Bar & Tube General Process
The Bar&Tube Fab process group applies to parts created from bar, tube, angle, channel, and I-beam stock, as well as round tubes created from sheet stock with Roll Bending.
Process Types
The model supports various alternatives for the following types of processes used with bar, tube, angle, channel, and I–beam stock:
• Cutting and trimming: cutting a piece of stock to length or trimming off unneeded material (such as extra trim material used in a previous process as a gripping surface for a bending machine). Cutting and trimming includes both straight and miter (angled) cuts using the following processes:
o Band Saw
o Circular Saw
o Reciprocating Saw
o Shear
o Tube Laser (for cutting tubes, angle bars, or channel bars; also used for hole making)
• Hole making: creating a hole of a given size or shape by using one of the following processes:
o Punching (using a standard die set)
o Tube Laser (for simple or complex holes in tubes, angle bars, or channel bars; also used for cutting)
• Bending: creating a bend in a tube, bar, or I-beam using one of the following processes:
o Rotary Draw Bending
o Compression Bending (ram bending)
o Bar Bend Brake
• Forming: changing the shape of an end of a bar or tube, or expanding or reducing a segment of it. Forming includes the following processes:
o Reduction
o Expansion
o Flaring
o Flanging
o Flattening
o Forming
o Slotting
o Notching
o Knurling
Supported forming processes are illustrated below.
Additionally, aPriori supports plate rolling from sheet stock using 2-, 3-, or 4-Roll Bending. Currently only round tubes with 360° bends are supported. (Non-360° Roll Bending is supported by the Sheet Metal process group. See Sheet Metal—Soft Tooled.)Plate rolling consists of the following types of processes:
• Cutting and hole-making: in this case, one of the following processes:
o Sheet Laser Cut
o Sheet Plasma Cut
o Sheet OxyFuel Cut
• Bending:
o 2-, 3-, or 4-Roll Bending
If you have licensed the appropriate modules, your routing can include optional machining, turning, heat treatment, surface treatment, and packaging processes.
See Process-level Routing and Process-level Feasibility for more information.
Process Limitations:
The model is well suited for parts for heavy equipment, furniture, and small vehicles. It is not well suited for high precision components or components that serve to carry liquid or gas.
Other limitations include the following:
• Limited automatic detection of end forms. Most have to be manually included by the user
• No support for custom stock forms or the ability to accept a generic stock form (although, as with other process groups, virtual stock is supported)
• Limited support for specialized, multi-process machines
• No support for Roll Bending bends less than 360°
• No abrasive wheel support for sawing
• Limited support for multiple punches at once
• No support for special purpose bar and tube machines that use off-the-shelf punch heads but are custom configured for high volume production
In addition, the model does not support the following processes:
• 3D laser cutting
• Roll forming for standard and custom stock forms