ML350: LARGE DIAMETERS TUBE FINISHING

Round Tube Finishing is an increasing need for manufacturers in many diverse markets. To attend these needs, NS Máquinas has been developing, and joined now to their portfolio, the largest planetary finishing machine, ML350. This machine can work with tubes from OD60mm up to OD356mm.

 

The concept of planetary system: the abrasive belts rotate around the tube while the feeding rollers are transporting it through the finishing stations of the machine. All ML machines are equipped with this system.

Unlike the centerless system, the planetary concept grants almost no vibration and keeps the temperature to a minimum, preventing material distortion and ensuring a better-quality finishing. It is also possible to finish different shaped tubes, like oval, conic, being them drilled or tapered.

 

ML350 is born from the need to finish long, large diameters tubes. It’s a one-of-a-kind machine, helping companies being more automated in the finishing process. The reasoning behind the machine is to accomplish the joint venture between a perfect looking finishing, and the safety of the operator.

 

To feed these large tubes into the machine, two motors with 0.37kW on each side are being used, ensuring enough strength to transport tubes up to 600kg and a two-direction feeding system. While feeding the tube into the machine, ML350 has a photocells system to open the abrasive belts when the tube is entering the orbital wheel, allowing a lifetime increase of this polishing consumable. The 5.5kW motor puts the orbital wheel spinning around the tube and the 15Kw motor runs the 120x2300mm long abrasive belts, making them go up to 25m/s. The large measures of the abrasive belts result in a larger point of contact with the tube, leading to more material removed and less time spent replacing consumables.

 

And then… things get interesting. ML350, like its younger brother ML300, joins the free belt system (common to all ML machines) with a double pressure roller: Flexibility to cope with out-of-round tubes and stock removal in one finishing machine. The abrasive belts are supported by a double system of 3+1 rollers. 3 main rollers – one to run the abrasive belt, another for diameter adjustment, and the last one for belt tensioning. Then the pressure roller that works as an automatic contact roller. This roller will apply pressure on the tube, enforcing the removal of more material. In the end, the worker can choose whether to use it or not and its tension and the abrasive belt’s flexibility. The result? The grinding pressure you would get with 2 contact grinding rollers (one assembled on each abrasive belt) and the beauty of the planetary system where tube does not spin.

 

But things don’t end here. With the combination of photocells and a user-friendly programmable software, internally developed, it’s possible to work in 2 different automatic modes: automatic standard and automatic with repetition. In the standard mode, the abrasive belts open automatically for tube entrance, close tight to the tube to make pressure and open just on the very extremity of the product, allowing a complete automatic tube finishing. The automatic mode with repetition allows the tube to pass through the orbital wheel as many times as programed, until reaching the desired finishing. This can be used for high rates of material removal or whenever a fine finishing is required. In this mode, the worker is free to do other jobs while the machine does the work it was programmed for. All the programs can be stored and saved for future uses, making the change of diameters and types of work easier than ever.

Together with this, ML350 features an energy saving mode also, with automatic start and stop. The motors are turned on when needed and turned off automatically as soon the machine detects there is no tube inside. More, the machine shuts down completely after five minutes of inactivity, avoiding unnecessary energy waste.

Finally, in order to increase the machine autonomy, NS MÁQUINAS has been developing and supplying a large number of solutions for tubes automatic loading and unloading. Conveyor systems or bundle type and be integrated to any ML tube finishing machine, including ML350. On the conveyor concept, operator feeds the table with tubes, one by one, being the separated individuate with physical barriers. This method ensures there is no undesired scratches after finishing. On the other hand, the bundle type enables loading and unloading the tubes in a group, leading to great savings in handling and processing time. These loading and unloading systems will increase the time the machine works automatically without any type of intervention, releasing the operator from heavier tasks and contributing also to a higher safety level.

 

Having all of this, the ML350 is an all-in-one machine that ensures automatization, safety, and a consistent finish in large diameters, long and heavy tubes.

Medical Equipment Tubes Surface Finishing and Polishing

Medical equipment and its metal components are usually subject to strict rules to keep handling and usage as safe as possible. One of our customers in France is a leading producer of medical equipment, and they have come up with a production challenge for us.

This company has mainly round and oval metal tubes incorporated in the structure of their medical equipment. These tubes are curved and molded into a specific shape. The bending machines’ clamping system often leaves some marks on the surface of the material.

