If you work in the metal fabrication industry, you must be knowing that Press brakes are an important part of any equipment. Thin sheets of metal and sheet metals made to particular specifications using CD/CAM are widely in use in the construction and manufacturing industries. Press brakes help bend these sheets of metal in a number of different ways.

If you are just starting in the industry, here’s all you will need to know:

Types of Press Brakes

Mainly there are three different forms of Press Brakes. Hydraulic, mechanical, and pneumatic. In the market, a hydraulic press is a superior quality press brake providing best quality results. Because of the difference in trigger mechanisms. There are different types of parts in Amada press brake including precitec parts. Each part refers to a different use. In the mechanical brakes, it uses a spring-loaded trigger. Pneumatic brakes use an air trigger. When you press the trigger in these brakes, the machine will start working.

With the hydraulic press brake, you can stop it at any point even after its stroke. In this case, the operator will have a greater degree of control over what they are doing. Thus, it helps in achieving more precise results. You can also operate Hydraulic presses at a slower pace. It gives the operator time to fine-tune the piece to their liking. 

Bends and Dies

You can change the parts of the press brake. You can take them out and replace it with precitec nozzles or any other required part. Just as you changing the function and capabilities of a drill by changing the type of drill bit, changing the bends and dies in the press brake will change what it is supposed to be doing.

Precision Control

In order to run the press brake efficiently, a skilled operator is a must-have. When it comes to CAD and CAM, they have their made place in manufacturing and construction. But even when you implement them in your system, you will need a skilled operator to monitor the work and make sure that there is no defect in the final outcome.

Maintenance

If you as a fabricator are considering to buy your own press brake, it is important to understand the steps of maintenance. The good thing is, the maintenance is not that complicated compared to other machinery. Make sure to follow the manuals and keep checking the machinery on a regular interval, you might not get many issues.

Regularly clean the press brake. Make sure to remove any oil and dust which might have made their place. Doing it on a weekly basis is a great thing. All the oil filters will need changing on a yearly basis at least.

Make Sure to Take Precautions

Before performing any operations using press brake, it is necessary to support the ram of the machine. You can place the ram on two equal size wooden blocks. You can also lower the ram by the tooling. 

Review it Mechanically

It is important to review piston bolts, chain sprockets, precitec nozzles, and guides of the press brake. Make sure to check the connection between the pistons and ram on a regular base. Also, to calibrate or realign the back gauge and stops.

Lubrication at a minimum number of points in modern press brake is also important. Keep moving components such as back gauge, guiding systems, and ball screws clean. Don’t forget to grease them to extend the press brake’s function and life.

Here are the components which require weekly lubrication:

• Ram guiding system
• Ball screws
• Guide encoders, encoder guiding system
• Gear segment
• Rack and pinion system
• Guides and rails

Press brakes are a simple piece of machinery. In order to maintain it and leverage the functionality over a long period, follow the right steps to maintain it. Even the highest quality press brakes like Amada press brake need maintenance on a regular basis. It is a common equipment for a variety of reasons. It soon will be working with materials like graphene and other synthetic metamaterials. Make sure you make it an excellent investment for your metal projects.

Machines don’t have to be brand new to produce quality desired results. But you do have to keep good care for them. With a press brake machine, producing good results won’t be a likely scenario if it has an upset ram. It is an integral part of the press brake machine. And if that has a problem, it can hinder your whole production process. Hence, it is important to practice proper maintenance practice to maximize its shelf life.

From where the problem arises?

Sheet metal fabrications, while going through the press brake machine, change its shape from a sheet into a three-dimensional shape. If those bends are not straight, the final assembly won’t go the right way. If you do not maintain your press brake machine, the bend follows a curved line rather than a straight one that is “canoeing”.

In order to avoid that, here are the seven most common press brake mistakes we should avoid to ensure its smooth working.

• Not Taking Care of Gibs

Gibs are the small components of the press brake machines. They lead the ram and tool as it makes movements. If you neglect its regular maintenance, the ram can twist and jam. Hence, it is important to adjust Gibs regularly and provide proper lubrication from time to time.

• Lubrication of the Machine

Apart from lubricating the gibs of the press brake, it is important to apply lubrication to other parts of the press brakes as well. If not then it may lead to metal-on-metal contact which causes wear and reduces the force available for the actual bending metal.

At the same time, lubricating does not mean slapping on too much grease. It even means not putting on the wrong type of lubricant in the wrong place. Applying excessive grease means attracting dust and metal fragments. It may cause sliding surfaces which would accelerate wear, causing seal leaks. 

The key here is to maintain a machine with a film of oil on it. Because if it is too thick, it may increase drag and not penetrate between components. 

Here are some other mistakes we should be avoiding while using, assembling or selecting press brakes.

• Placing parts too close

Fabricators often do this to bend radius. But while putting features too close to the bend radius or at the edge of the die opening would change the features. They may no longer be able to hold necessary hardware near the bend radius. The position of the features should be according to their thickness. And lastly, if the feature has to be nearer to the bend than recommended, our advice would be you extend the opening past the bend line. And if you are already facing this problem, you can search for Amada press brake for sale or used Amada press brake on the internet to find the right part or machine.

• Forming offsets too close to one another

If you set the Offsets that are too close to one another, they won’t be producing standard press brake tooling. Plus, these offsets would require special tooling that is not worth the extra expense for low volume orders. Refer to this image to choose the suitable standard offset size. You can contact your engineer if your measurement is outside of this table

• Not changing the hydraulic fluid

Most press brakes have complex systems. And as time goes, hydraulic fluid would become contaminated with dirt, air, and water. It would limit the load that the press can apply. It reduces the lifetime value of the key components of the press brake. Hence, it is important to regularly change the fluid.

• Upsetting the ram

When you apply uneven forces or if the load is too high, you can upset the ram. The root cause of this issue is its position while bending the metal which is not in the right place or not in the center. It is important to note that if the metal is too thick or not enough load is there, it could hurt the ram as well.

• A bend radius that is too tight for the material

Keeping your radius right is paramount. If it is too tight, it can cause a permanent deformity that alerts the dimensions of the part. It is important to understand that different metals have minimum bend radius-to-thickness ratios. Hence, the harder the metal, the greater the minimum bend radius.

Machinery parts for the press brakes are sensitive. If not cared for properly, that time is not far when you would need to rebuild the whole machine.

It is a must to avoid the above-mentioned mistakes for a full-proof and versatile press brake. If you are starting over, you can try searching Amada press brake for sale or used Amada press brake over the internet to find the products which would help you put together a quality press brake machine.