How to choose a press brake – part 1

Select and set up your new press brake
While a press brake is a simple machine in its principles, it’s highly flexible and many accessories are available. The endless variety of sheet metal thicknesses, lengths, and shapes demands great customization of size, tonnage, and tooling. For this reason, it’s important to analyze in depth your production needs, so as to choose and buy a machine able to do its job perfectly.

You don’t know how to choose and set up a press brake? The most important factors to be kept into consideration are:
Length, Tonnage, Daylight and stroke,Throat, Tool clamping and tool, adapters, Back gauge, Compensation systems, Energy saving systems, Front support arms and sheet followers, Angle control systems, Optionals, and accessories

Choosing a press brake won’t be easy, but with this 4-part tutorial, you will be able to pick the right press brake for your job. In this first part, we will focus on how to choose the length, tonnage, daylight, stroke, throat, tool clamping, and tool adapters.

Select and set up your new press brake
While a press brake is a simple machine in its principles, it’s highly flexible and many accessories are available. The endless variety of sheet metal thicknesses, lengths, and shapes demands great customization of size, tonnage, and tooling. For this reason, it’s important to analyze in depth your production needs, so as to choose and buy a machine able to do its job perfectly.

You don’t know how to choose and set up a press brake? The most important factors to be kept into consideration are:
Length, Tonnage, Daylight and stroke, Throat, Tool clamping and tool, adapters, Back gauge, Compensation systems, Energy saving systems, Front support arms and sheet followers, Angle control systems, Optionals, and accessories

Choosing a press brake won’t be easy, but with this 4-part tutorial, you will be able to pick the right press brake for your job. In this first part, we will focus on how to choose the length, tonnage, daylight, stroke, throat, tool clamping, and tool adapters.

2 — Tonnage

It’s the bending capacity of a press brake. 5 main factors come into play:

• material: softer materials like aluminum require less tonnage with respect to stainless steel or high-strength steel
• thickness
• length
• die opening: smaller Vees result in higher tonnages
• process: air bending requires less force with respect to coining or hemming

Choosing the bending force of a press brake is clearly one of the most important variables when you purchase your new machine. If you want to know the tonnage required by your job, use our free online bending force calculator.

Don’t forget that you should always size your bending machine by 20/30% compared to the theoretical data, in order to be able to manage variations in material properties and not reach the limits of the machine’s capacity.

Furthermore, if the load is concentrated in a very small area (e.g. thick and short workpieces), it is better to choose a larger machine size to avoid ram deformation.

3 – Working area: daylight, stroke, and throat

What do we mean by daylight and stroke a press brake? Together with throat, they are part of the dimensioning of the working area.

The daylight is the front opening of the press brake. The increased daylight version is equipped with tool holders and allows to easily bend boxes without using special tall punches.

Versions with extended stroke allow for easier extraction of formed pieces.

The throat is the C-shaped aperture in the side frames. It varies according to the total dimensions of the press brake. An increased throat is useful to extract pieces from the sides or for machines in tandem.

4 — Tool clamping and adapters

Different clamping systems allow to change and rearrange tools. The more fragmented your production lots are, the more important are shorter setup times. Remember that a press brake is paying for itself only when it’s bending parts!

Tool holders are adapters that are inserted between the punch and the punch. They allow deep boxes to be made without the need for high punches, which are usually more expensive and more fragile. However, high punches can be mounted directly on the punch.

Manual clamping

This is the simplest and most robust clamping method, but also the most time-consuming. Ideal for larger batches with few tool changes. Quick lever clamping allows for faster operation but is more prone to wear.

Gasparini pneumatic clamping

Fast and simple, with front-end tool changeover. It is self-aligning for great flexibility. It is not available for specific tonnages or Colgar/LVD/Beyeler style tools. The new AirSlide pneumatic tool adapter can be moved to any position along the entire length of the punch without the use of tools or air hoses.

Hydraulic clamping

Almost as strong as manual clamping, it allows for good setup times, combining flexibility and tonnage. Not available with European-style tools.

Clamping systems used on the ram and on tool adapters can be combined according to the specific production needs.

Learn more about shearing machines, bending machines, and other sheet metal equipment. For the best price, please contact us.

Fengli Machinery Group
Fengli-machinery.com（HVAC Machine）
Ahfenglimachinery.com(Duct Work) 
Hycules.com(Metal Work)
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