Brake Press
Brake Press tooling makes all the difference when choosing a manufacturer for metalworks. A variety of tools, along with the machinery’s tonnage, determines production flexibility. Tooling both enables and limits production. If you make something out of the ordinary, there’s a good chance that special tooling is needed or it cannot be manufactured. Therefore, educating yourself on the topic can save you time and money. We will first start with the different types of bending punches.
Brake Press Punches
The Most Common Punch
Standard punch is the most common bit of brake press tooling. It is used for air bending blunt corners or bottoming 90 degree ones. The standard punch has quite a stocky build, so it is able to take high loads needed for thicker metals or longer bending lines
A Punch For Sharp Corners
Acute punch is generally used to bend angles between 30°- 60°. Again, the die’s thickness allows larger forces, so it is suitable for thicker materials. It’s also used to produce 30° angles before hemming. Then, the acute punch is switched for a hemming/flattening punch to finish the job.
Meant For Tight Spaces
In essence, the narrow punch does the same job as a standard punch. The need for such a tool arises when there’s not much room for executing the final bend. In the example above you can see how the width of the die plays an important role.
Your Friend For Making Channels
The gooseneck punch is used for your U-profiles. Therefore, it is a highly utilised tool but one has to understand the limitations.
A lot of people want to make U-profiles that have both of the sides high, it is only possible to an extent. The punch widens towards the top and ends with a U-turn. So a wider base allows higher sides but there is still a limitation set by the punch’s shape.
Also, it is not as strong as your standard punch. Although it is quite sturdy, the force line is not supported for its way onto the workpiece.
The sash punch is a little like a gooseneck punch – it makes bending around a corner possible. But it makes it possible so that there are angles on both sides of the bend.
Brake Press Dies
1V die or a single V brake press die is the most common type of die. It has a single groove that is suitable for certain angles and radii. If you need several different operations on one sheet, retooling is necessary if air bending doesn’t give enough flexibility.
It is for finishing the acute angle bends by flattening.
Brake Press Tooling Length
There are standard lengths for both punches and dies. At first, it may seem something that an engineer really doesn’t have to know. That is not quite true though. Let’s say you have a 2000 mm metal sheet that has many small flanges or ears that need bending.
Now, you have made cutouts, so the press operator can bend those without touching the surrounding sheet. But your cutouts are 28 mm. Maybe you should think twice about the length of these. And for that, it is useful to know the standard lengths.
- 835; 415; 370; 200; 100; 50; 40; 20; 15; 10 mm
- Standard lengths for brake press punches:
- 835; 415; 370; 100; 50; 40; 20; 15; 10 mm
Industries that use Brake Press
