Eaton’s Hydraulics business has announced the delivery of its one-thousandth Walform tube forming machine to its long-term partner Hyflexar. The machine is the new M-WF385Xplus model – the fourth generation of the compact tube forming machines used worldwide.
Close cooperation between Eaton Walterscheid and Hyflexar, who became a certified Eaton distributor in 2012, goes back 17 years. With twelve branches throughout Germany and 70 employees, Hyflexar offers a broad spectrum of products and services for hydraulics, hoses and fitting technology. Along with a diverse range of components, they provide advice and fabrication in their own branches or locally at customer sites, as well as installation kits, machine rentals for in-house assembly and training courses. This makes Hyflexar a significant partner for numerous companies, particularly in the automotive and mechanical engineering sectors and in the steel industry.
“We have been Walform users for more than 15 years”, said Heinrich Motyka, general manager at Hyflexar. “Right now we have 13 machines in active service. Reliability, safety, efficiency and ease of use are the most important factors for us. Walform technology undoubtedly offers us most competitive advantages on the market. We are pleased to be able to act as an Eaton partner, and we are honoured to have received the one-thousandth Walform tube forming machine.”
The first Walform tube forming system was first introduced in 1995 and has since become an established product within the hydraulics industry. The new M-WF385Xplus machine features an intuitive control panel and integrated light barrier in the tool holder. The integrated light barrier, which can be manually enabled or disabled, helps reduce cycle times. Additionally, eliminating the need for two-hand operation when the light barrier is active allows the operator to optimise the work sequence, resulting in a faster and more efficient process with less effort. Other new features include a switch for the tool change position, energy-efficient demand-driven / temperature-dependent fan control, integrated noise optimisation and a resettable counter on the control panel.
The machines make a major contribution to enhanced safety. For example, the tube fabrication process generates a contour that reduces tightening motion to at most one-sixth of a turn. In addition, the applied force required is only 75% of what is normally needed with a direct assembly cutting ring fitting. These features enable assembly work in very tight quarters. Thanks to the design of the Walform contour, there is an unmistakable snugging point during assembly that clearly indicates the end of the assembly travel, where overtightening and undertightening are virtually impossible. In this way, the systems provide very high assembly reliability and simultaneously low risk of leaks.
