Air bending or Bottom bending? Which bending way is the best choice for your sheet metal bending projects?
Actually not all sheet metal bends on press brake are created equal
In the full cycle of bending a sheet material or plate of metal with a cnc press brake, there are several different methods that can be employed.
A special bending way, flattening or hemming bending tools set, which adopting flatten top punch and bottom die to force two angles of a previously folded piece of material together to produce a hem at the bent edge.
The primary press brake bending techniques that are used are coining, bottom bending and air bending. Each type of material way involves the use of traditional pointed top punches and bottom V-dies, the bending pressure brought to bear against the metal differs widely between the operations. In coining and bottom bending, the sheet plate material being bent is forced down to against the bottom of the V die, while air bending adopting 3 points bending way, 2 edges spots on both side of die, top punch tips , there is have air space between sheet material and bottom of die.
Coining bending uses designed shape top punch and bottoms bring big pressure to compressed sheet material for same shape with tools, there are not too much spring back as just forming fully with some correct profiles shape, press brake tools designer make the shape tools for project, bending operator depress pedal for full stroke forming parts.
Question: Which parts or When to Use Bottom Bending for your profiles?
The original press brake operation involving a formed or shaped top punch and bottom die is bottom bending, or just “bottoming.” As the sheet bending material is forced almost all the way to the bottom of the die, with the metal against the sides of the die all the way down. Like coining it uses a matching punch and die that are in the exact shape of the bend, allowing for a specific material thickness, but unlike coining the material is just bent and not deformed. Bottom bending has higher accuracy and less material springback than air bending but bending at different angles requires a change of tooling in between each operation.
Question: Which parts or When to Use Air Bending?
Air bending is a more modern technique in press brake bending, It makes relatively little contact between bottom tools and the steel material being bent, with only the punch tip and the die edges touching the metal profiles with 3 bending spots. The angle of the bend is dependent on how deeply the top punch pushes the workpiece into the die. Unlike bottom bending and coining, the punch and die don’t have to match the angle of the bend.
While the angle is more difficult to control and there is much more springback to compensate for than other methods, air bending is a very flexible procedure that is often preferred by metal fabricating workshop.
The current CNC Press brake adopting Cnc controlled computer bending software, press brake operator only need to enter some basic bending factors like bending sheet thickness, target bending angle, bending flange length, bending sheet width, sheet material type, then CNC press brake controller will calculate all bending axis automatically, different bending depth can bending different sheet angles, same top punch and bottl tools can bending different angle with different Y axis bending stroke positioning, CNC auto crowning table can ensure short and long full sheet length bending profiles with higehr precision finished.
All kinds of advanced or automated press brake devices are available from AHYW Yawei China Professional CNC Press brakes and Guillotine Shears manufacture for your sheet metal material cutting&bending solutions.
So Questions when you want to buy one Press brake.
Whether needing a different sheet bending angles? 30 acute bends or 150 degree large bends?
When needing to change bending angles without necessarily changing press brake tools?
When using a CNC control that can automatically adjust for sheet material springback?
Whether need to bend many different types of parts?
How to choose correct press brake bending tools package for saving tools cost?
