What Tools Do You Need and Why?Ī maintenance shop will need and use different press brake tools than a custom fabricator will.

Best practices in tooling selection really should have one elegantly simple goal: to achieve the best-quality parts in the least amount of time possible. They make it work but “making it work” isn’t efficient or repeatable, and it can seriously hinder work flow. Plenty of operators make acceptable parts with incorrect tooling because they don’t have access to the correct tooling. Operators throughout the industry use very different tooling to make parts of similar or identical quality. Tools are held in place while the clamping mechanism is open. Be aware, however, that not all parts can be produced using classic air bending techniques. The trend is to abandon bottoming or coining and embrace air bending whenever possible. Note that the discussion that follows focuses on air bending, and for good reason. For simplicity, imperial dimensions are rounded in this article. Moreover, bends in sheet metal have slightly elliptical corner radii, so you only have to get close to get correct. Many high-quality press brake tools are made to metric standards. And because tools are made to the same heights, you can add off-the-shelf pieces and be sure they will match your existing tools. Front support arms, backgauge heights, and safety devices all remain at a common position. Common-height tools can reduce the need for machine adjustments when changing jobs. In most cases, front loading also eliminates the need for forklifts and overhead cranes. This shortens setup time because you no longer need to spend time sliding tools from the end of the press brake. You should be able to install tools from the front of the machine. This eliminates the need to bottom the punch into the die during the setup.įront loading. As clamping pressure is applied, the punches are mechanically pulled up into position. The toolholding system should hold multiple pieces in place until the clamping pressure is applied (see Figure 2). You should be able to load the tools with the ram up.

Bending machine amada maintenance pdf