Bending is a manufacturing process that produces a V-shape, U-shape, or channel shape along a straight axis in ductile materials, most commonly sheet metal. Commonly used equipment include box and pan brakes, brake presses, and other specialized machine presses. Typical products that are made like this are boxes such as electrical enclosures and rectangular ductwork.
In press brake forming, a work piece is positioned over the die block and the die block presses the sheet to form a shape. Usually bending has to overcome both tensile stresses as well as compressive stresses. When bending is done, the residual stresses cause the material to spring back towards its original position, so the sheet must be over-bent to achieve the proper bend angle.
The amount of springback is dependent on the material, and the type of forming. When sheet metal is bent, it stretches in length. The bend deduction is the amount the sheet metal will stretch when bent as measured from the outside edges of the bend. The bend radius refers to the inside radius. The formed bend radius is dependent upon the dies used, the material properties, and the material thickness.
There’s quite a few different bending methods available. Each has their own advantages. The dilemma is usually between going for accuracy or simplicity, while the latter gets more usage. Simpler methods are more flexible and most importantly, need less different tools for getting a result.
The clever bending operator must create around the press brake an ergonomic work isle, which assures an easy loading/unloading activity of components, where parts and equipment are close and comfortably handled. Besides, he must prearrange the conditions to facilitate also the operations that follow bending, arranging the machined pieces on pallets, so that they are as comfortably and easily handled by other operators (welders, assembling operators and so on). From this point of view, it might be interesting to optimize specific solutions, prearranging, for instance, slides and trolleys to facilitate the piece handling in tidy and fast manner.
A bending operator, either backed by a long experience behind or who has just started his work course, must always be proactive. In other words, it is not sufficient to warn about a problem but it is always necessary to submit valid solutions and alternatives to colleagues and supervisors. The collaborative atmosphere in companies improve the work environment and, very often, gives birth to intuitions that can enhance the manufacturing efficiency of the enterprise; this obviously happens for any technological process, not just for bending. Moreover, everybody should bear in mind the famous saying: “before submitting a problem to others, consider whether you can be the problem”.
Thank you for your professional introduction, I wish to learn more from your blog