MOTION METALWORKS | CASE STUDY
Why A Tube Bender
Wasn’t The Best Fit
For This EV Profile
Motion Metalworks needed to bend a complex aluminum profile for a new EV Operator Protection System. The part looked simple enough to run on their existing tube bender. It wasn’t. The best-fit-bender cut rework by more than 40 percent.
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Background & Challenge
Motion Metalworks, based in Wrens, GA, took on a new Operator Protection System component for an EV application from a long-standing customer. The profile resembled a tube closely enough to test on their current all-electric CNC tube bender. They tried its freeform push bending capability first.
That’s a reasonable instinct. Most profiles that look like tubes can run like tubes. This one couldn’t. The geometry made twist and bend radius far harder to hold than a standard tube shape would suggest.
Motion Metalworks put two approaches side by side to compare them directly. Their tube bender’s freeform push bending capability. A CNC profile bending machine from Thoman.
ITEC Solution
A profile that looks like a tube isn’t always a tube. Tube benders are built around round or simple cross-sections moving through a fixed set of forces. A complex aluminum profile adds variables in geometry, material behavior, and tolerance. Freeform push bending wasn’t built to solve those.
ITEC evaluated Motion Metalworks’ equipment against a CNC profile bending machine from Thoman, built for this kind of application. The Thoman machine controlled deformation, twist, and radius on a shape the tube bender couldn’t hold.
The result was a machine matched to the part. Rework dropped by more than 40 percent. Better consistency. A process built around the actual geometry of the job.
“Both are great machines but we are convinced due to the complexity of this profile, the Thoman profile bender is clearly the right solution for this application.”
Steve Stich, Motion Metalworks
Consistency
The Thoman profile bender held tolerances that the tube bender’s freeform process couldn’t match run after run.
Twist Control
Complex profiles twist under load in ways round tube doesn’t. The profile bender was built to manage that from the start.
Bend Radius Control
Tighter, more predictable radius control across the length of the part, even as the profile complexity increased.
Reduce Rework
Fewer parts pulled for correction. Fewer hours spent fixing instead of producing.
Find Your Best-Fit-Bender
with Expert Guidance
Schedule a consultation with ITEC President Brian Julien to discuss your bending application. This is your first step toward finding the right machine. Not just what’s available. What actually fits your needs. Experience matters. We’re here to help you get it right from the start.
512.642.8773
brianj@itectube.com
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