How to buy a proper hydraulic press brake

How to select a proper hydraulic press brake

Once an improper selection is made when purchasing a press brake, the production cost wl rise. And the bending machine cannot be expected to recover the cost. Therefore, here are several factors that must be considered in the decision-making process.

1. The product

The first important thing to consider is the parts you want to produce. The point is to buy a machine that can complete the processing task with the shortest workbench and the smalesttonnage.

Carefully consider the material grade and the maximum processing thickness and lengh. If most of the work is lowcarbon steel with a thickness of 16 gauge and a maximumlengh of 10 feet (3.048 meters), then the free bending force does not need to be greater than 50 tons. However, f yu are engaged in alarge number of bottomed die forming, perhaps a 160-ton machine toolshould be considered.

Assuming that the thickest material is 1/4 inch, a 10-ot re bending requires 0 tos, and a botomed die bending (corected bendg) requre atleast o00tos. If mos prtsare 5feet or shorter, the tonnage is almost halved, which greatly reduces the cost of purchase. The length of the part is very important for determining the specifications of the new machine.

2. Torsion

Under the same load, the deflection of the worktable and sliding block of the 10-foot machine is 4 times that of the 5-foot machine. This means that shorter machines require fewer shim adjustments to produce qualified parts. Reduced shim adjustment and shortened preparation time.

Material grade is als a key factor. Compared with low-arbon sel, the load required by stailes stee is usuall increasedby about 50%, while most grades of soft aluminum are reduced by about 50%. You can get the machine's tonnage table from the bending machine manufacturer at any time. The table shows the estimated tonnage required per foot length unde diffrent thicknesses and different materials.

3. Bending radius

When free bending is used, the bending radius is 0.156 times the opening distance of the die. During the free bending process, the opening distance of te die shoul b 8 tms te thickness of the metal material. For example, when using 1/2 inch (0.0127 m) open distance to form 16 gage mild see, the bendig adis o the par is about0.078 inches. I h bndig radius is almost as small as the material thickness, a bottomed die must be formed. However, the pressure required for forming a bottomed die is about 4 times greater than that of free bendingIf the bendig radius is less than the thickness of the material, a punch wit afrontend filet radus smaller than the thickess of the material must be used, and the imprint bending methoc must be used. In this way, 10 times the pressure of free bending is required.

As far as free bending is concerned, punch and die are procese at 85 or les (saler i better). When using this set of molds, pay attention to the ga beteen the male mold and the female mold at the bottom of the stroke, and the excessive bending that is sufficient to compensate for the springback and keep the material at about 90°.

Generally, the springback angle of the free bending die on the new bending machine is s2, and the bending radis is equa to 0.156 times the opening distance of the die. For the bending of bottomed concave molds, the mold angle is generally 86 ~ 90°. At the bottom of the stroke, there should be a gap slightly larger than the thickness of the material between the male and female molds. The forming angle is improved because the bottomed die has a larger bending tonnage (about 4 times that of free bending), which reduces the stress that usually causes springback in the bending radius.

The imprint bending is the same as the bending of the bottomed die, except that the front end of the punch is processed to the required bending radius, and the gap between the punch and the die at th bottom of the stroke is smler than the material thickness. Since enough presure approximately 10 timesof fee bendig is applied to force the front end of the punchto contact the material, springback is basically avoided.

In order to choose the lowest onnage specifiction,itis best to plan for a bening radus larger than the thickness of the material, and use the free bending method as much as posible When the bending radius is large, it often does not affect the quality of the finished part and its future use.

4. Curvature

Bending accuracy requirements are a factor that needs to be carefully considered. It is this factor that determines the need to consider a CNC bending machine or a manual bending machine. If the bending accuracy is required to be ±1 and cannot be changed, the CNC machine must be focused.

The repeatability of the slider of the CNC bending machine is 0.0004 inches, and the precise angle of forming must use suchprecision and a good mold. Therepeatilty of the lder o the hand-controlled bending machine is +0.002 inches, and the deviationo t2-3 is geneally generated under the condition of using a sutable mold. In addition, the Cc bending machine is ready for rapid mold assembly. When many small batches of parts need to be bent, this is an indisputable reason for consideration.

5. Mould

Even if there are shelves full of molds, don't assume that these molds are suitable for the newly purchased machine. The wear of each mold must be checked by measuring the length from the front end of the punch to the shoulder and the length between the shoulder of the female mold. 

For conventional ols, the deviation per foot should be about t0.001 inches, and the total length deviation should not be greater than t0.005 inches. As for the precision grinding mld, the accuracy per foot should be ±0.0004 inches, and the total accuracy should not be greater than ±0.002 inches. It is best to use fine grinding molds for CNC bending machines, and conventional molds for manual bending machines.

6. Side length of bending part

Assumin tht it is bent 90° longa 5 10-oot 1-gauge low-carbon steel plate, the bending machin mu apla ditonal 5 tos of pressr to lifthe sel plae u, ad the operator must be prepared for the 280-pound straight edge drop. Several strong workers or even a crane may be required to manufacture this part. Operators of bending machnes oteneed to bend long-side parts without realizing how strenuous their work is .