The customer required a smooth surface to send the tubes to be painted afterward. However, it is not possible to send the round and oval tubes directly to the painting process due to the marks caused by the bending process and the irregular surface of the raw material.

This medical equipment producer used a manual grinding process with rotary orbital sanders to remove all the marks and make the surface finishing. It is a very time-consuming job, and the result is not usually uniform.

Considering this, the company reached out to us to find a better solution to replace their current finishing process.

The ML50 curved tubes finishing machine is suitable for round and oval tubes and specially designed for tight curved tube finishing and polishing. This machine’s planetary system allows the work to be done without rotating the tube, delivering the best results on both bent and curved tubes. Therefore, this polishing machine is perfect for products such as water taps and faucets, as well as for finishing handles or polishing curved tubular products.

For this test, we used three different grinding belts: one with a #60 grit, one with a #120 grit, and another made of #scotch. All of them were combined in different ways to provide this customer with the surface finishing combination which best suits their painting needs.

The best combination was the #60-grit belt. It was able to remove all the marks, and then the scotch belt helped achieve a smoother surface. This combination has better chances to work for most tubes.

Another very important thing worth mentioning is that these tubes are oval, and therefore some sections are completely flat. Since the scotch belt is thicker than an abrasive belt, it becomes essential to execute surface finishing on the flat areas of these tubes. The ML50’s planetary system can adjust the belt even when the tube is not completely round (which is not possible, for example, on centerless systems).

There's also available a wide range of surface finishing and polishing machines for round tubes on our website: https://nsmaquinas.com/categorias/round-tube-finishing-machines/ 

If you have any questions about those finishing machines or need to make some tests please contact us through marketing@nsmaquinas.pt or on our contact page: https://nsmaquinas.com/contacts/. 

 

MLW100 6Z AT: Automatic Multiple Station Tube Polishing Machine

NS Máquinas has just developed a flexible 6 stations automatic tube finishing machine which counts with upgraded loading and unloading systems.

MLW100 6Z AT wet tube polishing machine benefits from the ML Planetary System. This system, already present in all NS Máquinas ML tube polishing solutions, consists in 2 abrasive belts which rotate around the tube while the tube is passing through the finishing heads. Since the tube is not rotating, as it happens with other tube finishing systems, the vibration is minimum. This is especially an advantage when we consider long tubes (6 or 12 meters) or large diameters. Although the standard machine is offered up to Ø114mm, NS Máquinas has models which finish tubes up to Ø310mm. 

The automatic loading and unloading systems developed turns the complete process independent from the operator. From the moment the tubes are placed on the loading table, all the tube transport is carried automatically. The tube is inserted into the planetary finishing heads by a set of rubber rollers and travels through the 6 stations.

The abrasive belts are actuated, station after station, by the signal of sensors. After the last station the tubes are again handled by rubber clamping rollers which bring the tubes to an unloading station where these are kept separated from each other, avoiding any type of minor scratch. In this way a perfect final finishing is assured. One inspection area can also be supplied at the end of the unloading table.

Different number of stations can be supplied. A 6 stations tube polishing machine design enables to remove imperfections from tube surface and to deliver a very fine roughness which can even be below 0.1 Ra. Such high level of fine surface can be suitable either for stainless steel tube polishing or in case of steel and brass polishing, when a further final coating is applied, such as chrome plating. Also in this application, removing every little imperfection might be crucial to guarantee that no minor defect will be visible after the plating process.

Nevertheless, set-ups with a lower number of stations are also available in order to meet different application requirements.

MLW100 6Z AT automatic tube polishing machine can finish tubes from 360mm long up to 6m. More, tubes with different lengths can be polished in the same batch.

Despite the main application for these tube finishing machines being round tubes and pipes finishing, due to the ML Planetary System’s flexibility, different shapes can be finished by request. Oval tubes, D shaped profiles, threaded rods, slotted or drilled tubes can be processed, keeping the quality and maintaining the reduced vibration which this system provides. A demonstration video with these functions is available HERE.

The MLW100 6Z AT automatic tube polishing machine features a water cooling system. This automatic filtration and pumping system cools down the temperature of the tube. This is particularly significant as the number of finishing stations rises. Also, this equipment dispenses dust filtration systems as the water is directed to every finishing station and is continuously keeping these areas clean. Especially when processing potentially explosive metal dust, this system is a safe, simple and reliable solution. This equipment is incorporated on the machine body and easily slides out for paper filter replacement and cleaning. Warning messages are displayed on the machine touchscreen any time the water is going lower than a minimum level or the paper filter is over.

