HEAVY ENGINEERING INDUSTRY’S BIG HITTERS
longer have to perfectly align plates and
sheets on the machine bed prior to cutting.
We are cutting 12 m long plates up to
40 mm thick on the plasma, so continuous
re-alignment can be a very time-consuming
process.”
Another huge machine, this time a
Trumpf TruBend 8600-80 press brake – the
largest Trumpf bending machine in the UK –
has been installed at the Blackburn facility
of the Thompsons Group, a manufacturer of
tipper bodies (https://is.gd/aholif). The
machine is being used to form tipper side
panels from 4 mm thick Hardox abrasionresistant
steel.
Thompsons, which also has sites in
Croydon, Dover and Edinburgh, says that it
builds and sells more tipper bodies than all
of its competitors combined. Since 2000,
the business has expanded ve-fold.
“With order volumes rising, there is a
constant need to keep pace with production
and invest in our future,” explains director
Neil Grif n. “We recently installed a robotic
welding cell, which shifted the bottleneck to
bending. Furthermore, even though our
existing press brake offers a capacity of 400
tonnes, we needed more to help us process
4 mm thick Hardox, which is a tough, wearresistant
steel with a hardness of 450 HB.”
Grif n and his team scrutinised three
potential bending machine suppliers, but it
was Trumpf that impressed the most. The
TruBend 8600-80 offers a large open height,
throat depth and 600 tonne press force.
“After pro ling, the side panels of the
tipper bodies each require up to 12 bends,
which is where the tonnage of the TruBend
8600-80 really comes into its own,” Grif n
highlights. “Having capability of this type in
house is a real market advantage, as we
don’t have to rely on subcontractors.
Moreover, all tipper bodies are manufactured
to order – we allow customers to specify the
height, length and width of the units they
require. As we manufacture in house,
meeting these needs could not be simpler.”
Thompsons manufactures circa 25
Hardox tipper bodies on a weekly basis,
which means 50 sides to bend, plus oors
and tailgates. The TruBend 8600-80 is
currently working a single day shift, but a
night shift may soon be required to keep up
with demand.
Retaining the bending theme,
SafanDarley (https://is.gd/ferija) recently
commissioned an extra-large H-Brake 800T
at Bässler in Olpe, Germany. The H-Brake
800T, with a working length of 8,200 mm,
has a weight of approximately 95,000 kg.
Transportation from SafanDarley’s
production location in Eijsden, Netherlands,
to the customer, required the services of
six trucks.
A machine from the heavy duty series,
the H-Brake 800T is equipped with two
37 kW main motors featuring an energysaving
start/stop system. The start/stop
system automatically restarts the main
motor, thus creating the optimum
operational cycle with minimum start-up
times to reduce carbon footprint and
maintenance requirements.
Bässler focuses on the production of
pro les up to 10,050 mm in length, in single
and series production, as well as pro le
plates of 10 to 40 mm thickness. The
company’s production halls cover more than
5,500 m2 and feature several crane systems
(up to 16 tonnes), as well as forklifts and
large-sized gates that allow the handling of
long and/or heavy pro les.
LARGE CAPACITY MACHINING CENTRE
Moving to machining, the rail industry is a
major contributor to the ow of heavy
engineering projects across the UK. A case
in point can be seen at the Littlehampton
facility of Ferrabyrne, a specialist moulding
company predominantly producing bonded
rubber for metal technology and suspension
systems used in the rail sector. The
business manufactures as much as possible
in house, including mould tools. Recent
growth in demand from its rail customers,
driven by the refurbishment of existing roiling
stock, meant the company’s toolroom had to
meet unprecedented production challenges.
This trend saw the need for improved and
The largest Trumpf TruBend in the
UK can be found at the Blackburn
facility of the Thompsons Group, a
manufacturer of tipper bodies
Plate cutting in progress at PP Profi les on
the Kerf RUR4500 that has reduced the
required fl oor area and improved effi ciency
and workfl ow
www.machinery.co.uk @MachineryTweets March 2020 47
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