Air Bending Sheet Metal

In air bending a bend angle is formed by driving the punch into the sheet metal to a specific position within the die opening.

Air bending sheet metal. The solution is to have a radius on the tool that you ll be using to bend the metal. The five orders of bend radius there are five orders of the inside bend radius ir. The tooling only touches the material at three points. Since the stroke depth is adjustable.

The profile of the punch defines the bend radius while the stroke depth defines the bend angle. Being able to read a bend force chart is crucial for any brake press operator and sheet metal engineer. Still to reflect all the research that has gone into sheet metal bending in recent decades it may be high time to use more precise terminology. Also known as press braking flanging die bending folding and edging this method is used to deform a material to an angular shape.

For air forming we ve had three accepted types. Air bending also known as free bending is the most common way for bending sheet metal because of its flexibility. An air bend force chart or force chart breaks down a number of key components of sheet metal bending in an easy to reference format. 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.

3a even less contact is made with the metal than with bottom bending. With air bending fig. Air bending is the most common type of 3 types of bending used in sheet metal shops today. The minimum radius and profound.

Choose a bend radius that matches your minimum bend. Air bending uses a punch tool and an often v shaped bottom die. Bending is one of the most common sheet metal fabrication operations. The punch is then forced past the top of the die into the v opening without coming into contact with the bottom of the v.

Typical products that are made like this are boxes such as electrical enclosures and rectangular ductwork. The sheet thickness and the behavior of the material determine the angle that can be achieved by the position of the punch. For this reason the actual angle of the tooling is relatively unimportant. A cutout or the edge of your flange to your bend.

The punch tip and the die shoulders fig. In this process the workpiece comes in contact with the outside edges of the die as well as the punch tip. Commonly used equipment include box and pan brakes brake presses and other specialized machine presses. If you bend to a sharp inside corner with sheet metal you ll be adding a ton of internal stresses.

If you have any questions or want to discuss your design contact us. Even on malleable materials you can end up cracking the metal at the bend or weakening it to the point where it ll break with minimal force.