AddisonMckee has supplied
another of its DB 89 electric
tube bending machines to a
leading stairlift manufacturer.

The machine is said to
‘teach’ itself and to reduce
set-up times, automatically
making any necessary
adjustments and eliminating
the need for manual resetting.

The company says
that whatever the metal is
sourced from and whatever
its grade, the machine will
manufacture a repeatable
component that matches the
original drawing first time.

Many staircases have a
gentle curvature, so a key
requirement was the
capability for freeform
bending. As well as standard
tools, the DB 89 uses rollers
on to the die and clamp, then
pushes the tube to generate
an infinitely variable radius
between the rollers. A minor
angle variation put into the
bend arm is reflected in the
tube radius as it is pushed
forward.

Another requirement was
the reduction of the envelope
tolerance the middle of the
tube needed to follow: from
10 to 12mm down to 5.