In the past March Crippa has taken part to TUBE exhibition in Dusseldorf.
Crippa has esposed machines and solutions that, according to company tradition, represent the best solution in tube bending field.
Let’s have an overview on the machines exposed:
• Tube bending machine CA IBRI for hybrid tubes
• Tube bending machine CA LINEAR 542
• Full electric tube bending machine CA LINEAR 980
• TUBE BENDING MACHINE CA 520
• Tube endforming machine CA 2166/1 V
• Tube bending machine CA 925 (CNC 9 axis, diameter tube up to 25mm)

TUBE BENDING MACHINE CA IBRI FOR HYBRID TUBES
This brand new machine was born to bend Aluminium tubes with a maximum Dia. Of 20 mm. It can bend right and left with different bending planes. The movement of the bending head has been patented by Crippa. Its main application concerns Automotive. As this machine is characterized by a high level of innovation in the market of tube bending machines, we would like to give you some more information concerning hybrid tubes, their bending method, and bending machine Crippa CA IBRI.
As “hybrid tube” you mean a tube, which is composed of tubes of different materials, which are jointed together. For example, you can have a central tube in rubber which is connected on its extremities with two metal tubes or you can have a central metal tube which is jointed with two rubber tubes. Hybrid tubes are mainly used for car hydraulic systems.
Up today the bending method of this kind of tubes has been made according to consolidated praxis. For example, if you have two metal tubes jointed with a central rubber one, you’ll have to follow the following bending steps:
- You must bend the first metal tube
- After having bent the first metal tube, you must bend the second one.
- After the first two steps you have to joint and seam the bent metal tubes with the extremities of the rubber tube.
It is a quite simple productive process, but it becomes relevant if it is related to its main application field and to the high volume of the production which it requires.
At the moment the bending and the assembling process of hybrid tubes is very expensive as it is subjected to constraints and criticalities such as:
- the need to have some gauges to assemble and seam three or more than three tubes by using press machines.
- the possible loss of fluids in correspondence of the connections and the consequent need to make tests on the tubes, which are very expensive (in particular long tubes). You have to remind that the gas tubes belong to a category of products which are subject to very severe rules and directives concerning security and environment.
- The intensive employment of human manual work with consequent loss of productivity.
The market has been asking for a long for better solutions, which could reduce the above listed limits, in order to get higher levels of productivity, flexibility and global efficiency.
Crippa’s answer to these questions is embodied in bending machine CA IBRI.
Its main practical characteristics and innovation are:
- The possibility to bend “extra-long” tubes thanks to its collet which is placed in the centre of the tube while “traditional” ones are located on one of the extremities of the tube
- The possibility to test straight tubes which are already seamed. This means that you can spare time and money and you don’t need any gauge to assemble the tubes.
- The process becomes safer thanks to its high degree of automation
- The tubes can be assembled automatically before bending. This is a remarkable innovation compared to the traditional process in which the tubes were assembled only after bending and the assembling could be made only manually.
- The working cycle is continuous. It is never stopped to handle the tube.
- Great precision while working: the final bent tube perfectly corresponds to project requirements (drawings, samples) thanks to the particular process applied to bending cycle, which was thought by Crippa to contain any possible shift that can occur during the bending process due to the elasticity of rubber.
- Very flexible and easy programming of CNC Siemens, thanks to the software interface designed by Crippa.
- Possibility of additional tube processes on tube extremities thanks to special accessories that can be added to the machine.

TUBE BENDING MACHINE MOD. CA LINEAR 542
This bending machine is characterised by a new protection system for the moving parts of the machine. The new carter was designed to offer further security to the operator and, in the meantime, to make the machine less voluminous, in fact the basis of the machine is 30% smaller than the same machine in the standard version.

FULL ELECTRIC BENDING MACHINE MOD. CA LINEAR 980
CA LINEAR 980 is a full electric bending machine which represents an evolution of CA LINEAR 563. It has 9 controlled axes and it can bend tubes till Dia. 80 mm and it can bend both right both left.

TUBE BENDING MACHINE MOD. CA 520
It is Crippa’s evergreen solution. For Tube exhibition you will be able to see its last updated version, which is further improved in the mechanics and which is equipped with USER I.S.O INTERFACE application for CNC (“U.I.I.” Software which has been projected and developed inside Crippa’s headquarters)

ENDFORMING MACHINE MOD. CA 2166/1 V
It is an extremely flexible CNC endforming machine with 2 controlled axes, 6 endforming operations and vertical blocking of the tube. This machine can be used also to endform tubes with big diameters and can be equipped with 2 CNC rolling heads.