Press Brake: The Ultimate Guide
Press Brake Definition
What is press brake? What does a hydraulic press brake do?
A lot of people keep asking questions like this.
I just collect that official definition here for you to under what is press brake. I also put my own understanding here.
Here we go.
The press brake is a machine for sheet metal fabrication, to realize the sheet metal bending function by bending mold.
Wikipedia also gives its definition:
“A press brake is a machine tool for bending sheet and plate material, most commonly sheet metal. It forms predetermined bends by clamping the workpiece between a matching punch and die.”
The press brake (bending machine) is a sheet metal processing machine.
The bending function of the metal plate is realized by bending mold (punch and dies).
It can be divided into the manual press brake, hydraulic press brake and CNC press brake.
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By way of synchronization, hydraulic press brake can be divided into twist axis synchronization, mechanical hydraulic synchronization, and electro-hydraulic synchronization.
By way of motion method, the hydraulic press brake can be divided into upward moving and downward moving press brake, which includes brackets, workbenches and clamping plates.
The working table is placed on the front support and consists of a base and a pressure plate while the base is connected to the clamping plate through hinges and consists of the housing, coil, and cover.
The coil is placed in the recess of the housing, and the top of the depression is covered with a cover plate.
Besides, for the “Bending” in the metalworking industry, wiki says:
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.
Here we will discuss everything about press brakes or brake presses.
Let’s dive into it.
Press Brake Types
Press brake is divided into below several types:
Manual Press Brake
It is the most common one among press brakes.
Manual press brakes are required to manually adjust the bending dimensions and angles when used. Manual press brake also contains worktable, supporters, and the clamping plate. The worktable is also mounted on the supporters, which consists of a base and a pressure plate.
Manual press brakes are much more complex in operation than other types of press brakes, therefore, to make mass production after confirming bending size and bending angles. When finished one batch of mass production, adjusting bending size and bending angles for continued production.
Hydraulic Press Brake
Classified by synchronization, the hydraulic press brake can be divided into Torsion Synchronization Press Brake, Hybrid Press Brake, and Electric Hydraulic Synchronization Press Brake.
Classified by movement, the hydraulic press brake can be divided into: Up Moving Press Brake, Down Moving Press Brake.
Hydraulic press brake contains supporters, worktable and clamping plate. The worktable is placed on the supporters, consist of base and pressure plate. The base is connected with the clamping plate by means of a hinge and it is composed of shell, coil and cover plate. The coil is placed in the recess of the shell while the top of the recess is covered with a cover.
CNC Press Brake
Electro-hydraulic servo press brake, which is a kind of sheet metal processing equipment with high precision and efficiency, consists of machine frame, ram (slider), workbench, oil cylinder, hydraumatic proportional servo system, position detection system, CNC controller and electrical control system.
CNC press brake is one kind of press brakes to realize bending function by controlling slider stroke and back gauge.
When using CNC press brake, you only need to input the pieces number of the workpiece which required for bending as well as bending angle for each step, the CNC press brake will finish bending according to the steps you just set in the controller.
Advanced CNC press brake mainly adopts hydro-electric servo system and grating ruler to form closed-loop control. It features high control accuracy, as well as bending accuracy and repositioning accuracy.
The operation of CNC press brake can be flexible, both overlength plates bending with Tandem Press Brake and short workpiece fabrication with normal press brake can be realized, which not only improve press brake utilization ratio but also reduce energy consumption.
Advantages and Performance Features of CNC Press Brakes
With the progress of science and technology, press brakes introduced electro-hydraulic servo synchronization technology to complete upgrade. It mainly has following advantages:
- CNC bending machine using electro-hydraulic servo system to control the two-cylinder synchronization. With the international standard grating ruler realize the full closed-loop control. It featured high precision synchronization, high bending accuracy, high repeat positioning accuracy.
- Equipped with hydraulic automatically clamp or fast clamp for the upper die, and socket lower die based on customer’s requirement to reduce the labor intensity and improve production efficiency.
- The back gauge of CNC press brakes can be extended to six axes. The crowning is automatically adjusted by the CNC system, convenient and accurate.
- Equipped with Germany Bosch — Rexroth valve block, linear motion guide and ball screw manufactured by BLIS, Taiwan HIWIN or other international companies to ensure that the positioning accuracy of the press brake machine.
- With separated upper die with different lengths, can be assembled into a certain width according to the requirements of the workpiece to meet the special needs of the fabrication.
- Automatic cylinder crowning system overcomes the impact on the workpiece quality caused by slider deformation, ensure the good straightness and bending angle of the final products.
See also:
Working Principle of Press Brake
Fix the top punch and bottom die on the upper and lower worktable, utilize the relative motion of the worktable driven by hydraulic transmission as well as the shape of punch and die, to achieve the bending formation for sheet metal materials.
Wikipedia says:
“ A press brake is a machine tool for bending sheet and plate material, most commonly sheet metal. It forms predetermined bends by clamping the workpiece between a matching punch and die.
Typically, two C-frames form the sides of the press brake, connected to a table at the bottom and on a movable beam at the top. The bottom tool is mounted on the table with the top tool mounted on the upper beam.”