operators, the intuitive program allows virtually any operator to run the bender. “If Ray needs a part of section of handrail he can call up the program and make one part versus having to wait for someone to run it for him,” Capper says. “It’s a database of materials, tool sets and programs. And to write a new program, you marry or join your tool set and springback file to the bending program.
“Once a library of these files is created, it is stored and can be recalled for future use,” he continues. “That way, new programs can be quickly and accurately produced by joining these individual program components. You don’t spend a lot of time setting up tooling for individual jobs.”
Once a part is designed and imported, an operator can see it on the machine and control it via simulation. “You’re able to see if there will be interference of tooling, floor or machine,” Capper explains. “It’s very nice for an operator to see what is going to happen. If the simulation runs complete, it will produce the part you want.”
The timing for this upgrade helps Lawton Welding’s continued growth; 72 employees work on some large construction jobs, including health care facilities. “We felt that automating our shop and being able to do larger projects was a good route to go,” says Lawton. “We wanted a structural line; doing this in the pipe rail area will be very good for us and it has been working out really well.” MM
