Air Bending Of Sheet Metal

With air bending fig.

Air bending of sheet metal.

Highly formable and one of the best kinds of aluminum to bend. Also known as press braking flanging die bending folding and edging this method is used to deform a material to an angular shape. Bending is one of the most common sheet metal fabrication operations. 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. This is done through the application of force on a workpiece. The average hack requires at least one angled metal part and the best tool to make one is still the good ol press brake. The gauge inside radius die opening and minimum flange length are all interconnected through different equations and relationships the air bend force.

The punch tip and the die shoulders fig. 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. Air bending is the most common type of 3 types of bending used in sheet metal shops today. 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.

Refer to the chart for values for folder as well as various press brake tooling combinations. In air bending a bend angle is formed by driving the punch into the sheet metal to a specific position within the die opening. Miserable to bend cracking is very common and cold bending will always weaken the metal. Use the minimum bend dimension values in the charts below for your minimum closeness of cutout to a bend.

The force must exceed the material s yield strength to achieve a plastic deformation. The tooling only touches the material at three points. The diagram shows one such mechanism. Different bend angles can be obtained using the same set of tools.

Proper bending can be done with annealing the aluminum first although it s not an ideal candidate for formed parts. For this reason the actual angle of the tooling is relatively unimportant. 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. Being able to read a bend force chart is crucial for any brake press operator and sheet metal engineer.