High safety standards were applied to this polishing machine. Multiple safety devices were incorporated in order to guarantee operator’s safety all around the machine. Sensors were installed around the active areas of the machine and physical barriers on moving elements. Laser safety fences, warning sounds and lights were also applied.

MLW100 6Z AT automatic tube polishing machine counts with a powerful mobile touchscreen control where the main functions can be actuated. Choosing the stations which will do a certain job, fine adjusting each abrasive belt speed and combining with a selected tube transport speed can be done from this control unit and, more, can be saved into programs for future use. Tube diameter for the feeding and loading systems is automatically adjusted from this mobile unit.

Staged finishing is also possible to perform with this same control. Selecting only certain areas of the tube to be finished and defining which stations will perform it can be easily programed and stored on the provided control system.

The software enables to start automatic finishing stations washing when the machine is not operating. Also, it includes Energy Saving System which will switch off the finishing heads whenever a tube is not being processed. This feature is a good help in keeping a reduced consumption of wear parts, as a more efficient use of bearings, v-belts and rubber rollers is now possible to achieve.

MLW100 6Z AT tube polishing machine is an automatic solution for high quality tube finishing which provides a completely autonomous operation from the operator. Being capable of processing not only round tubes, but also some irregular profiles, this machine brings therefore huge advantages to the tube finishing and polishing applications.

If you have any doubt please contact us to: marketing@nsmaquinas.pt. 
Or visit our webpage: www.nsmaquinas.com

OD120: Tube End Deburring and Edge Rounding

Round tube end with burrs and sharp edges

Burrs are projections of material beyond the workpiece limits. It consists of an undesirable extended surface over the piece. The burr formation is almost impossible to avoid due to manufacturing processes, formation mechanisms, shape and material properties. On the other hand, there are several deburring processes to remove efficiently the burrs from a different variety of geometries. 

Manual deburring process

The usual and oldest process consists in manually remove the burrs by using an abrasive or wire brush deburring tool. This method is widely used because of its extreme flexibility, low cost and lack of technology needed. On the other hand, this process is time consumable which reduces the productivity and, consequently, increases the waste time and delay in the production lines. Also, there are some disadvantages of the manual process: brush wires may be unleash; the operator can lose control of the tube and, since the operator is more exposed to the brush and the cutting edges of the tube, may suffer hands injuries.

OD120 Tube End Deburring Machine

OD Tube End Deburring Machine is one the most efficient solution to remove the burrs, clean and remove tube sharp edges from different cutting processes such as sawing. This machine enables simultaneous outside and inside tube burrs removal without rotating the tube. The solution to deburr tube ends with OD Tube End Deburring Machine is the answer to the manual process with a productive, safer, simpler and flexible deburring method.

NS Máquinas is currently working with a company which needs enhance its deburring process by removing all the burrs from round tubes to be used in opening/closing systems for buses. 

The company produces components and systems for the pneumatic control of transport vehicles such as buses and other public vehicles with pneumatic door systems. In order to ensures the door kinematics, the system uses a tube fixed to the pneumatic device which will guide the door when it is opening or closing. 
This tube needs, most of the time, to be curved and, in order to bend the tube, it needs to be deburred first for mandrel. 

Also, the company has available handrails for the doors which are curved and needs to be completely straight and without burrs on the tube end in order to be fixed on the walls or on the door itself.

Round tube end deburring and edge rounding

OD120 Brush Protection and Fast Tube Clamping System

The operation is very simple because the operator doesn't need to rotate the tube as the brushes rotate all around the shape. Also, due to its fast tube clamping system the OD Tube End Deburring Machine is capable to deburr and easily operate different shapes – from round to square tubes and aluminum profiles - treating all edges uniformly. This system was developed not only to fix the tube while doing the deburring process but also to cover the brush and avoid injuries for the operator as well as ensure a cleaner environment.

The result is a machine with the extreme flexibility of the manual process and more importantly is a safer and faster way to remove the burrs from the tubes end.

For more information, please visit our website and the OD120 webpage. Also you can contact us through our email: marketing@nsmaquinas.com.