What do you need to consider when using press brake to bend metal?
The press brake is a kind of machining tool mainly used for sheet metal bending and forming. It is a process of forming sheet metal into the required profile by applying force to the workpiece. The bending process is used to manufacture parts and workpieces in various industrial fields.
Usually, the bending process takes place on a press brake, which can handle both small parts and large workpieces. So what do we need to consider when using pressbrake to bend metal?
1. Type of bending material used in sheet metal processing
Before sheet metal bending, we need to determine which materials are suitable for press brake bending techniques.
Bending dies are usually made of gray cast iron or mild steel, but die materials vary from hardwood to carbide, depending on the workpiece.
Every metal material has different properties. Some metal materials have good ductility, such as low carbon steel, annealed alloy steel, 5052 aluminum, copper and other metal materials, which are easy to bend and more suitable for bending. While some metals are poor in ductility or fragile, easy to damage or break in the bending process, such as brass, 6061 aluminum, bronze, etc., easy to bend, more likely to crack.
2. Bending and springback occurred during processing
During bending, the inner surface of the sheet metal is compressed and the outer surface is stretched.
The process is as follows: First the sheet metal needs to be properly placed on the bottom die, the punch is lowered on the die by the force of the punch, and the bending process will repeat the bending stroke several times to form the desired profile.
Because we select appropriate metal plates, they have good flexural property, the compressed surface will produce certain rebound after the load is lifted, for example, the metal plate will have a slight rebound after bending.
Therefore, in bending, it is necessary to overbend.
The bending radius affects the springback of the plate. In other words, the larger the bending radius, the larger the springback, and the smaller the bending radius, the smaller the springback. In order to ensure that the predetermined bending radius and bending Angle remain unchanged, usually during operation, the bending radius should be set to a value greater than the predetermined bending radius, and eventually the bending Angle will become smaller.
If you want to reduce the number of bending bounces, you can use some sharp punch press, because sharp punch has a small radius, can effectively reduce bounces.
3. Bending allowance for sheet metal processing
The number produced by the press brake when working sheet metal. The bending allowance is the length of the neutral axis between the bending lines. Once the machine calculates the bending allowance, it is immediately added to the total plane length, which gives the value of the workpiece required for production and the value of the length of the material required.
It is necessary to consider the bending allowance in order to reduce the bending error in press brake production.
From the above we can know that in the production process of press brake, air bending, bottom pressing and flattening are very effective and common bending methods. You only need to select the appropriate material first, and then determine which machining bending method to use based on the material, thickness, length, ductility and complexity of the workpiece. Due to the thickness and hardness of the plate, the shape of the expected profile is also different. Therefore, we also need press presses of different tonnage and pressure to bend sheet metal
After knowing this, you can visit our website, if you need to learn more about press brake or buy a machine, you can also consult our sales staff, they can recommend the most suitable smart press brake for you.
